With Michigan frozen over, we escaped to Nashville to visit our friend Matt Kwiek—Mercedes restomod expert, shop owner, and the man behind the MARS name. At Kwiek Classics, Matt has made a name for himself by seamlessly blending modern Mercedes drivetrains with vintage chassis, creating some of the cleanest and most capable restomods out there.
But in a shop filled with high-powered V8 Mercedes builds, one car stands apart: a well-worn yet eager-to-run 1971 Alfa Romeo Berlina 1750. Originally picked up as a placeholder for his dream Alfa GTV, the Berlina quickly proved its worth, winning Matt over with its charm, capability, and sheer drivability. After holding its own at the 2021 Round Headlamp Rally, it earned a permanent spot in his garage—because sometimes, the car you settle for becomes the one you never want to let go.
Join us as we tour Matt’s shop, dive into his approach to Mercedes restomods, and take the Berlina for a spin to see why it refuses to be just a placeholder.
The TTAC Creators Series tells stories and amplifies creators from all corners of the car world, including culture, dealerships, collections, modified builds and more.
A transcript provided by AI and edited by a staffer is below.
[Image: YouTube/Michigan Automotive Relic Society]
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Transcript:
I’m self-taught in all of this. I had no one to show me how to work on these cars, and because of that, I never had the old Mercedes guys telling me what not to do.
My first 190 was a 2.6, then a 3.0, then a 3.6. That car rusted out, so I bought a ’95 wagon, pulled the 3.2 out, and put the 3.6 in. I drove it for about 120–150,000 miles until someone wanted to buy that engine. Around the same time, I found an E55 in the junkyard. Everyone said the swap couldn’t be done. About three weeks before I moved to Seattle, I pulled the 3.6 to sell and swapped in the 5.4 to make the drive.
The 1970 280 SE I got for my wedding was burning a quart of oil every 50 miles. A few weeks before the wedding, I knew it wouldn’t work, so I pulled the stock engine and dropped in a junkyard 4.3. That was the first big build I finished. By the time I closed my shop in Michigan to move to Atlanta, I had built two cars that started to get noticed online. People began reaching out, asking me to build cars for them. While I was working for another shop in Atlanta, I kept getting calls, but I wasn’t building cars at that point. When that job ended, I moved to Nashville, and people were already waiting for me to take on their projects.
One of those projects is this 1964 Mercedes 230 SL, nicknamed the “Pagoda” because of its hardtop shape. This particular car was a failed restoration that we picked up on Bring a Trailer. At first, we planned to do a period-correct V8 swap with a Mercedes 3.2, but at the last minute decided to use something modern instead. It now runs a 5.4-liter from an S55 AMG. These engines are from what many consider the golden era of Mercedes engineering—going from 135 horsepower stock to 400 in naturally aspirated form, with excellent reliability. With this setup, you can drive a 50–60-year-old Mercedes like a normal car, which is what I want. Too many end up in collections and never see the road again.
I always dreamed of owning an Alfa. Most people don’t even know the Berlina exists—if you mentioned it, they’d just ask what it was. I couldn’t afford an Alfa at the time, so I tried to find another sedan from that racing era. Datsuns were also getting expensive, so I bought a Datsun 1200, a retired ice racing car. I got it running with a pickup motor and Z-car transmission, but I had to sell it before I ever put it on the road.
Later, when I was in Seattle, I worked at an Alfa race shop as a fabricator and spent a lot of time around them. That’s where the obsession really set in. When I moved back to Michigan, I supported a local guy who raced retired Trans Am Alfas in vintage events. One day, while buying tires, I saw a Berlina sitting next to a barn. I kept stopping by, leaving my card, but the owner never followed up.
Eventually, I caught the guy at home. He said it belonged to his father-in-law and wasn’t for sale. While talking, I learned he had a Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth that was burning a ton of oil. I offered to rebuild the engine in exchange for the Alfa Berlina. He agreed, and I ended up with the car. I never heard from him again despite trying to reach out, so for now, it’s mine—though someday he may come calling for that rebuild.
I got the Alfa three weeks before the 2021 Roundhead Lamp Rally. It had been sitting for 23 years, so everything needed work. All the brake lines burst one by one as I tried to bleed them, so I replaced them all. The clutch was gone, and someone had swapped on Weber carbs that weren’t set up properly. After rejetting and tuning, I got it running. I drove 900 miles of the 1,000-mile rally before the tie rods started failing and had to switch cars.
Later, I sold my Mustang and finally bought a GTV 2000—my dream car. I fixed it up and daily drove it for a year, but over time I realized the Berlina was the better car. The GTV was fun, but the Berlina was more practical, had more space, a longer wheelbase, and a better 1750 engine compared to the GTV’s 2.0. The 1750 cars were something of a stopgap model for Alfa, a little awkward-looking with mismatched arches, but fantastic to drive.
The Berlina is one of those cars you can push to 11/10ths and still barely break any laws. It’s the joy of driving slow cars hard. If I had to sell everything and keep only two cars, it would be my Cosworth and the Berlina.
I’ve always wanted to be part of a car community, and through all of this, I found one. That’s what makes it worth it.
