It was only a matter of time before the Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG became a hot item. The ingredients of a significant history, low production run, and brand status all make for a desirable automobile at any price level. For the past 15 years or so, you could buy these for almost no money at all for well-used examples because they were nothing more than a minor footnote in Mercedes history. Now that AMG is a mega brand both on the street and the race track, people want the originals. Being this was the first official post-merger AMG to grace the US market, collectors are suddenly chasing them down while they still can. Yes, you can still find a decent example for under $10,000, but the perfect example are suddenly pulling big numbers when at the end of the day this is still a W202. So naturally, when one pops up, I always take a look to see if its an example worth lusting after. This 1995 up for sale in California sure looks the part, but once again, we have a dealer that is less than helpful.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG on eBay
Year: 1995
Model: C36 AMG
VIN: WDBHM36E3SF262346
Engine: 3.6 liter inline-six
Transmission: 5-speed automatic
Mileage: 58,434 mi
Location: Palm Desert, California
Price: $16,900 Buy It Now
3.6l dohc smfi 24 valve in-line 6 cyl engine
4-speed automatic transmission w/notched shift gate for manual-style shifting
Monocoque body construction
Independent double wishbone front suspension w/separate gas-pressurized shock absorbers, coil springs, triangular lower control arms, antidive geometry, antiroll bar
Independent multilink rear suspension w/geometry for antilift, antisquat & alignment control, coil springs, antiroll bar, single-tube gas pressurized shock absorbers
225/45zr17 high-performance low-profile sbr tires (front)
245/40zr17 high-performance low-profile sbr tires (rear)
Pwr-assisted recirculating-ball steering w/hydraulic damper
Pwr-assisted 4-wheel ventilated disc brakes
16.4 gallon fuel tank
Dual chrome-tipped exhaust outlets
I’m not trying to go into a weekly episode of disparaging used car dealers here, but maybe this can be a little bit of a learning process for everyone so they don’t get taken advantage of. This seemingly nice C36 has zero information about the actual car and photos that required no effort at all. So little effort, they didn’t even open the doors. Just two shots towards an open window. That meant someone took these photos, sat down at a desk to upload them, then looked at them and said ‘Yes, these are worthy of my place of business’. As you can see, the car maybe isn’t as clean as the 58,000 miles would suggest. The lower front grille is missing, and it sure seems like the wood trim around the shifter is cracked throughout. Under the hood? Who knows. They didn’t bother actually opening the hood, and even worse, didn’t even hatch both sides when it was last opened. You can see one side is still open as the hood doesn’t sit flush on the passenger side. Just to put the icing on the cake, the hood star is all tweaked six ways to Sunday. Couldn’t even bother to fix that.
Needless to say, $17,000 is insane for this car. You want the very top of the market, but present the car like total garbage. Not to mention all the issue you can clearly see, and probably more than you can’t. A car that had potential, but just another disappointment caused by a used car dealer living in 1983.
– Andrew
doubtfully a real AMG either. aren’t those rear badges reversed
@willy – looks like it has all the correct equipment and the Carfax lists it as a C36.
Yep, I agree 100% percent, Andrew. This bugs the crap out of me. I have sold 11 cars on bring a trailer. I follow it pretty closely. There are big dealers selling cars worth over 100k and the dealers presentation is trash. Some dealers do an amazing job, almost too good. But these guys are car dealers 7 days a week, and there is some guy in bfe who works at factory or random job who puts his e36 m3 up for sale and manages to present with it artistic photos and creative videos. That whole notion is crazy to me that someone does this all day long and feeds their family by selling cars and some rando can just blow them out of the water in what they do. Just like if I were to go try to build a house or be a cop or a plumber tomorrow. It wouldn’t go well. What the car dealer is doing isn’t that hard but the apathy is disturbing.
Imagine what the dealer paid for this car.
@willy. The badge is correct. AMG went to the one you see on cars today starting with the C43.
They were obviously too busy hanging up flags on their ceiling to take decent pictures of the car or to bother writing a description for it. I mean really “Pwr-assisted 4-wheel ventilated disc brakes” ?! Are you kidding me?! I didn’t realize April fools day was today. What a facepalm.
This isn’t the best listing from that dealership. Check out some of their other cars. They actually bother to write descriptions for them. And at least halfway decent pictures. Car is “no longer available” on ebay.
They should be careful posting with all those flags. Technically, you’re not supposed to display marques flags unless you are that brand.