-wingman-

Hey everyone, I'm looking at picking this car up from auction but i'm not local to the car. The auction says its a 2005 S500 but the car emblem's show its a S55 AMG... after looking at the pics the rims arent stamped AMG there is no fender badge and the engine cover looks like a NA cover not the normal AMG cover, it also doesnt have on the steering wheel the + or - for the quick shift, it also has a front emblem in the grille which i thought started on later models. I have the 1st 11 of the vin but not sure that would pull up anything. I'm just trying to figure out if this is an actual AMG or a fake...I will post up some pics please let me know.

da boss

It's a s500 amg sport package.

-wingman-

so what engine would that be then I'm guessing not the sc 493hp? or is it? thanks for your quick reply to my first post

AMGTestDriverNJ

Yeah this is surely not an AMG car. Here are a few tell tale signs to look for. The instrument cluster should read AMG somewhere and have a higher top speed than a regular vehicle. Obviously, as you mentioned, the engine cover is not specially marked AMG. Further, I'm 99% sure those exhaust tips are add ons, you can tell by the way you see them come down like that. Also, always look for upgraded brakes, thats an easy tell. I see AMG clones alot, and the easiest way to tell is just look for the brakes. If its got brakes, chances are its real, but even then, people switch the brake kits too. Instrument cluster is a good tell tale, because even people who convert typically don't switch the instrument cluster. Also, the 220 S class never got a star grill, thats some aftermarket stuff. Yuck. Finally, there really isn't any way to tell if that is 430 or 500 your looking at. Both are V8's so I suggest you get the whole VIN (why do you only have some of the number?) and find out some more before you buy this.

AMGTestDriverNJ

For some reason I thought you were looking for a pre kompressor S55. If you are looking for the v8 kompressor S55 the easiest way to tell besides the gauge cluster is look at the shift gate and see if the car has an M mode along with C and S. Also, as you stated, the steering wheel on kompressor AMGs do have the + - and all v8 kompressors come with quad exhaust tips. The one you've got in the picture there doesn't.

-wingman-

so i'm kinda a rookie in the benz world but if it was just a S500 with the AMG "sport package" does that just give it the appearance of and AMG just no engine, seats etc? so just like the lip kit and badges? either way its a beautiful car and well worth the cost just trying to figure out if it is a "hidden gem"

Oxygen

Very simple... the "Sports Package" is the AMG body kit and AMG wheels. Thats it. No badges, no exhaust, no seats, nothing else... just body kit and rims.

vb26

pretty much. AMG package is somewhere around $5k extra. what you get is upgraded wheels, body kit (front, side skirts, rear), AMG dual exhaust tips. I think that's it

Oxygen

No, you don't get dual exhaust tips. I just said that it's just a body kit and rims, nothing else.

-wingman-

Thanks man

Benz5656

+1, and if you get it please take those tips off. They look really bad from the side. They are clip-on and exhaust doesn't flow through

-wingman-

yeah i dont really like the tips that are on it and i would prob try to find some amg dual tips or put them back to stock or something but those dont look very good how they drop.

M-bENZ

Here is the Real One,

http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2004/06/S55_45.JPG

http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2004/06/S55_100.JPG

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/mercedes-s55-amg/

Andy

oneslackr

Wingman,

That car is in an upcoming auction next Monday. Briefly looked at it myself. It has gone through the auction several times in recent weeks without selling.

I have a ton of VINs I pulled for the cars I was looking at so I might have the full VIN for this car too if you're interested. I might even have the full AutoCheck report on it, as I ran 85 reports checking out the cars I was looking at.

I'll search my files and see if I still have the info on this car. BTW, just an FYI but from what I understand this particular auciton company is no longer giving out full VINS on salvage title cars as of July 1, 2009. Though supposedly you can still get full VINs for clean title cars in their auctions.

Though even before July 1st it was a pain getting the full VINs since the car listings only ever had the 1st 11 digits listed. Then you would have to have somebody pull the full VIN for you whether the car had a salvage title or clean title.

oneslackr

I just looked through all the VINs and AutoCheck reports I saved. Unfortunately, this car wasn't one of them. Figures.

Looks like I had requested the VIN originally but then changed my mind and told my dealer not to send this one to me. I had the same questions about the car as you & since the car looked kind of questionable from the pictures as to what it was I opted to not consider it further.

-wingman-

yeah its on this mondays auction, the reason i was attracted to this one was the clean title and the look of it. We normally can get full vins without a problem but it requires having someone go check it and they dont really enjoy that to much but I know its a clean title just didnt know the dirty little details but looks like a decent pick up.

-wingman-

Yeah thats neat
I was hoping it was a full AMG but for the price its prob going to sell around it will be hard to pass up plus this will be my 1st benz so its between this and a M3 and this would be a fun car still none the less.

Fraser

Definitely not an AMG. Along with the other things people have identified it doesn't have the AMG steering wheel.

Steven Long

Well, actually, they usually have the SPORT logo within the body-side molding on the front fender, between the front wheel & front door ... but I do not see that on this car.

BTW - I hope that's not a SALVAGE title ... maybe that's why the car has not sold at previous auctions. If it's clean as you say - why wouldn't it have sold. If it's too good to be true ...

M-bENZ

if u thinking about the M3 then why not get the CLK55 ///AMG .

Andy

Steven Long

I'd think twice about buying a W220 from an auction as your first car - unless you can look up the past service history at a MB dealer, and also, have a MB mechanic (independent or MB dealer) look at, and driver the car. You can get whacked with $10K in repairs REAL fast, if you don't know what you are looking for. In addition, these repairs don't always show themselves like an oil leak, but can likely be electronic in nature. Some of the W220's have issues with Airmatic ... I am sure others could offer other areas of potential concern. So, while it may be a nice first MB, my concern would be that you really don't know what you are potentially getting into. Good luck, and enjoy!

icwater

yea i'd think twice, just the fact that the past owner re badged it as an amg is a clear sign it was probably a teenager that drove it into the ground

richardliebert

True AMG rear wheels are about 2cm wider than the front and take a different tire size. If front tires are same size as rear it is NOT an AMG. Plenty of other giveaways as noted above.

Steven Long

NOT CORRECT! I have 17" AMG non-staggered wheels on my W210 4Matic, as well as my W220 4matic! Most 4Matics (if not all) require non-staggered wheels. When you add a Sport package and get AMG wheels ... you get non-staggered wheels.

richardliebert

I believe you are driving an S500 with the AMG "Sport Package", not a true AMG. I'm pretty sure the AMG cannot be configured with 4 wheel drive. I drive a 2005 S500 4Matic with the AMG Sport Package. My car looks like an AMG, but a discerning eye would pick it out right away as a "dressed up" S500. The dead giveaways are the rear cutouts for the exhaust and the staggered wheels. If I'm wrong someone set me straight.