av8rjeff

I am thinking of selling my C36 but not sure how much it might be worth. It is a 1996 Canadian car with 125,000 KM (77,625 miles), I am the second owner of the car, bought it with 40,000 km on it. The car now resides in the Los Angeles area. It is a daily driver with the usual wear and tear for a 1996, runs as strong as it ever did. It is fully loaded, the only extra not checked off by the original owner was a phone. The biggest question on value is the color, it is Black Opal. I had contacted MBUSA and MB Canada and it is believed that this may be the only 1996 C36 that was made in Black Opal. I can not confirm it but I have never seen or heard of another.

Any suggestions or interested parties out there?

pointman

black opal is that black or blue?

value is not very high... i sold my 97 modded 36 in jan, and got peanuts for it. i kind of regret selling it. i say hold onto it if you can afford to get another vehicle along side it.

av8rjeff

That is what I am thinking, but not sure. The color is a dark metallic blue, sometimes it shows a blue or green or purple depending on the light reflection, I believe MB still offers it, I have seen it on other vehicles. Mine is completely stock as it came from the factory.

pointman

sorry to tell you but the c36 never came as a dark blue. the original owner had to of painted it. it only came in white, silver, black, and red.

Eurosport

dark blue C36s were available in Europe but not US
but since you said it's canadian, it's more than likely that is dark blue from the factory as a lot of euro models do make it unchanged to canada but not US

CynCarvin32

The factory made a bunch of non black, silver, red C36's. There were special versions made for auto shows, versions made for company employees, and cutstom ordered cars from people with connections at the factory. In europe the C36 came in nearly all colors so you just had to get a us spec car made. It was not that difficult. Seen a Smoke Silver C36 and a moonstone grey car as well.

Keep the car. I wish I kept my 1995 black C36... it was in PERFECT condition and I got nothing for the car back in 2002. Bet its worth a great deal less even now!

RocketR

Hmmm, I do know of one local 1996 C36 that came in a dark grey color. It hasn't been repainted and is all original. Maybe they were weird in 1996. My 1995 C36 is silver.

FrankW

Black Opal is not black or blue... it's a dark weird *** color with metallic paint.

av8rjeff

Hey Guys,

It is absolutely not a re-paint, this is the original car as it was ordered. FrankW is correct in his description, I never understood why it was called Black Opal.

Black leather interior with burl walnut trim too.

scorchie

Black opal wasn't offered by MBUSA, and most of MB Canada's reference materials aren't so good. You may want to check with Stuttgart or AMG to see how many 189 C36s rolled off the line in your model year.

Although coloration can be a factor in a car's value, it's only a positive thing if you find someone who appreciates that. I've seen plenty of red C36s go for less money than their worth despite the more rare color; then I've seen others fetch $1K-2K more because of the color. It's all about timing...

-s-

fastneutron

I've only heard of obsidian black, which also changes color depending on how much light it gets (blue or black).

I was going to sell my Obsidian black C43 because almost every month I'm having to take it in for some sort of repair. I just spent another $2500 on it due to the starting problem and transmission slippage. But because of how much money I've spent on it (mods and repairs), I would much rather keep it. I'm sure I won't get much for it because of its high mileage and I'm definitely not going to get as much for it as a trade-in. So, I'll just keep using it as a commuter.

If I were you, I would just keep the C36, especially if yours may be quite unique because of the color.