A quite attractive (to my eye) C43 with a 55 swap is up on BAT. I'm a big fan of this one so I'll be curious to see where it ends up.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...nz-c43-amg-24/

 

I saw the listing as well. It looks like a well kept C43, with a 5.5 upgrade of undefined origin. Is it a real AMG engine, or a 5.4 from some other model? Let’s see how the bidding goes.

 

All 5.4l M113 motors are AMG. The largest displacement non-AMG M113 was 5.0l

 

Beautiful well kept car, and absolutely love those OG Brabus wheels!

 

Looks a very nice example.

 

FYI, it sold at $19,750. Had a nice bidding war at the very end that took it up $2500 in the final minutes.

 

Strong money for a 112k mile modified 202. Must be a California thing.

 

The seller is a well known and trusted indy benz mechanic here in SoCal and it was one of his personal cars, not a quick flip. I'm pretty sure another member of the SoCal merc/amg scene bought it with the knowledge that it is a very well sorted vehicle given its ownership history. So I guess it is sort of a California thing...haha.

 

I would say that USA low miles really original C43s with no stories are now mid 20s valuation in silver or black. Other colors maybe as much as 10k higher. Reversible Modifications okay, others detract. What say others here?

ps. No intent to sell mine, keeping up with insurance valuation

 

M113-powered AMG cars aren't exactly "high miles" at 112k. That's relatively low for one that obviously wasn't some private collector's conversation piece.

I don't know what it is, but the vast majority of w202, w208, w210 AMGs were not babied, they were not garage queens. In spite of being far more expensive and often comparatively worse than their competition (BMW M cars), people bought them and then just drove them non stop. Someone who has owned them would very likely argue "well they're just so damn reliable." That's my argument, at least.

Huge, "nobody asked, why are you talking" anecdote:
I bought my C43 with 238k miles on it in 2011. I expected it to be on its last legs, tired motor, fourth transmission, completely dilapidated interior. I didn't care, I wanted it so I could 55 swap it and abuse it until it died. I was wrong.

But here I am, ten years later. The original motor never quit. I abused it, ran it low on oil, changed oil every 20k miles, basically tried to kill it so I could justify the engine swap. But it never did. So at 298k miles I swapped it anyway. The original motor was still getting to 60mph in 5.6 seconds (factory rating: 5.9 seconds). My interior is in amazing shape despite the age, miles, and living its whole life outside. It's got no rust. It's on its original transmission, still. My wife even totaled it in 2013 and I had it rebuilt instead of scrapping it.

I'm on my fourth front bumper, the paint is ruined, the headliner is ripped out, the ignition switch has physically worn out from use, the AC is currently busted, and the top of my steering wheel is peeling. But everything else is fine. I drive it almost every day now. Also, it's difficult to overstate how much better the 55 swap makes the car over a stock C43. It's not just "hey this one is faster!" but it's a radical change in the car's performance and behavior. It drives me nuts that they didn't all come this way. Imagine in 1998 if the w202 C55 stole the title of "world's fastest sedan" from the E39 M5. That's how much faster the 55 swap makes the car.

Just had my coffee, sorry.

 

@ Su1ac0

With your positive review for C43 everyone who don't own these cars should start looking for one and that would probably jack up value of these cars?