After owning my AMG for nearly 15 years, its time to pass the keys to someone else who can love and appreciate this vehicle as much as I have! So I’m looking to find it a new home. Here are all the details.
2006 AMG Mercedes CLK-55 Cabriolet – Offered at $17,000
The CLK was a special model for Mercedes, because it was the only convertible in the lineup with an actual back seat. And when AMG took the CLK in to modify it, they left very little untouched.
The engines were hand built by master mechanics in Germany, with replacement engines costing $25,000+. These cars are capable of running 0-60 in just over 5 seconds, and the AMG variants are fitted with massive brakes and a more sophisticated suspension than normal CLK variants. As a result, the AMG-55, and later AMG-65, served as the official Forumla 1 Safety Car from 2003-2007.
In a nutshell, this car absolutely hauls ass, but does so in complete luxury.
Vehicle History
This car was my birthday present years ago, and has been lovingly cared for. It currently sits at under 58,000 original miles and the original sticker price was well over $90,000.
I’m selling the vehicle because we purchased another new car, but there’s nothing wrong with this vehicle, and in fact you won’t find another anywhere like it!
- We have no children or pets and the rear seat has hardly ever been used.
- The leather, carpeting and headliners are all in excellent condition.
- The vehicle has never been smoked in or had any other exposure to anything smelly.
- The vehicle has never been wrecked, flooded or damaged in any way.
- It has been garaged every day of it’s life.
- I’m not aware of any mechanical issues whatsoever. Period.
- It has been fully modernized with professionally installed electronics.
Although CarFax will report a couple of title changes in the past few years, the vehicle has been in my family since we purchased it from a dealer with very low miles on it. I was told that the previous owner would buy new vehicles and trade in previous ones every year or two, and they never had more than 10k miles on them. I bought it with just a few thousand miles on it and the other 50k have been mine at a rate of around 4k a year on average.
My brother was driving the vehicle for a while so we transferred the title to him so he could take care of registrations and insurance, then later I took the vehicle back and retitled it.
Maintenance and Condition
All of the work, with the exception of a few oil changes, has been performed by Mercedes dealerships for the life of this vehicle. Some oil changes have been done by professional service facilities rather than the dealership. I have most if not all of the records, and dealerships will be able to pull up the vehicle records in their systems.
Interior
All of the leather, carpets, dash and door panels are in excellent condition. As you would expect, this car has custom leather with amazing stitching all around. It also has the black alpaca roof lining which looks brand new and adds a classy touch.
The only place there is any indication of wear is a small area on the lumbar section of the driver’s side seat from getting in and out of the vehicle. You’d swear this was a new vehicle.
Exterior
Given the color of the vehicle, and the very minor nature of any issues, it’s hard to photograph them, however here are a bunch of photos from all around the outside of the car.
The paint and body panels are in excellent condition, with just a few tiny nicks or blemishes. I’ve always been very paranoid about parking this car away from others in parking lots, and combined with the low miles we’ve been fortunate not to have any serious dings or dents.
Custom Additions
Wheels are brand new upgraded 19″ customs, with 235/ZR35 19 on the front and 265/ZR30 19 on the rear. Tires have less than 500 miles on them, and this size combo not only handles better, but it modernizes the look of the vehicle since newer sports cars are coming with larger diameter wheels.
The wheels are pristine with Mercedes center caps and no nicks. They were purchased this year from Wheel Plus USA for ~1,500.
The convertible top is brand new. The factory top had a small seam that was coming apart, so we had the entire thing replaced with an OEM equivalent by Junior’s Upholstery in Conroe, TX approximately 6 months ago at over $2,000.
The audio system has been upgraded to a Kenwood DMX905S, offering full touchscreen functionality along with Apple Carplay, Wireless Android Auto and a reverse parking camera.
This addition brought the vehicle into parity with more recent year model cars since it now has all the same gadgetry, and of course it still has the performance to compete with just about anything on the new car market – for a fraction of the price!
A second forward facing camera can also be added. The work was performed by high end car audio specialist Houston Car Stereo for ~$2,500.
One issue that can occur with these vehicles when the audio system is upgraded is that the analog clock in the dashboard will become abandoned since it is controlled by the factory head unit. In order to avoid this, we migrated a plug for the factory head unit to a hidden compartment in the trunk.
This allows the factory head unit to be plugged in when needed for the sole purpose of adjusting the clock. After adjustment the head unit can be stored and the cable hidden. And of course the factory head unit will convey with the vehicle!
We had the car professionally ceramic coated, along with the paint being hand polished, by Siramic Detail last year. It has never been through a commercial car wash! It has only ever been hand washed.
The convertible top has also had an upgraded remote controller (~$600) added that radically increases it’s capabilities. Here’s a YouTube video demonstrating the remote opening feature.
Other Details
The engine on this AMG was built by Master Mechanic Thomas Micklitz. The drivetrain is in excellent condition and has only been adult driven, and basically like a grandma.
There are TWO of the rear seat wind deflectors, one is in perfect condition, the other has one little tab broken but is stil a functional spare.
Two keys are provided, along with a full compliment of original manuals and other documents that came with the car originally.
Hood struts and trunk divider struts were recently replaced as well as front fog lights and battery.
A Note on Pricing
Since this vehicle is extremely rare, and this condition is essentially impossible to find, the most comparable recent example of a sale is on the auction site Bring-A-Trailer here.
This unit was sold for $17,250 on 6/23/20 not including the 5% buyer’s premium, and the car had none of the upgrades or replacements that mine has.
- The new top should last another 15+ years without needing attention.
- The new tires should go 20-30k miles.
- The wind deflectors can cost up to $1,000 if you can find them.
If you’re interested in the car, check out my Contact Page and let me know!
