Collectors value of the SL55 .. eventually

[plasma800]

Hello everyone, My 04 Sl55 is getting to that 45000 mile mark and I have to make a decision.. Pay it off and keep it forever or move it and move on I kinda feel that if I just finish it off the car will either last for 200000 miles or I could park it and collect in 20 years. My guy at the dealership of course says get rid of it before 75k miles but I dunno, I rather like the car, I was considering wearing it out.

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[4ociousE55]

Originally Posted by plasma800

Hello everyone,

My 04 Sl55 is getting to that 45000 mile mark and I have to make a decision..

Pay it off and keep it forever

or

move it and move on

I kinda feel that if I just finish it off the car will either last for 200000 miles or I could park it and collect in 20 years.

My guy at the dealership of course says get rid of it before 75k miles but I dunno, I rather like the car, I was considering wearing it out.

IMHO the SL55 has no future collector value so drive it until the wheels fall off and and enjoy the ride.

[damian155]

Originally Posted by 4ociousE55

IMHO the SL55 has no future collector value so drive it until wheels fall off and and enjoy the ride.

+1. Too many were produced to become a collectors item.

[bryanc4]

Originally Posted by damian155

+1. Too many were produced to become a collectors item.

made from 2003-2008, the 03-04 will NEVER be worth anything first years of production and old navi screen.... perhaps a super mint low mile 2005-2007 may be worth something one day but i do believe the 2008 in mint condition and low miles will be worth good money to an MB enthusiast who wants to play with a blower instead of turbos.

[150shot]

I think the last of this body style (07) without the front end change which could include the Designo and 030 package would be worth something. Very very hard to find and most likely custom ordered add to that either the dark graphite or dark blue color and you got a gem there.

[sound 8]

You said it yourself, pay it off and keep it forever or sell it quick because it's
losing money like a leaking dam, and that applies to any MB except maybe
an SLR.

[mark anderson]

Originally Posted by 150shot

I think the last of this body style (07) without the front end change which could include the Designo and 030 package would be worth something. Very very hard to find and most likely custom ordered add to that either the dark graphite or dark blue color and you got a gem there.

Hey that's my car
2007
041 designo graphite
511 Charcoal Exclusive Leather
030 AMG performance Package
220 Parktronic
235 Designo Graphite edition
251 delimited top speed
396 Voice control
401 Active Ventilated seats
415 Panorama roof
614 Bi-Xenon headlights
619 Corner illumiating foglamps
881 Electronic trunk closer
889 Keyless go
the msrp was 160k
9k miles at the moment

[plasma800]

[chuck z]

Originally Posted by mark anderson

Hey that's my car
2007
041 designo graphite
511 Charcoal Exclusive Leather
030 AMG performance Package
220 Parktronic
235 Designo Graphite edition
251 delimited top speed
396 Voice control
401 Active Ventilated seats
415 Panorama roof
614 Bi-Xenon headlights
619 Corner illumiating foglamps
881 Electronic trunk closer
889 Keyless go
the msrp was 160k
9k miles at the moment

928 International Mark Anderson is that you? Suwwweeeeet SL!

[GFEAR]

keep it, drive it. none of them are going to be worth more than they are now.

[IngenereAMG]

I beg to differ. The SL55 is a very unique car. It was the first car to bring 500hp to the daily driver. As an engineering exercise it is brilliant, and lets not forget the looks.

The supply/demand thing will always be an issue, and they have made an awful lot of them, but this could be an advantage. As the prices go down, the cars are bought by guys who can buy the car, but God forbid anything goes wrong! As more of them fall into this kind of ownership, more and more will turn to junk. This will leave fewer well kept, great cars, and those will have some collector value. I the meantime I will be driving and maintaining... and enjoying.

[sound 8]

Originally Posted by IngenereAMG

I beg to differ. The SL55 is a very unique car. It was the first car to bring 500hp to the daily driver. As an engineering exercise it is brilliant, and lets not forget the looks.

The supply/demand thing will always be an issue, and they have made an awful lot of them, but this could be an advantage. As the prices go down, the cars are bought by guys who can buy the car, but God forbid anything goes wrong! As more of them fall into this kind of ownership, more and more will turn to junk. This will leave fewer well kept, great cars, and those will have some collector value. I the meantime I will be driving and maintaining... and enjoying.

Nice thinking, and if only it were true. Unfortunately they made hundreds
and hundreds! Take a look what CL65 are going for in the UK. 150k new
now the cheapest I've seen is 30 grand, and only 20 came into the country.
There really isn't much collectible out there.

[Geo3]

Originally Posted by IngenereAMG

I beg to differ. The SL55 is a very unique car. It was the first car to bring 500hp to the daily driver. As an engineering exercise it is brilliant, and lets not forget the looks.

The supply/demand thing will always be an issue, and they have made an awful lot of them, but this could be an advantage. As the prices go down, the cars are bought by guys who can buy the car, but God forbid anything goes wrong! As more of them fall into this kind of ownership, more and more will turn to junk. This will leave fewer well kept, great cars, and those will have some collector value. I the meantime I will be driving and maintaining... and enjoying.

+1

I totally agree.

[150shot]

Originally Posted by mark anderson

Hey that's my car
2007
041 designo graphite
511 Charcoal Exclusive Leather
030 AMG performance Package
220 Parktronic
235 Designo Graphite edition
251 delimited top speed
396 Voice control
401 Active Ventilated seats
415 Panorama roof
614 Bi-Xenon headlights
619 Corner illumiating foglamps
881 Electronic trunk closer
889 Keyless go
the msrp was 160k
9k miles at the moment

WOW. Lucky dog, and at this mileage this is definitely one of a kind.

[TMC M5]

First of all, define collector car? Secondly, what value are you expecting to get 20 years from now?

An SL55 is a classic design that will have appeal over the next 20 years.. so yes it will be a "collector car" in that sense. How much will someone be willing to pay to drive such an appealing car twenty years from now...who knows...but I highly doubt that you will see $100K price tags on these...unless the US undergoes hyper-inflation or the car has delivery miles on it (no fun in that).

Take a look at some of the most desirable cars from the late 1980's (a 20 year look-back)... for example $200K AMG Hammers can be found recently for under $70K. There are so many variables that come into play with trying to estimate prices. One of the biggest things is what will performance cars be like 20 years from now? A 2009 E550 will smoke an '87 AMG Hammer and a similar vintage Ferrari Testarossa. The muscle car collectibles from the late 60's and 70's were more collectible because the gas crisis killed high performance cars for the next 15-20 years. If there is a similar crisis in the near future...yeah that could make the SL55 more collectible. If cars keep progressing performance wise...you may see 2023 Mazda Miatas with a better power to weight ratio than a vintage 2003 SL55. The Miata will have a retractable hard top, sequential dual clutch tranny, and all the other nice gadgets we have seen as "exotic" over the last couple of years.

If you are viewing an SL55 as some sort of long-term investment...than you need a reality check. Drive the car and enjoy it....but if you need a financial return on your investment, put your money elsewhere. (IMHO)

Tom

[RRod]

Okay, here are the production numbers as a reminder:

SL 55 AMG
2003 3095
2004 2280
2005 1072
2006 860
2007 583
2008 464

SL 65 AMG
2005 651
2006 390
2007 144
2008 120

Which in everyone's opinion has the potential for being more collectible (if ever):

SL55 or SL65?

My 65 Corvette pictured below only had production numbers of 778 with the Fuel Injected Engine Option and it's worth 20 times or more than what I paid for it used 30 years ago.

Okay, now let's ask about more reliable and trouble free:

SL55 or SL65?

At what mileage do the troubles typically begin for the SL55 and SL65?

IMHO, I'd be looking at an 06 or 07 or 08 CPO SL65 from a MBZ dealership w/40K miles or less that's always lived in southern dry sunny climates (and still eligible for the $3,995 MBZ CPO extension option out to 7 years/100K miles).

[malakasnyc]

limited supply and everything goes up . Prime example VW bug. Keep it and garage it for your kids and go buy a new one !!!!!

[EXECMALIBU]

The worlds best 560SL (107 body style) with super low miles is still only worth 1/2 of what it cost new in 1989 (20 years ago)! They should be collectible but they are not... These cars have ULTRA low maintenance costs! Nothing on these cars ever breaks! Mine has 188,000 miles and we almost never open the hood! High milage 560SLs are almost worthless $4-6,000 for a very nice car.

The later body (SL600 being the best R129) are also dead on the market with a value in the $15-20K range for a perfect car with super low milage car.. Most have medium maintenance costs...


The new AMG cars are built in much smaller numbers but by far the biggest problem with the new body style SL55/65 (R230) is the HUGH maintenance costs! The SBC, ABC, ESP systems along with literally hundreds of electric sensors are going to be a HUGE Nightmare in the very near future!...

The MB dealers all have problems fixing some of the cars NOW...Can you imagine what it will be like in 5 years when the cars have higher time and milage. Even if the cars are garage queens with super low milage the SBC, ABS, ESP systems are going to need regular maintenance and there are virtually NO outside shops that want to spend the money on the test equipment and the parts prices are absolutely INSANE!!

They just replaced the (2) COIL PACKS on my 2006 SL65 under warranty. If not under warranty the cost would have been over $3800 for the 2 packs remember my car is only 3 years old!!!!

Plus my motor mounts are collapsed (requires pulling the V-12 engine) and they have also replaced both ABC Suspension Valves already.... The idea of owning these newer Mercedes after the warranty runs out is absolutely HORRIFIC!

Very soon I think that there will be visually perfect low milage SL55/65 that need only minor repairs that the owners refuse to spend money to fix sitting at used car dealers for $20,000 or less.

I can here it now.. " Sir the ABC light on the dash will cost you only $5,000 to have it turned off" are you still interested in buying this car?

Even the SLRs are not holding their value with brand new 2008 sitting unsold and being offered at $200,000 off the sticker price and they still are not selling!

[chuck z]

Originally Posted by EXECMALIBU

The worlds best 560SL (107 body style) with super low miles is still only worth 1/2 of what it cost new in 1989 (20 years ago)! They should be collectible but they are not... These cars have ULTRA low maintenance costs! Nothing on these cars ever breaks! Mine has 188,000 miles and we almost never open the hood! High milage 560SLs are almost worthless $4-6,000 for a very nice car.

The later body (SL600 being the best R129) are also dead on the market with a value in the $15-20K range for a perfect car with super low milage car.. Most have medium maintenance costs...


The new AMG cars are built in much smaller numbers but by far the biggest problem with the new body style SL55/65 (R230) is the HUGH maintenance costs! The SBC, ABC, ESP systems along with literally hundreds of electric sensors are going to be a HUGE Nightmare in the very near future!...

The MB dealers all have problems fixing some of the cars NOW...Can you imagine what it will be like in 5 years when the cars have higher time and milage. Even if the cars are garage queens with super low milage the SBC, ABS, ESP systems are going to need regular maintenance and there are virtually NO outside shops that want to spend the money on the test equipment and the parts prices are absolutely INSANE!!

They just replaced the (2) COIL PACKS on my 2006 SL65 under warranty. If not under warranty the cost would have been over $3800 for the 2 packs remember my car is only 3 years old!!!!

Plus my motor mounts are collapsed (requires pulling the V-12 engine) and they have also replaced both ABC Suspension Valves already.... The idea of owning these newer Mercedes after the warranty runs out is absolutely HORRIFIC!

Very soon I think that there will be visually perfect low milage SL55/65 that need only minor repairs that the owners refuse to spend money to fix sitting at used car dealers for $20,000 or less.

I can here it now.. " Sir the ABC light on the dash will cost you only $5,000 to have it turned off" are you still interested in buying this car?

Even the SLRs are not holding their value with brand new 2008 sitting unsold and being offered at $200,000 off the sticker price and they still are not selling!

Geeze.... I think I'm going to dump my 1100 mile POS SL55 b/f it's too late and starts to disintegrate b/f my eyes! What a dismal perspective of the future of these wonderful cars. j/k, I hope you're mostly wrong about what the future holds but with all the technology woven into these cars I suspect there is some possibility of what you say happening.... Good thing I bought a 5 year 75k mile warranty.....

[RRod]

Originally Posted by EXECMALIBU

They just replaced the (2) COIL PACKS on my 2006 SL65 under warranty. If not under warranty the cost would have been over $3800 for the 2 packs remember my car is only 3 years old!!!!

Plus my motor mounts are collapsed (requires pulling the V-12 engine) and they have also replaced both ABC Suspension Valves already.... The idea of owning these newer Mercedes after the warranty runs out is absolutely HORRIFIC!

Excellent owner insight! Thanks for sharing your own experiences EXECMALIBU. That's the beauty of these types of Forums.

In your opinion would the SL55 and SL65 be about the same regarding future maintenance headaches?

I guess that's why I've tended to collect older/simpler cars .... kind of like this other old man's collection:



I really enjoy being able to tinker with cars (at least the older Detroit built iron).

[EXECMALIBU]

The V12 have a few other problems like the (2) Coil Packs are prone to failure and each operate an entire bank of cylinders (left 7-12 or right 1-6). The V-12 also has twin plug heads so each Coil Pack has 12 coils... 1 of the 12 goes bad and you are screwed and have to buy the entire $1,800 pack...

I had planed on keeping my SL65 forever but it has had a number of issues that the MB dealers are still trying to resolve.
This is ultra scary to me because if the MB dealer cannot fix problems while on their dime what happens on my dime?

"Sir we should be able to diagnose the problem in 3-4 hours @ $125 per hour". So you think it should cost around $500 to fix?..."No sir that is not what I said... We will diagnose the problem hopefully for $500 and then call you with the cost to actually fix the problem..."

The other day my battery died (not covered under warranty). The dealer told me it would be a minimum $125 to test the electrical system, $190 for the small starter battery plus installation.. I figured around $450 for them to replace a battery!... I have owned exotic cars for 35 years but $450 for a battery?

I passed and installed it myself for $120... But the dealer still had to turn off the "battery defective" light.. Luckily done by roadside under warranty.


I also collect Vintage cars, some that I have owned for 30 years... (246GTS and a 1962 Porsche S-90 Roadster, 73 911S)... Those were the days that you could actually fix the cars not just change components...


.

[RRod]

Originally Posted by EXECMALIBU

I had planed on keeping my SL65 forever but it has had a number of issues that the MB dealers are still trying to resolve.
This is ultra scary to me because if the MB dealer cannot fix problems while on their dime what happens on my dime?

How many miles have you put on the SL65 and what's been the driving style (easy, hard, track, etc)?

[chuck z]

Originally Posted by EXECMALIBU

I also collect Vintage cars, some that I have owned for 30 years... (246GTS and a 1962 Porsche S-90 Roadster, 73 911S)... Those were the days that you could actually fix the cars not just change components...


.

......I've got a 1978 Porsche 928 with 1488 original miles for sale if you're interested. It's lime green metallic with cork/black opt-art interior with black carpet. Completely original down to the tires (I did change the timing belt and water pump).

[EXECMALIBU]

Nice 928 but the 928S4 or the 928GT was the one to have!


The only cars from the late 1970s-2009 that are even close to being collectible or worth more then they sold for new that I can think of (I know there are a few others) are the Ferrari 512 BB boxers and the AMAZING Ford GTs... The BMW Z8 with ultra low miles are close.

Most every other exotic car including even the amazing cars like the Carrera GT, SLR, Lambos, Ferrari 360 , Porsche GT2/3 or Turbos, Bentleys, Jags, Vipers, Aston Martins, BMW Ms are ALL selling at huge discounts from new and they are all just used cars! This is very disappointing.

As a car collector I had hoped that my late model cars would at least hold their value like the vintage cars did...

It used to be that you could find a good deal on a used Porsche,MB, Ferrari, drive it for a couple of years and sell it for the same or even more then you paid... Especially if they discontinued the body style... Not any more!

Now everyone wants the latest and greatest model and they just walk away from YESTERDAYS car like it was and old newspaper...

Here is an original paint low milage 1978 930 Turbo offered (not selling) for $31K.. The 930 in their day were the absolute pinnacle of technology and performance but they are still not even close in price to the 1973 Carrera RS or the Dino or Daytona from only 5 years earlier.


We loved and cherished the 1970s cars when we were young but my son and his buddies are not interested in the cars that were around when they were growing up...

In reality every year the cars get faster and handle better! I hate to admit I can understand on a certain level why people was the newest models...

But I will never understand why there is a mint 2009 SL65 with only 5,000 miles offered for $129K at a dealer! The car will sell for less...

Thats a $70K plus $20K Tax/license=$90-95K loss in 6-8 months!

[Sunir]

It's funny but I also think that the true value in cars is the enjoyment you get from driving, modding, and pushing them either on nice drives, road courses, drag strips what have you...cars are one of the worst investments bar none...there are plenty of better ways to invest...I generally have the ones that I really like and those are the ones that I'd target as keepers...all the while driving each one in the stable and enjoying each one as much as possible...

The cars that are collectors items are rare ones with some historical significance ussually produced in ultra low numbers...no modern mass or even semi-mass production car, with exception of maybe Koenigsegg or zonda (both very very low production figs and harnd crafted/assembled) may ultimately reach the exclusive pinnacle of collectability interms of modern day cars IMO ...