The Strange Mercedeses

No, Mercedes Benz herself did not do it.
I mean producing strange Mercedeses.
The culprits that created these strange, shall we say garish (or gross?), are the after market upgraders (downgraders?)and those fools who had too much cash. As the saying goes " the fool and his money is soon to be parted". And some of this 'parting' occurred in Dubai which at one point was boasting a $37 billion-something economy and was touted as the luxury capital of the world.

First there was the fully silver chromed Mercedes-Benz SLR. The shiny sports car was just sitting outside the Emirates mall in Dubai. Now its a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and this time it is fully gold plated and it sits right where its silver counterpart used to, out front of the Emirates mall in Dubai. The flashy, borderline trashy, gold-mirror finish was, of course, an aftermarket decision. The cost of adding this gold plated precious metal finish is unknown. What we do know is these silver chromed and intense gold Benz was enough bling to last a lifetime.
Unlike the economy.
Due to rapid real estate expansion and declining oil prices, Dubai finds itself in debt right now. How the tables have turned on Dubai.

When you think of Mercedes-Benz, class and luxury are just a few of the words that may come to mind. Unfortunately, then came the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 999 Red Gold Dream. This Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is more of a nightmare than a dream. Swiss designer Ueli Anliker had 30,000 man hours and about $4.35 million in resources to toy with the McLaren.Which leads us to believe that Ueli Anliker either hates Mercedes or is just a really bad designer, or both. The 24 carat gold SLR is painful to look at and that's being polite. The SLR McLaren 999 Red Gold Dream made its first appearance at the Swiss tuning show, Auto Emotionen in the city of Berne. It has the unmistakable craftsmanship of classy going trashy. It really is a sad day when the word ugly comes to mind after looking at a Mercedes-Benz McLaren.

Two custom cars that caught the attention are on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon at Makuhari Messe, east of Tokyo. On January 9, 2009 two sparkly Mercedes-Benz SL600's made a lively debut. The custom car accessory company Garson/D.A.D put up the two Benz, studded with 300,000 Swarovski crystal glass studs. Wonder who would actually going to own this bedazzled Benz?






Meanwhile, Mercedes Benz herself has just put out the CLS Grand Edition. The Grand Edition has a few updates and tweaks. The biggest deal about this Benz seems to be the option of a platinum matte paint finish. The no shine finish will be scratch and dirt resistant. The other exterior features sole to the CLS Grand Edition are Bi-xenon headlamps with dark headlight castings, active headlights, a headlamp cleaning system, unique 18-inch AMG wheels and Grand Edition badging. If you have a CLS then consider the upgrade.

The inside features Alcantara headliner; aluminum sports pedals, wood trim, and 'Grand Edition' floor mats, oh my. If you, however, like your cars shiny then you can get another color in high gloss. Consider obsidian black, iridium silver, carneol red, or flint gray metallic paint colors. Prices for the Merceds Benz CLS Grand Edition start around $92,200 and orders are accepted starting March 2009.