Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mercedes W203 features not just one but two tuners modding it out. We’ll see if all that adds up to a price that has you tuning out.
You know, it’s not just what you are selling, nor how much you are asking for it that can determine whether a car sells or not. It’s also how creepy you seem in your ad that can sway whether anybody actually wants to meet you for a bout of tire-kicking.
Yesterday’s 1987 VW GTI 16V was certainly an interesting and attractive representative of the breed, and its price didn’t seem—at least to me—to be too egregious. Its ad however was a bit, how shall I say this, Silence of the Lambs-y. That, and perhaps its shape, ended up causing the car to drop in a 55% Crack Pipe loss. Maybe the seller will have to lower his standards and actually consider selling to one of the local yokels he so rudely dismissed in his ad.
AMG started out as an independent tuner of mostly Mercedes products. In the late ‘90s they sold a controlling interest to Daimler Chrysler who eventually absorbed the tuner blob-style in 2005. Brabus is another company that specializes in making Mercedes’ madder, however they continue to be an independent entity modding cars for customers or buying off the shelf Benzes and reselling them with a bunch go faster bits and a few Bs on them.
That means that a car like today’s 2005 Mercedes AMG C55 Brabus can exist, featuring the benefits of both AMG and Brabus’ tuning magic. What does all that magic entail? Well, on this car we can’t exactly tell as the ad is a bit light in the details department.
The base car is a Mercedes W203 C-class which has been imbued by AMG with a 362-bhp/376 lb-ft of torque 5.4-litre V8 and an AMG-mapped five-speed automatic. That combo was good for zero to sixty sprints of under five seconds and noises persuasive enough to change your political affiliation when it was new. Suspension, brake, body (the nose is off the AMG CLK55), and interior mods round out the factory tuner updates.
However, all that apparently was not enough for one of this car’s previous owners who added some of Brabus’ efforts. It’s hard to determine just how extensive the Brabus mods are as they go undefined in the ad, and Brabus’ work is only limited to how big a check you are willing to write when you pull up to their front door. It does look to extend to the engine on this one where a Brabus “hand built by” badge resides on a Brabus festooned engine vanity cover fronted by a proud Brabus “B.” That’s a lot of Brabus.
The mods were apparently serious enough to warrant Brabus changing the badging on the car from C55 to B55 and as we know Bs are better than Cs when it comes to final grades, but less so when it comes to ladies’ second story fun bits. The car is offered by a dealer—Anytime Auto—and comes with just over 100K on the clock.
The black paint looks factory fresh but when coupled with the heavy window tint, blacked out badges, and murdered-out tail lamps feels a bit oppressive to me. The interior is a mix of leather and carbon fiber trim and there’s a double DIN aftermarket stereo so your tunes won’t have to be a decade old to enjoy. The upholstery looks to be in fine shape, and the title is apparently clean, just like the rest of the car.
There is some cursive script on the front air dam that reads “financial mistake” which is about the weirdest thing you could put there for people to read short of “I take dumps in my sleep.” Sure, any hot Mercedes is going to be a financial drain in both maintenance and the expected repairs of the highly strung parts, but a mistake?
Let’s see if that dictum is in fact born out in its acquisition cost. The asking price—and remember this is from a dealer—is $13,995. That’s on a car that, when new, would tickle the balls of sixty grand not counting whatever Brabus bits were yet to be added to it.
What’s your take on this Brabus breathed-on AMG and that $13,995 price, does that have you saying its twice as delightful? Or, do you find that all to be a little off-tune?
You decide!
Los Angeles Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to fauxshizzle for the hookup!
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