I don't know how it works in USA but in Canada you should be able to get a collector's license plate and cheap as hell insurance if

1. your car was made in limited number in your particular trim (C36, for example) under 2000 units world wide.
2. your car is in OEM collectible condition throughout
3. your car is 15 years or older.
4. you have another car registered under your name for work/school purposes

Which means 1995~1996 C36 should be eligible by now because, Mercedes Canada has told me that the importation figure for C36 in Canada is as follows:
My wild guess suggest that there wouldn't be anything more than 1000 units sold in any given year in USA either? Anyone with a pristine C36 given this a whirl yet? Any experience with the DMV will be much appreciated if you gave this a try.

TIA.

 

Do you need to meet all of the criteria above? If so the C36 and C43's are out because they both have had over 2000 units world wide...

 

+1

 

True if you group the two models together. Taken separately, the C36 by itself should qualify as production numbers were said to have been ~500 units a year over a three year run.

 

Well if it is distinguishable by vin number a us specced car is of separate consideration from euro spec cars because of the us spec's unique equipment such as the offroad rideheight and walnut interior trim (as supposed to european version with either painted plastic or cf)

 

More than 5000 C36 were made

 

Do you have a source to ascertain the number of Canadian market C43s sold?

 

In the US, many insurance companies will write an agreed upon value policy for cars that are allegedly collectables. And they’re cheap too. For example, Hagerty will insure a C36 as a limited production special interest vehicle. Of course, you can forget about using it as a daily driver. Exhibitions, club functions, and meets – sure. Work everyday? Nope. And it has to be stored in a locked garage. A household garage will do. Street and apartment parking are out. Insurers want nothing to do with anyone who has a drunk driving, reckless or felonious speed tickets on their record.

It costs very little to insure a parked car.

 

Thanks for the experience sharing. I think in bc you are allowed to drive it for pleasure use though, such as eating out, going to the clubs yadayada...

 

You can probably email mercedes canada to get this information, I did. Give them your current vin number and explain why do you want the info they will be happy to help

 

I stand corrected. I wonder which country received a majority of those cars.

 

This came off of Marcus' website...




According to AMG, they built and sold 22,159 high-performance versions of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class between 1993 and 2007. The most important markets were the United States, Germany, Western Europe and Japan.

Model Production Years Quantity:
C36 AMG (W202) 1993 - 1997 5400
C43 AMG (W202) 1997 - 2001 3850
C55 AMG (W202) 1999 - 2001 59
C32 AMG (W203) 2001 - 2004 8250
C55 AMG (W203) 2005 - 2007 4600

 

Well, this is interesting. I did what hk20000 suggested and emailed Mercedes Canada yesterday. I asked them if they could a) confirm all production numbers for Canadian market C43s, b) if they were all MY99s (as I've never seen a '98 or '00 in Canada) and c) if they were all equipped with xenons and headlamp wipers.

Got a response today. I've scanned it, eliminating my VIN and email address. They could only tell me that my particular car had xenons and headlamps originally (duh, I know that, I drive it!) If you don't want to view the PDF, here's what they told me:

The following numbers of C43 AMGs were produced for the Canadian Market:

1998 = 36 units
1999 = 65 units
2000 = 62 units

Interesting stuff indeed!

 

Also the AMG Private Lounge has numbers posted there for US. They say to not copy it, it's for members only, so if you are a member there you can check it out.
I know that 1995 C36 was about 500 to US, and it was the largest year for them, so there are about 1250 C36's in the US, minus all the totaled ones, so definitely considered a "Collector Car" I suppose. Good luck finding one in good enough condition to get the title though.

 

Thanks for that post Marcus. I was always wondering what Hagerty would say to this.

 

WOW you got a RARE bird there SAAB I believe the total number of C43's imported to the US was 1150 IIRC that comes out to an average of 23 per state. I'm sure there were states that received more than other states (i.e California probably saw more C43's than say Alabama). So far I have seen 6 C43's in Oregon not including mine and one of them was RED!!

 

I have seen at least 10 around my area throughout the years. And the color that struck me the most and wish I had was a white one!

 

It would match your C63 wouldn't it

 

 

sorry to bring back an age old thread. Now is the time this has to be done.

The actual criteria says that it has to be less than 1500 WORLDWIDE for THAT MODEL YEAR for THAT MODEL (C36 AMG)

so I'm banking on the fact that actually less than 1500 C36 AMGs were made for 1997 model year alone.

What I gathered was that there were

51 sold to Canada
236 sold to USA

5xxx world wide for all 4 years combined (1993-1997), averaging under 1400 cars per year, and 1997 has always been the rarest of them all.

I still don't have a definitive answer to how many were made in that year for world market.....but with the numbers sold to the #1 car market in the world at that time, I would fancy to guess that there would actually be less than 1500 C36s made for the 1997 model year.

If you have any better information than what I have already please shed some light on this matter.

 

Here in Jersey we have ''QQ'' plates which designate said vehicle as antique.Any vehicle which is 25 yrs or older qualify.THE WORD ANTIQUE IS ACTUALLY ON THE PLATE.Not collector....

 

Good and interesting question. Wonder how many 1997 C36 AMG were produced WORLDWIDE. I'm thinking it's 1,500 or less too, but could someone confirm?

Cheers!