We have worked on a number of cars for this particular customer, so when we received his “shopping list” for his new Mercedes saloon we were not too surprised!

The (almost) obligatory rear seat entertainment system was first on the list. He didn’t like the Mercedes factory option with the “pods” sitting behind the head rests, so we had to work out a way we could mount the screens in the existing head rests without affecting the Mercedes safety systems. Next came an upgrade of the standard speakers and amplifiers. Then a complete replacement of all the standard veneer with carbon fibre. Finally, a roof mounted housing with three clocks!

After consulting with the customer, we decided to try and come up with a rear seat system with a difference. Though we couldn’t be absolutely certain, close perusal of certain Alpine products made us wonder whether we could devise a system that could be completely controlled from a touch screen display. We wanted a system that gave the rear seat occupants complete control of all the audio visual functions – tuner (both FM and DAB), digital TV, iPod and DVD.

The end result comprised an Alpine Vehicle Hub Pro, Alpine touch screen display, Alpine DVD changer, Alpine DAB TV, twin Alpine 6.95” monitors, Alpine digital amplifiers, Alpine iPod interface, and (you guessed!) Alpine speakers. Best of all, it all worked first time round! We decided to mount the touch screen display in the cupholder tray at the leading edge of the rear armrest, so that it could be slid away out of sight when not in use. The rest was comparatively straightforward.

Removing all the standard veneer was, we were led to believe, somewhat problematical. In fact, the very experienced Jason managed it all in a matter of a few hours, with no problems whatsoever. This all went off to be veneered with real carbon fibre. We had also made a small console to house the three clocks showing the time in New York, London and Paris and this was also veneered to match.

Though this project did take a good deal of time, we didn’t experience any insurmountable problems. In many ways it was surprisingly straightforward – so much so that we have just completed a similar one in a Bentley Flying Spur.