The Mercedes-Benz W140 Coupe is growing on me. Especially when they are done as well as today’s car. This 1997 S500 Coupe up for sale in Costa Mesa is painted in the ultra-bright Imperial Red and most importantly, the 18″ three-piece AMG wheels. The interior is take it or leave it beige leather, but it does make up for it having just a little over 25,000 miles. Time to buy in on the C140? Probably not this example given the asking price. Let me explain.
Almost exactly a year ago I took a look at the 2019 Mercedes-Benz AMG GT63 that was just hitting dealer lots. The standard GT63, if you can even call it “standard”, is a bonkers of car that does 0-60 in 3.3 seconds and has a top speed of 193 mph. In typical Mercedes fashion, they had it turn the dial up to 11 and release a GT63 S, which means this fairly standard looking four door sedan, I mean coupe, now gets to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds and can hit 195 mph. I know, what a dilemma to pick between the two. However, there is another reason to pick the GT63 S: the wheels! These are the 21″ Monoblocks I was raving about last week and now they are available on the GT63 S. How much? This or a new Mercedes-Maybach S560?
Last week I took a modest dive into cars that have been produced in the past 20 years or so and how they are in a bit of strange spot. Too new and insignificant to be collectible, and generally not worth the trouble. That in turn, with a few exceptions, sends prices to floor. Today, we have another example of that.
This 2001 Mercedes-Benz S430 is a perfect storm of a car that seemingly no one wants. A pre-facelift W220, it is finished in tan over tan with the less-powerful 4.3 liter V8. I don’t need to rehash my thoughts on how the pre-facelift W220 was a massive disappointment compared to the end-of-production W220, but it seems I’m not alone on this one. The good news is that this car is in really nice shape for having over 100,000 miles. The even better news is that is cheap. Really cheap.
One of the most interesting things I want to see in the next 5 to 10 years is what happens to the cars that were extremely expensive when new and offered a ton of things, but no one really wants anymore because they’ve become very dated. It is tough to compare that the to path the cars of the ’70s, ’80s, and now ’90s because they were all relatively straightforward in what they were and now are. Something like a 1992 S600 Coupe or 1993 BMW 850Ci was at the top of the food chain in the mid-’90s, but as soon as something new came out, they were dumped for the latest and greatest. Now 20 years later people are clamoring for clean examples of those because sometimes the the latest isn’t necessarily the greatest.
Case in point, a 2008 Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG. At the time, this and the CL65 were the top of the range big coupe in the Mercedes lineup and had everything and more when it came to a car. Extreme power and the best tech, but now there are much faster cars and the tech isn’t really the best anymore. The thing is, this car isn’t bringing back feelings of nostalgic for probably anyone. These cars burn fast and hot, then are forgotten about given all the other ways we can spend a pile of money on a fun car. What does that do for prices of these? Straight down.
All of a sudden it’s March! You know what that means. Four more weeks of winter for us in the northern part of the country and then we’ll maybe start thinking about spring. In all seriousness, hope springs eternal when the calendar turns and we’ll be preparing for car season. What better way to kick it off by looking at a Mercedes-Benz convertible with a supercharged V8 with nearly 500 horsepower?
This 2003 SL55 AMG up for sale in Arizona is finished in the classic Brilliant Silver Metallic, but when you open the doors you get your hair blown away with a red leather interior. Personally, I love it. I love even more that it has just 14,000 miles as well.
For as bland and as boring as Mercedes-Benz can be with some of the color combinations, every once in awhile they’ll give us something that shows they still have a little bit of style. The W210 E-Class was pretty notorious for being offered in nothing but earth tones, especially the beige on beige examples. What we have here today is a 2001 E430 from the swanky minds at the designo department who offered up a color combination of Mocco Black Metallic over a Nappa Nubuck leather interior with natural elm wood trim. Even better, it has the classic 18″ Monoblock wheels and just 75,000 miles. To top it off, it’s had a single family ownership and service records from new.
They are back! In a move no one really saw coming, Mercedes-AMG decided to re-boot the Monoblock-style wheel on two of their new AMG cars. The GT 63 S AMG as you see above will feature them in 21″, as well as the yet-to-be-released GLS63 AMG that will size them in 23“. A 23” Monoblock! Yes, they do offer the in a polished look if matte black is your taste, but be warned, these are not cheap wheels. Not at all.
A late-model Mercedes-Benz AMG car that probably doesn’t get enough attention in my eyes is the W209 CLK55 AMG. Probably because during the three year production run from 2003-2005, just 1,517 of them were brought to the US. Nearly half of those, 761, were for the 2003 model year and the final year of 2005, just 247 of them were sold new. That means your chances of seeing one and finding one for sale is pretty slim. As luck would have it, a 2005 popped up outside of Philadelphia and I couldn’t wait to take a look. It looked clean enough from the outside and then my eyes were drawn to the $8,500 price tag. Then I did some digging, and the wind let out of my sails.
If you are looking at the title then looking at the photo of the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen and wondering what is going on, there is an explanation for that. Thanks to the W463 generation running from 1990 to 2018 and going through multiple, multiple facelifts, many parts from later models literally just bolt on to earlier years. That means with enough money, you can make a G500 that is old enough to buy cigarettes look like a 2018 G63 AMG. Wouldn’t you know, that is exactly what we have today. Sort of.
This 2002 G500 has been updated in order to try to look like a G63 AMG. It has the bigger bumpers and fender flares, bi-xenon lights, updated brush guard, LED tailights, 20″ wheels, and they even went as far as putting AMG badges on it. The thing is, they went this far, and forgot a few important bits that makes this thing look like a half-assed job. Even more disappointing, you open the doors and get a really quick reminder that this is still a 2002 with 128,000 miles on it.
Last week, I took a look at one of the nicest examples of a W140 Mercedes-Benz S-Class that I’ve seen in quite some time. In addition to it being extremely clean, it was also optioned with the cloth/velour interior. Like mentioned, that interior choice was actually a more expensive option, which in terms of the American market, seems counter-intuitive. As luck would have it, another top of the range S-Class popped up with a velour interior and this time its on US soil.
This 1988 560SEC up for sale in Portland, Oregon is a left-hand drive car built for the Japanese market which means it has all the European-spec goodies. Shorter bumpers, the proper headlights, and the wonderful patterned blue velour interior. Wait until you see it.
