There are cars you buy because you think they're going to become valuable.
And then there are cars you buy simply because you want one sitting in your garage.
The Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG belongs firmly in the second category.
And honestly?
That's probably exactly how it should be.
It is fucking brilliant
Let's get this out of the way first.
The C215 CL55 AMG is one hell of a car.
A huge luxury coupe.
A V8.
Massive performance.
Two doors.
No B-pillars.
That incredible pillarless glasshouse.
And all the technology Mercedes could throw at a flagship coupe at the time.
It was expensive, complicated and completely excessive.
Which is precisely why we love it.
But there is a difference between being an amazing car and being a great investment.
The CL55 AMG might be the first one.
I'm not convinced about the second.
Look at the W140
This is where things get interesting.
The Mercedes W140 has been around for more than three decades.
It is one of the most recognisable Mercedes-Benz models ever made.
It has the reputation.
The size.
The engineering.
The presence.
The V12s.
The stories.
And yet, look at the market.
The W140 never really exploded in value as an entire model range.
There are special cars, of course.
A perfect S600.
An AMG.
A Brabus.
A rare specification.
Those can be very different stories.
But the ordinary W140 never became the investment monster that many enthusiasts once expected.
And that tells us something.
Being old isn't enough.
Being complicated isn't enough.
Being expensive when new isn't enough.
Even being a great Mercedes isn't enough.
So what happens to the CL55?
Probably not much.
And I actually think that's fine.
The CL55 AMG may slowly appreciate over time, particularly the best surviving examples.
But I don't see it becoming the next E39 M5.
I don't see people suddenly fighting over average CL55s at auction.
And I definitely wouldn't buy one because somebody told me:
"These are going to be worth €100,000 one day."
Maybe.
But probably not.
At least not because the market suddenly decided that every C215 is a collectible.
It has one problem: people don't dream about it
This might be the biggest problem of all.
Think about the cars that became genuinely collectible.
People wanted them when they were new.
And they kept wanting them afterwards.
The E39 M5.
The Porsche 911.
The Ferrari F40.
The Mercedes SLS.
The BMW Z8.
Different cars, different markets, different prices.
But they all have something in common.
People want them.
The CL55 is different.
Most people who see one today will probably think:
"That's fucking cool."
But how many will then go home and start looking for one?
That's the difference.
And that's why you should buy one
Because the CL55 is currently in that wonderful territory where you can buy an absurdly capable old luxury car without paying serious collector-car money.
You get the experience.
The V8.
The enormous coupe body.
The old-school Mercedes interior.
The technology.
The feeling of driving something that was once designed for people who didn't care how much the car cost.
And you don't have to worry about whether the market thinks it's collectible.
You can simply enjoy it.
The best cars aren't always the best investments
This is something we've started to forget.
Every time a 20-year-old car gets slightly more expensive, someone immediately calls it a "future classic".
Not everything is a future classic.
Some cars are simply great old cars.
And that's enough.
The CL55 AMG doesn't need to become a €100,000 collector car to be special.
It already is.
It's a product of a period when Mercedes was building enormous, technically complex, ridiculously over-engineered luxury cars.
A period that isn't coming back.
Would I buy one?
Absolutely.
Would I buy one as an investment?
No.
I'd buy the best one I could find, keep it original, look after it properly and drive it.
If ten years from now it's worth twice what I paid?
Fantastic.
If it's worth exactly the same?
I still had ten years of driving a CL55 AMG.
And if it's worth less?
Well...
At least I had the V8.
Maybe that's the real appeal
The CL55 AMG might never become a legendary investment car.
It might never "break through".
It might spend the next twenty years being the slightly forgotten big Mercedes coupe sitting underneath the radar of the collector market.
But perhaps that's exactly why it's interesting.
Because sometimes the best cars to own are not the ones everyone is chasing.
They're the ones you can still afford before everyone starts telling you that you should have bought one.
The CL55 AMG may never make you rich.
But if you want one badly enough?
Who gives a fuck?
0 comments