1999 AMG E55 EURO VERSION Missle - "Steal" it before I (Rodeo)

1999 AMG E55 EURO VERSION Missle - "Steal" it before I

I m a gear head... I like machines that are on the fuzzy edge of comfortable but scary. For sale here is a Mercedes Benz Hot-Rod. I inherited a 350 horsepower monster. I LOVE it. You step on the gas and you re reminded that your license and freedom are on the line. ) But I cannot afford to have this thing in my garage... I have responsibilities and this thing is a constant reminder that I should throw those responsibilities out the window and just STEP ON IT This particular E55 is a euro version and as such has a handful of options that I m told are not even sold in the US market. Factory rolled fenders euro side mirrors etc.The bad There are a couple of issues that if I were to keep it I would start repairing... Front end needs to be lubed SRS light is on the dash ribbon needs to be reseated... From what I can tell a handful of little things.The good You can come take this thing off of my hands BEFORE I start detailing it polishing is and lubing it. If YOU do that stuff and save me the trouble you ll get this beast for less. If you wait until I ve dialed that stuff in I m going to charge more for having put my time in.Come make an offer. Every day that this thing is in my possession is another day that my license is trying to escape my pocket. Help )Here is a fun article that I dug up from when my dad bought this beast. I hope you can get the enjoyment from this car that my dad the author and I did.-------------- Warp speed is not just a science-fiction fantasy. I experienced it myself. It happened on my commute home from work.I was at the wheel of a sleek black Mercedes-Benz E55 which looks menacing enough to be Darth Vader s ride. I slammed the accelerator to the floor. Suddenly I was flying at 90 miles per hour. I thrust forward in space and time so rapidly that my brain couldn t keep up. I found myself farther down the road with no memory of how I got there. Frightened I hit the brakes and returned to earth.To the uninitiated these cars appear to be your average Mercedes E-class sedan BMW 3-series coupe or Audi A4 sedan. But underneath their sedate skin is enough power to light up the night sky. The Mercedes E55 along with its smaller sibling the C43 are members of the auto maker s AMG line of high-performance sedans. BMW offers the more well-known M brand of souped-up cars which includes the M3 convertible M Coupe and coming this fall an M version of the 5-series sedan. Audi is getting into the act by bringing its S4 a superpowered version of the A4 small sedan to the U.S. this fall.These thoroughbreds are priced from 40 000 to more than 70 000-- 6 000 to 30 000 more than the standard-issue models from Beemer Benz and Audi. But for those who misspent their youth under the hood of a muscle car the Teutonic trio represents the world s fastest and finest luxury sedans. If you have the bucks for this bang you will be driving high-performance automobiles that are souped up by the elite engineers who create race cars for Mercedes (DCX) BMW and Audi.Finding them might be as difficult as affording them. To protect the cachet of the E55 Mercedes is selling only 500 a year in the U.S. with a starting price of 69 100. BMW says it already has hundreds of orders for its limited supply of M5s which will have a sticker of 69 400 when they arrive in September. Audi officials hint they ll price the S4 below BMW s popular 40 270 M3 Coupe but they expect demand will far outpace the stingy supply they are squeezing out of Germany.The limited availability is part of the appeal. Buyers want to feel like they re gaining access to an exclusive club. When they happen upon each other on the road the drivers wave or give each other a thumbs up as they hurtle past. These are people who have lived and breathed sports cars their whole life says BMW M brand manager Scott Doniger. In return for such devotion the Mercedes BMW and Audi brands are elevated to an even higher level. Owners of these high-octane models cast a halo over their chosen brand when friends turn to them for car-buying advice. And that the auto makers say translates into more sales throughout the product line.After driving these luxury hot rods it s easy to see what all the excitement is about. Mercedes wraps its thrill ride in opulent luxury. The 71 290 E55 I drove was outfitted with sumptuous black leather and accented with black bird s-eye maple trim. Its magnificent Bose sound system included a 1 595 trunk-mounted multiple CD changer--the only option on this extravagantly appointed machine. Overhead is a power sunroof. For safety s sake airbags abound--in the dash steering wheel and front doors. Above the doors is a new head-protecting curtain that drops down in a side-impact crash.Such protective measures make sense in a car that can lift off from zero to 60 in 5.4 seconds. A 5.5-liter V-8 engine that kicks out 349 hp makes the awesome acceleration possible. And Mercedes AMG engineers have geared the E55 s five-speed automatic transmission to have so much thrust in first and second gear that my body sank deeply into the seat upon launch.Hot rod Mercedes Benz AMG M series beast.