Mercedes SL55 AMG Gets an Extreme Makeover

Muamer Hodzic August 9, 2007

A tuning company that prides itself on creating cars for “[buyers] that want something no-one else has, so they can become part of creating a club and perception.” Now, isn’t that what every tuning company wants, unfortunately, and I mean unfortunately, these guys are not your ordinary tuning company. They transform cars into something its own creator wouldn’t recognize it. How far does the tuning go? Well it goes as far as taking an SL and turning it into an Aston Martin look-alike. Customers are expected to pay over $140,000 for a tuned car like that, plus of course the cost of the original SL. Now, why in the world would someone do that? You could buy an SL and an Aston Martin for that money and have some money left over.

The process of creating this “beauty” is to take the car to Italy, yes it must be Italy, reskin almost the entire car with expensive material like carbon-fiber to make the car lighter. The guys at CAR magazine took the car for a test drive and had the following to say

Clattering under-body trim (easily remedied after our shoot, we’re told) prevented us from venturing much above 60mph, so our chances of generating much in the way of driving impressions were impeded.

We can tell you, however, that the lighter panels seemed to magnify stone chippings in the wheelarches, the over-sized wheels caused the steering wheel to tremor noticeably on smooth roads and the tip of one exhaust vibrated against the bumper idle.

So you pay around $300,000 for a Mercedes Martin SL55 AMG, and what do you get? A very unique car, which drives like a Honda. There is still good news for the buyers, Mercedes agreed to honor the warranty for the car, so when stuff start falling off, you can visit a MB workshop and have it fixed. Great!