Rarer than the coupe because only 80 examples were built, a Mercedes CLK DTM AMG AMG Cabriolet with only 152 km on board is up for sale at The Zoute auction to be held on October 6 in Belgium.
Photo: Bonhams
To celebrate the victory in the German DTM Touring Car Championship, Mercedes has produced two special series exclusively for the European market: the Mercedes CLK DTM AMG AMG Coupe as a 2004 model in 100 units and the Mercedes CLK DTM AMG Cabriolet as a 2006 model in 80 units.
It is somewhat surprising that this model never had a high value as a collector car although it was much more exciting to drive than the Mercedes SLR McLaren, which had the same engine under the hood but a few more horsepower.
I drove the Mercedes CLK DTM AMG AMG Coupe when it was launched in the fall of 2003 and of all the AMG models I’ve driven this was the most exciting. It was more agile, lighter, and had much better steering than the Mercedes SLR McLaren.
What I wrote above is confirmed again. At The Zoute auction to be held in Belgium on October 6, a 2007-built Mercedes CLK DTM AMG Cabriolet DTM AMG is on offer at The Zoute auction in Belgium on October 6, with only 152 km on board, almost brand new, and the sale price expectation is very low.
However, the auction house Bonhams estimates a price between €150,000 and €250,000, which is very low considering the exclusivity of the model and its almost new condition. Bonhams’ expectations are rather pessimistic as the Mercedes CLK DTM AMG’s price has almost doubled in recent years. At launch in the fall of 2003, the coupe cost 236,000 euros. In 2022 and 2023 at two auctions organized by Bonhams and Sotheby’s, two coupes sold for more than €400,000.
Purchased new by the current owner, the Mercedes has been kept in dry storage as part of his extensive private collection. Having covered a mere 152 kilometers from new, at the time of cataloging, it has recently been recommissioned by Stratton Motor Company.
Built to Swiss specifications and finished in Obsidian Black metallic, this ultra-rare Cabriolet model is fitted with the following options: front and rear seats and door handles in Classic Red; lower part of the dashboard and center console in Classic Red; Steering wheel in Classic Red; carpet in Classic Red; personalized sill plates and logos to front seats.
The accompanying documentation includes a photocopy of the original purchase invoice detailing all the equipment fitted to the car, as well as a photocopy of the manufacturer’s Certificate of Conformity. But the car has no registration documents as it has never been registered.
The Mercedes CLK DTM AMG AMG Coupe and Cabriolet have under the hood a 5.4 liter 3-valve per cylinder V8 engine supercharged with a mechanical supercharger that develops 582 PS, more than the DTM car which had a 4.0 liter V8 engine. Power was transmitted to the rear wheels via a 5-speed automatic gearbox. The coupe accelerated from 0 to 100 kph in 3.9 seconds and had a top speed of 320 kph.
Many elements, such as the deep front apron, large air intakes, flared wheel arches, and boot-mounted rear wing, are derived from the DTM race car driven by Bernd Schneider in 2003. Carbon fiber is used extensively in the body and interior, including bucket seats trimmed in leather and Alcantara. The cabin is competition-inspired but equipped to Mercedes-Benz’s luxury standards, with features like a digital rev counter and the Comand infotainment system. However, the rear bench was missing on the coupe with the Mercedes-AMG CLK DTM Coupe having only two seats. The cabriolet version has two individual seats in the rear.
