Mercedes-Benz ‘one-off’ Gullwing sold
According to Mercedes-Benz spokesman David McCarthy, 'Blackbird' sold for "well north of $550,000"... Photo Gallery
THE Blackbird is about to fly to a new home.
A Sydney man has snared the one-off Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing that starred on the brand's stand at the Australian International Motor Show in October.
Nobody was prepared to reveal who the new owner is or the exact price it went for, but "it's well north of $550,000" Mercedes-Benz spokesman David McCarthy says.The car was built specially for the show by the AMG Performance Studio in Germany, and photos of it reportedly sparked a flurry of international interest from prospective buyers.
That would make it a hike of around $100,000 over the 'base model' Gullwing, if you can call anything in that price range base. For that extra whack, the buyer gets matte black paint and exhaust tips and lurid 'red chrome' badging, the latter destined to be the one and only time you'll see red AMG badging come out of the German studio.
"The red badging is not an available option from AMG. They did it this once, and they have stated without doubt they will never, ever do another," McCarthy says. "After photos went out of Blackbird at the motor show, AMG had a considerable number of requests for cars, but all of them were politely turned down. A plaque on inside of the driver's door states the vehicle is number 1 in an edition of 1, and it will certainly stay that way."
The new owner will claim Blackbird next week, and it is tipped to be the 1000th AMG sold in Australia this year.
Meanwhile, there are as many as 20 buyers lining up for a C63 AMG codenamed 'Jaffa' for its explosively orange paint. That paint alone is tipped to add more than the cost of a new Japanese car to the standard price, when the car is sold after the Australian Grand Prix in March next year. The unique pearl orange metallic coating will cost "anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000", according to Mercedes-Benz spokesman Jerry Stamoulis, or as much as Mazda6 sedan.
"It's attracted a lot of attention from the dealer network," Stamoulis says.
Jaffa's loud orangeness is set off by blacked-out chrome grille, badges and 19-inch alloys. Within the hues are reversed, with orange black trim, orange-illuminated door sills and stitching. You also get the "AMG 358" license plate, the number being the engine's power output, which Mercedes-Benz says reduce the time for the 0-100km/h sprint to 4.4 seconds, making it one of the fastest four-doors on the road
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