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In a sea of seemingly never ending R129 Mercedes-Benz SLs for sale, every once in a while a rare model will pop up that offers a nice change of pace. One of them is the 1997 SL320 40th Anniversary Edition. As just a reminder, Mercedes decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the SL with a special edition SL320 and SL500. All painted in Quartz Blue Metallic, the 6-cylinder SL320 is more rare with only 250 examples produced while the SL500, those all painted in Crimson Metallic, had twice as many built at 500 units.
Today, we have this example with 50,000 miles up for sale Central Pennsylvania that looks the part, but I think maybe this is a case of the seller not knowing what they have.
File this one under “never knew it existed”. Probably for good reason too, since Mercedes-Benz only ever made 40 of them. This is a 2008 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG 40th Anniversary Edition meant to commemorate the 40th anniversary of AMG. It was designed by the specialists of the AMG Performance Studio, which means it has absolutely no mechanical difference from the standard CL65 AMG. What it does have differently, is Alubeam Liquid Metal paint, AMG exclusive brown premium leather upholstery with diamond-pattern stitching, some 40th Anniversary badging, and a special “One out of 40” commemorative badge atop the central COMAND control stalk. Don’t we feel special now?
We like to rib Porsche for their penchant toward celebrating virtually everything by way of ‘Special Edition’ models. Most of that relates to how so many of those special editions aren’t much more than cosmetic additions. This was especially the case in Porsche’s earlier years. But not all of them are just paint and interior specials, like this 2004 Porsche 911 40th Anniversary Edition. Intended to celebrate forty years since the 911’s introduction in 1963 the 40th Anniversary Edition included the X51 performance package (raising hp to 345 from the standard 320), sport suspension, and limited-slip differential. It also received the usual cosmetic updates – GT Silver paint, a unique set of wheels, and Grey natural leather interior – that would help set it apart from other 996s on the road. Only 1,963 were made. More power, better handling, and slightly different silver paint. Not bad!
Last week I checked out a 1999 Mercedes-Benz S500 Grand Edition and explained that I think it is one of the few ”special edition” Mercedes that actually has some kind of impact on the value of the car. Today, we have of those ”special edition” Mercedes that really doesn’t move the needle with people and even more so, some think what was done to it makes it undesirable.
This is a 1997 SL320 40th Anniversary Edition. I’ve covered these before, but the short of it is Mercedes made 250 SL320s painted in Quartz Blue Metallic with matching wood trim called ”Royal Maple” which is far from a color that comes to mind when you think wood. Some like the uniqueness of it, some say it’s garish and doesn’t make any sense. Either way, this example up for sale in Georgia is probably one of the lowest mile examples I’ve seen with just over 21,000, but does that mean the price tag has to match?
To continue on the theme of non-traditional colored R129s, today we have a SL320 that not only has a unusual exterior color but an inside has a color hereto unseen on the legendary Mercedes roadster. In 1997, decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the SL with a special edition SL320 and SL500. All painted in Quartz Blue Metallic, the 6-cylinder SL320 is more rare with only 250 examples produced while the SL500, those all painted in Crimson Metallic, had twice as many with 500 being built. Apparently Mercedes-Benz felt that special exterior color wasn’t enough to set these cars apart. So let’s find out what is inside this 40th Anniversary Edition for sale in Florida.
