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The Mercedes-Benz C216 chassis isn’t exactly aging well. This design was certainly considered modern at the time of it’s launch in late 2006, but now almost 15 years later, it is a bit uninspiring. Yes, the AMG cars look a little better, but this is a giant blob of a car in my opinion. Inside the cabin, you had a small glimpse into the future. It has a nearly full digital display that could be configured in a number of ways. This was impressive in 2006 and just now the technology is trickling down the regular cars of the world. Still, the party tricks are few and far between on this chassis and the repair bills have the potential to be many.
Today, I happen to come across a 2009 CL550 up for sale in Arizona that has an extraordinary amount of miles, and as a result, an over a $100,000 discount off the sticker price. Would you?
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.
Some things never change. One of those things just happens to be people cutting the roof off Mercedes-Benz coupes and adding convertible tops. I’m not kidding. They did it with the C126, they did it with the C140 and they did it with the C215. Naturally, they did it with today’s car, a 2007 CL550, up for sale in Florida. Thankfully for everyone, Mercedes started doing it themselves with the 2015 S-Class convertible that looks amazing in my eyes. The biggest problem with these conversions is that they are clunky. Adding a convertible top to a car is no easy feat and those who do it as an afterthought always face an uphill battle. It’s one thing to make everything function smoothly and actually work, but it is a whole other challenge to make it look good. Most of the time when the top canvas is folded down, it creates an ungainly mass of metal and fabric sticking up behind the rear seats. This not only looks bad, but has horrible wind noise and causes visibility problems. Nevertheless, people still do it because people still buy them for whatever reason. As for this specific car? I have a no idea why anyone would ever consider it. Let me explain why.
Black, white, silver or gray. Google search ‘CL63 AMG’ then click the images tab and that’s all you’ll see on these cars. (Ignore that red one. What was that guy even thinking?) I mean I get it, those are the colors that sell. I’m guilty of it. My AMG is silver because 97% of my cars produced were either black, white or silver. German cars are serious, and the buyers of their cars are too. The German models that aren’t so serious (Porsche 911) has every color in the rainbow and people go wild for that (but still usually still buy black, silver, white or gray).
But just because these are serious cars doesn’t mean we can’t venture off into other colors that aren’t on the scale between between black and white. Navy blue is a wonderful color that isn’t in your face. How about a nice darker green? Specifically, how about Jade Green Metallic? We are in luck because that’s exactly what the 2008 CL63 AMG for sale on Long Island, New York is.