Evilution – The Cars

My first 451 bought in May 2008Model: Passion non turbo
Year: 2007
Original Colour: Jack Black
Original Output: 71bhp & 68ft-lb torque
Final Output: undeterminedI never really did much to this car, it never really thrilled me like the 450 did.
However, it has since been bought by S2Smarts as their courtesy car where the modding started.It did just have a white front end, DIY Brabus style headlights, perforated vinyl headlight covers, eyebrows, upgraded speaker setup and smart-tow tow bar.

Since being a S2Smarts show/demo/courtesy car it has been lowered 10mm with Brabus shocks and springs, Schmidt space alloys in matt black, S-mann side skirts, S-mann front splitter, S-mann DRLs, vinyled Tridion and a home made induction kit.

 

Model: Roadster

Year: 2004

Original Colour: Jack Black

Original Output: 80bhp & 81ft-lb torque

Final Output: 105bhp & ?ft-lb torque

Badly sprayed black at the front fading to silver at the back with a rainbow lacquer over the top.
Lacquer has reacted badly and the whole car is crazed. It looked awesome. Proper rat-look that you didn’t mind leaving in a car park.

Brabus full body kit,

Janspeed exhaust,

Brabus monoblock alloys,

Forge silicone hoses and DV,

Raid V6 steering wheel.

My second 451 bought in May 2011Model: Pulse turbo cabrio
Year: 2011
Original Colour: Crystal white (Paper White)
Documented Output: 86bhp & 88ft-lb of torque
Original Output: 98bhp & 108.4ft-lb torque
Current Output: 117bhp & 122.5ft-lb torqueRemapped at Tune4Performance.

Day 1 just home from Smart of Chelmsford

Iridium spark plugs, Brabus shock absorbers, S-mann -40mm springs, new speaker setup, Brabus paddle wheel, Tune4Performance remap, S2smarts brake discs (Pagid), Pipercross filter, Brabus front splitter, S-mann rear spoiler, Ultimate 112 style front spoiler add on, Brabus rear valance (fibreglass copy), Brabus exhaust, new 17″ alloys. Smartmods white braided brake hoses, earth lead kit and some matt black vinyl.

To be fitted: Forge silicone hoses.

I.M. Weasel (Gonads)

After having a foreign lorry plough into the side of Nero I decided to get a sacrificial commuting car as I do 100 miles every day. It was time I got a diesel for the increased MPG.

I immediately discarded all of the 54bhp CDIs with the Euro5 exhausts as they are trouble. The hardy 45bhp Euro4 was the order of the day and then remap it.

Documented Output: 45bhp & 81ft-lb of torque
Original Output: 50bhp & 85.7ft-lb torque
Current Output: 66.5bhp & 117ft-lb torque

Remapped at Tune4Performance. Trust no one else with your 451.

Scrapped for parts as my girlfriend drove it for a year to a farm where her horse was. The road to the farm had more craters than the moon so the whole car got tired very quickly. There was no way it was passing another MOT.

Earl

This was my 1st 54bhp diesel 451. I had to get one to work out why they kept failing. It was called Earl because he was grey.

I had the occasional issues with it going into safe mode and changed the exhaust pressure sensor a bunch of times. It was no real issue for many years right up to the point it suddenly failed and the engine sounded terrible. It sat at S2smarts for about 5 years until I took it back and found that one of the rockers in the engine had popped off. It was so much work to put the rocker back and there’s no guarantees that it wouldn’t do it again. I couldn’t trust it and I didn’t want to sell it. So it got scrapped after I took the interesting parts off of it.

Gringo

My 1st electric smart. I bought it in June 2018 for only £6500. It only had 8000 miles on it.

It’s called Gringo because he’s green and he really does go. Green Go.

I fitted seat covers, a Pioneer Car Play stereo and bought rear wheels to fit the front. Then I upgraded the motor controller to a Brabus one which gives a sports mode. For a smart, it’s very quick and it has ruined me for smarts with normal engines. Electric cars are so nice to drive.
I put 42,000 miles on it with no problems and having charging at home and work, the car paid for itself in 2 years by not buying diesel.
Late 2022 I had the charger fail and then the inverter shit itself. I bought a new charger and a 2nd hand inverter and got it working again for about £1600.

Subo

My 1st ever 453. I bought it from Mercedes of Manchester in 2018 and had it shipped down sight unseen. It was the cheapest one I could find. Sadly it’s a non turbo with a manual gearbox. It’s horrible to drive and it’s the car I lend out to friends who need to borrow a car.

It’s called Subo because the number plate ends in UBO and if you have ever seen Susan Boyle (Subo), you’ll see they’re both harsh on the eyes.

I only bought it to take it apart and learn about the version for the website.

It’s the car I perform all of the testing on. If it dies, I’ll just strip it for parts and scrap it.

Klobasa

In July of 2021 I was looking on Copart to see what was available and found a 453 forfour EQ with minor front end damage. I won it for £8500 and fixed in in 2 days with £500 of genuine parts and bits of 453 that I had in boxes. It’s fully loaded with almost all of the extras like a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, radar braking etc.

It’s called Klobasa because the 453 forfour was built in Slovenia and it translates to sausage which is the best way to describe the design of the forfour.

Grey Fox

December 2022, I was off work and received the same link from 2 friends telling me of a crashed 453 fortwo EQ for sale on eBay. I thought it was going to sell for a lot of money because it wasn’t recorded on the insurance but I won it for £6,000. I think people were put off because it wouldn’t drive. Searching online, people were saying that the battery would be bricked because the crash sensor would have told it to discharge for safety.

Ordering parts over December is always a problem so it took a long time to get everything I needed. A little bit of hard work, research and fixing got it to a point were it had the wheels aligned, would drive perfectly but failed the MOT. This was because I removed the fog lights since the wiring loom was damaged. For the manufacture date, the car had to have fog lights that worked. 2nd time was successful.

Now I just need to find a company who does frame pulling just to straighten up an upright so I can get a final bolt in correctly.

It’s called Grey Fox because it’s the same colour. Click.