Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I love how a set of wheels can take a car from a “boring station wagon” to “getting 634 likes on Instagram” without much effort at all. For the W210 Mercedes-Benz E320 wagon, it is simple as throwing some 18″ AMG Monoblocks on it and calling it a day. Yes, it needs about a 2″ suspension drop, but we are certainly on the right track here with this 2002 up for sale in Connecticut. Especially since it is cheaper than the 2003 E320 wagon from a few weeks ago. Much cheaper.
Remember these? Yeah, I tried not to either. Way back in the year 2001, Mercedes-Benz had their “cut off half their hair and dye it purple” moment when they came out with a really odd C-Class coupe. Converting the sedan to a coupe, which in reality is a hatchback, costs the car 7.3 inches of overall length – but in reality you lost much more. The W203 was a hot piece of plastic garbage to begin with, and somehow Mercedes made it cheaper by finding $5,000 to cut off the price. Base price was under $26,000, and to put that into perspective, was just $2,000 more than an Acura RSX Type-S. These were clearly targeted towards the younger, more impressionable buyers, and the crazy thing is that it somewhat worked. Yes.
Mercedes-Benz claimed that 40% of these buyers opted for another Mercedes-Benz product after owning their Sport Coupé. That sounds great, but I have to wonder if a large percentage of those owners did so because the Sport Coupé was so bad and they had to get out of that thing and into something nicer. I’m not kidding.
It is hard to believe the C208 Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class was the first Mercedes-Benz “E-Class” coupe to be offered with a V8. It is by name and appearance only though, as it was based on the less expensive C-Class W202 platform. Still, it fooled literally almost everyone in the world except those who write internet blogs about 20-year-old Mercedes-Benz models a few times a week. The CLK430 brought the goods without spending S-Class money for the V8 or king-of-the-hill M120 V12, and did it rather well. I personally think the M113 V8 is one of Mercedes-Benz’s finest engines ever in terms of reliability, efficiency, and power output. It only got better when that 4.3-liter went to a 5.4-liter displacement, but from the outside, they look totally similar.
Today, we have a very interesting CLK430 Convertible up for sale in Miami of course, and boy does it have some extra goodies on it both factory and aftermarket. Also, just under 27,000 miles.
Even when SUVs and crossovers dominate new car sales and almost every brand offers one, the Mercedes-Benz wagon continues to command premium prices in the used market. The sedans wither away like regular old used cars until they have nothing left, while the wagons garner a response of “Why didn’t you just buy a new Honda Civic?” after hearing how much they sell for. Today, we have one of those examples.
This is a 2003 E320 wagon, which marks the final year of the W210 chassis as the 2003 sedans were already in the next generation W211. It is finished in the wonderful shade of Aragonite Blue Metallic, which is more of a turquoise color, but to me it is a welcome change over the silver/white/tan/black that we normally see. Inside, gray leather and just 67,000 miles. The price? Well, that new Honda Civic looks pretty good.
How fitting.Â
Fewer cars assimilate better in a (literal) sea of eight-figure yachts and apartments than the winged wonder itself, the 300SL Gullwing. Anyone in Monaco can buy an Aventador, 812 Superfast, or Veyron, ride around the entire time in first gear, and call themselves a connoisseur of fine automobiles. The exact opposite of that is true in those cases, and a very quick remedy of that is today’s car, a 1956 300SL Gullwing in Strawberry Red Metallic. This is a car with style and taste, although the exhaust doesn’t backfire and shoot flames when driving past various casinos. Also, it is extremely expensive to purchase, maintain, repair, insure, and really hard to get in and out of wearing anything other than athletic clothes. Still, it is worth all those sacrifices and more.
