If a business makes it to their 100th anniversary, they must be doing something right. If their business is building cars, they must be making the best cars in the world. In the summer of 2009, Mercedes celebrated their centennial with a very exclusive CL550.
In order to make this car one for the ages, they pulled out all the stops. The “100 Years of Mercedes-Benz Edition” has standard 4matic all wheel drive and the AMG Sports package. Many aspects of this car were limited to the anniversary edition. From the in-house design studio came a metallic graphite exterior finish, along with a hand stitched aniline leather interior. On the center console are the original emblems from Daimler and Benz. The roof is finished in anthracite alcantara, providing a brilliant contrast against the piano black wood trim.
The Sports Package includes front and rear spoilers along with painted calipers and rocker panels. Anniversary edition wheels are 20” and finished in titanium gray. Under the hood is the potent 382 hp V8 and automatic transmission. Torque is rated at 391 ft-lbs. This much power sent to all wheels is why this car is “The Best or Nothing.” Only a few anniversary edition cars were brought to the US — don’t pass up this opportunity for the centerpiece of your Mercedes collection.
To understand the significance of this car, the original press release issued by Mercedes-Benz from 2009 can be found below.
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Montvale, NJ – This year Mercedes-Benz is celebrating the one hundredth birthday of the Mercedes three-pointed star and the Benz emblem with an exclusive edition of the flagship CL-Class Coupe. This anniversary model shines with an extensive package of appointments and exquisite details. These include an elegant paint finish from the designo collection, the AMG Sports package, premium leather, black piano lacquer trim and beautifully executed emblems of the original trademarks inset into the center console. These are accurate reproductions of the emblems that Daimler Motorengesellschaft and Benz & Cie registered as trademarks one hundred years ago, forming the basis for the Mercedes star. With this special edition, Mercedes-Benz is adding even more individuality to the luxury coupé, and showing that even the best can still be perfected. Available with standard 4MATIC all-wheel-drive, a limited number of the special “100 Years of Mercedes-Benz Edition” model goes on sale in the U.S. during the summer of 2009.
The histories of the Mercedes star and the Benz laurel wreath began independently of each other: on June 24, 1909 Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft officially registered the design of the Mercedes star, and on August 6th Benz & Cie. registered the letters “Benz”, enclosed by a laurel wreath, as a trademark with the Imperial Patent Office. The fact that both vehicle makers registered their new trademarks in the summer of 1909 appears in retrospect as a parallel to the year 1886. That was the year when, again independently of each other, Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz invented the automobile. Twenty-three years later the two companies, competitors at the time, created new brand symbols which promptly appeared as a badge and device on their respective vehicles.
On February 18, 1925 – more than a year prior to the merger of Daimler and Benz on June 28, 1926 – the two brands registered the new joint logo: Daimler’s Mercedes star set within Benz’s laurel wreath.
The CL-Class has been acknowledged as a masterpiece of automobile engineering since its inception. It combines the comfort of a prestigious luxury sedan with the athleticism of a sports car, with a captivating design and trailblazing high-tech features. With its exclusive appointments, the special “100 Years of Mercedes-Benz Edition” underlines the special status of the CL-Class.
The crowning highlights of the anniversary edition are the historic trademarks dating from 1909 in gilded plate brass, which are inset into the center console. Together with the designo metallic graphite paint finish these accentuate the model’s exquisitely luxurious character. Sporty visual touches are provided by the AMG Sports package with muscular front and rear aprons, side skirts and sports pedals of brushed stainless steel with black rubber studs, plus painted brake callipers with Mercedes-Benz lettering. The anniversary edition also includes high-sheen 20-inch 5 twin-spoke AMG light-alloy wheels painted in titanium grey, which are only available for this special CL-Class model. They are shod with 255/35 R 20 tires.
The interior is fitted with exquisite, partly hand-stitched Sahara Beige premium leather. The high-quality wood/leather steering wheel harmonizes with the interior trim in shining black piano lacquer.
The 382-hp special CL550 4MATIC “100 Years of Mercedes-Benz Edition” is equipped with all the new features of model year 2010. These include new exterior mirrors with larger lenses, an eye-catching indicator design in LED technology and improved aerodynamics and an upgraded telematics generation with a further development of COMAND system. An SD card slot in the center console, a USB interface in the glove compartment and a universal Media Interface for connecting mobile audio devices are also included. Finally, all components of the Premium 2 package are included as standard equipment.
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