To all of you SL enthusiasts, I'd like to let you know before I begin that the car in question is a REAL SL65. I know what an SL65 sounds like, looks like internally and externally. I have seen this car and loads of SL65s all around the world. I know of well-informed multi-Merc and other exotic owners who have seen this particular car and ensured me its an SL65. No badging has been done.

Since Bangladesh's Caretaker Government began its crackdown on corruption in Jan 06, many exotic cars have been confiscated since most of the their owners did not pay tax on them when the previous government was in power. For your informaton, tax for any cars with an engine capacity greater than 5.0 liters is 300%. This is good. Small country. **** loads of cars. Too much congestion. At least now everyone thinks twice before getting a new car.

Since then, Gemablla Cayennes, 911's Cayenne Turbos, Ranger Rovers, Hummers, Escalades, Navigators, Jaguars, Rolls Royces, Mercs, BMW's, etc have been seized.

This SL65 is one such victim. It arrived in Bangladesh about 2.5 years ago and immediately caused quite a stir since its the first of its kind in South Asia (yes, India's 1st SL65 came much later). It was the most powerful car in the country until 2 de-tuned Gemballa GT700 arrived.

Here are the pics of the car from my site drivetimedhaka.com. Pics take by a friend when he took his Merc in for servicing. Credit goes to him for the pics.




This is the pic of the AMG Biturbo Engine. Immaculate.



Here's the pic of the car taken almost a year after being confiscated. It has been there ever since. The black Techart Cayenne Turbo S also belongs to the same owner. The owner also has a CL55 AMG and had an ML55 AMG, X5 4.8, Range Rovers plus a lot of other nice cars. The CL55 was spotted at a gas station a few months ago but has gone into hiding ever since.

Pic was posted in the website www.wheelsbd.com. Pic taken by and uploaded to the site by a member called Imran. All credit goes to him.



Its just sad to see these cars rotting away. On the bright side, its good because its part of the anti-corruption drive. Since last Jan, exotics stopped arriving in Bangladesh. This car and the others could at least be put in a warehouse and properly covered up. Its very unlikely this car will ever be driven again or have a new owner who will try to restore it. It will definitely be rotting away at that spot forever. Trust me on this, I know.

There are people in the country who can buy this car with cash the next day but won't do so since the Government will run a background check on anyone purchasing luxury items from now on and ever rich guy has something to hid that can land him jail for a long time.

The first time I saw this car was when it overtook me. Instead of following it for a closer look at it, I pulled over for a breather. Its not that often that I get overtaken by a V12.

I just saw the picture of the car in that sad state about an hour ago and wanted to share this sad info with you guys.

 

What is much, much, much more more disturbing than some miscellaneous SL65 rotting away in some starving violence-torn 3rd World or Developing Nation is that so much of that wealth within these regions is "dirty" or "blood-stained" money

 

+1

 

I can assure you that none of the money in my country is "blood-stained". They are all "dirty" or "black" money. And when you grow up in a country like that it becomes such a familiar thing that you tend to take it for granted.

That's why this SL65 made me more sad than the actions of the people who bought it.

So please don't get me wrong why I am not feeling bad for my country. I am just too tired of it.

 

 

Thats horrible...btw the "SL65" badge looks to far too the right to me?

 

to avoid the 300% tax for cars with engine capacity greater than 5.0 liters, all the badges, S65, ///AMG, V12 Biturbo was taken off and put on later when the car was brought home. Looks like they did not do a good job of putting it on.

There is an S600 Pullman in Bangladesh that has the badge E280 instead of S600 to avoid the high tax. Cars with less then 3.0 liter engine capacity are subject to 149% tax.

 

I got dibs on the rims! Lol
That does suck though, but seriously if the rims are for sale I can wire transfer

 

I'm surprised that simply pulling the badges would fool the tax authorities because the serial number of the cars always decodes the true identity of the engine size.

Didn't the authorities do computer checks of VINs?

 

instead of the cars rotting there is it possible to purchase them and have them picked up and shipped to the uk ?

 

They will do that from now on. The previous government could not be bothered since it was mostly people with strong connections getting these cars.

 

To be honest, this is the least priority for the caretaker government right now to find a seller for the cars. Imagine this, the caretaker government who was supposed to hold elections in Jan 06 and hand over power to the winning party has not yet done that since it wants to get rid of all the corrupted people first. They are doing a really good job at it too.

 

I am very glad to hear that they are checking VINs now .... Maybe there is hope for our Planet Earth afterall

 

+1, its sacrilege

 

Thanks for sharing your story. It makes me appreciate being an American because we are free to drive 5.0's without being corrupted.

 

it looks like an 030 sl55

 

From the engine pix?

 

Good for you, mate. Plus you're not required to pay 300% tax on 5.0 cars. tiny countries like ours, singapore, etc have to. Not enough room to drive.

 

Tax evasion is also considered a very criminal act here too! We all pay luxury tax on our cars here too, but not 300%. If someone has the money to pay cash for all these hi-end cars, then they should just pay the taxes to help their country instead. My 2 cent.

 

you're absolutely correct. This guy in Bangladesh who's worth about 500 million dollars at least bought a Rolls Royce Silver Seraph and was cheap enough not to pay the tax and eventually got the car taken away.

 

What about the government taking away that 500 million dollar guy's feedom like they would do in real countries for tax evasion?

 

most of them were lucky enough to escape the country. they are staying in some 5-star hotel in a nice country. They will be arrested if they ever return. they have all their money in foreign bank accounts and live like kings till the end of their days. only drawback for them is they can never return.

 

I understand now ..... actually the same sort of thing happens in the United States too. Sometimes those guys get lucky and an outgoing president pardons them on his last day in office like what happened to Marc Rich who was a fugitive living in Europe when Bill Clinton pardoned him around January 2001 ... see attached links for more info:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...,99302,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich

 

Why does that not sound like much of a drawback?

 

lol