I normally post on my home CLK page, but I thought you guys might enjoy this


Took my son driving round the local high school and rounding the corner to the lower parking area, I was blinded by a sea of silver.



There in the HS school parking lot were approx 250 brand new silver Mercedes Benz cars, including

100 M-B S400 Hybrids @$91,000 each
84 M-B GL350 4Matics @$30,000 each
50 M-B R350 @ $50,000 each

Perhaps $15 million in silver cars

All silver, all brand new, all on FL tags. I surmised that they are here in Atlanta for the PGA Championship as Official Cars for the golfers, guests etc.

The security guard was more than a little nervous as my son tried out his 3-point turn skills, for the first time, in a row of S400’s . He politely asked us to practice somewhere else.

 

Wow....nice silver ocean.

 

I wonder what they do with them when they're done?

 

Wow, what a sight! I want one of those $30,000 GL350s. (They cost a little more than that.)

 

Notice how many WITHOUT HID lighting.

 

I think you have the GL and GLK mixed up...

 

They sell them off to the public, afaik. There used to be big Buick sales, when they were the sponsors

Ah crap. I got the model correct (GL) but used the price from the GLK. How did I do that?

Make that total $17.5M

 

Holy crap! Those GL's are parked with military precision.

Life must be good on the PGA tour.....

Thanks, OP for the pics and LOL at your son's 15pt-turn (er I mean 3) story...

 

Wow. Do you know if they are still available? i want a GL.

 

They will probably be auctioned after the usage and then dealers will bid on them taking what they can to sell off to public.

 

That doesn't mean anything about the merits of HID lighting. Why would Mercedes waste money to equip these with the full light package when it's only being used on loan for the PGA tour.

 

Plus they try and keep costs down so their easier to get rid of. Lower equipped has a lower MSRP which maybe attractive to more than a optioned up unit - especially one of these types which will be used (as they are plated).

 

I understand that the golfers get a choice of a self-driving a car, or getting one with a driver. I imagine they keep all the cars identical so there are no hissy-fits that one golfer gets an S550 while the other "has to make do with" a S400h.

Whether the S400s are for the golfers and the GLs/Rs are for support personnel isn't clear.

We were discussing at work how you could buy the car that your favorite golfer had for the week. I understand that when they are sold, they just say "ex-PGA tour" or some such thing, and not "ex-Tiger Woods PGA car"

 

At 30 grand i take two GL350... Lol

 

They move them from tourney to tourney... at some point they will sell them all and start over. They also use them as safety vehicles when there is inclement weather at the event...they will have them positioned around the golf course. The pros and their caddies jump in them when they are told to get off the course. I think it is great advertising!

 

Incredible! Better hope all 234 keys are labeled.

 

PGA ended yesterday. I have been seeing these cars now all over town, . Saw some GL450s with HIDs in the mix around town.

Of course, each time I saw one I would check and see if Tiger Woods was driving

I was at the course Friday and there were plenty there. (Visited the M-B owners facility at the course and saw their beautiful SLS AMG roadster too)

That's the 2011 major golf season over, so I would assume they will be up for sale soon.

I don't know where they re-gathered them yesterday as the high-school students started back today, so that parking area is probably gone.

 

Read yesterday that the cars are on their way to NY for the US (Tennis) Open, so if you are in Flushing Meadow, look out for them.

They will be auctioned off at the end of 2011, once all the various sports championships that M-B sponsor are finished.