Claremore Driveway: Mercedes-Benz CLS 550

mercedesOne for the Bucket List

A few years back while visiting Hawaii , we ventured out from our motel one day and on down the beach a few miles was a very posh resort. The resort was obviously hosting a very swanky meeting for Mercedes-Benz dealers, and I still remember my jaw dropping at a display out on the lawn that had the most beautiful car I had ever seen.

This was a few years back, and Mercedes-Benz was not exactly known for their great styling. They, of course, had created the iconic Gull Wing 300SL in the early fifties and a few nice SL cars in the sixties, but Mercedes had been suffering from a twenty year styling drought of frumpy and generally uninspiring styles.

Turns out that the car I saw was called CLS, the beginning point for a whole array of high style cars built after 2005 and still being launched today.

Soon after the CLS was shown, the style was copied by BMW, and before long copycats from Korea, Japan, and the United States were being launched.

But there was only one CLS and Mercedes was intent on keeping supplies scarce and thus resale quite high.

I deal quite a bit in Mercedes and have dreamed of owning one of these. You could say the CLS was on my bucket list, and I’m not getting any younger, but selling new for $80k to $100k even coming off lease at half of new price the CLS was still way out of my comfort zone.

But I kept looking and looking, and one day there was a temporary crack in the market and I was finally able to get the one I wanted at the price I wanted.

In my life I have dreamed of owning a whole lot of cars, but usually when I get in the car and actually drive, it seems like there is always something that doesn’t suit me. The ride is too harsh, or it is too noisy, it doesn’t smell good, the seat doesn’t fit right, no Bluetooth, always something.

I sat down in the CLS and said, “Oh, honey, I’m home!” Oh, my goodness! The interior put to shame the big Lexus, or even the big BMW. The ride was smooth as glass on those Claremore railroad tracks, the Harmon Karden sound and the Bluetooth were there, and it smelled so good!

Well, I can mark that off my bucket list now, and if you decide you want one of these half-priced beauties, you know where you can find me. I’ll sell you mine and go on my way to find another!

My name is Robby Melton. I’m old enough to qualify for a “senior coke” at McDonalds and don’t have to work anymore, but find myself here on the lot most days because that’s where the cars are. That advertising slogan,  “We sell cars for fun,” is not far off-base for my brother and me.

 

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