I was wondering about my paint color. The code on the door jamb is c189. Which I believe is black opal metallic. Is this a rare color? I wish I were home so I could post a pic. I haven't seen any others on here.

I owned an SL55 in Black Opal and now own an SL65 also in Black Opal.

Yes Black Opal is a very rare color... Any color other then Black or Silver is Rare.

A few years ago I researched and found 98 SL65s advertised for sale across the US. Something like 48% were Black , 46% were Silver leaving just 6% for the other 7-8 colors. I am certain that these percentage numbers are very close to the SL55 numbers.

Doing the math that meant there were only 2-3 SL65s ever built in Black Opal. And I agree there were alot more SL55s built, I would guess that only around 20-25 were Black Opal

Not sure I agree with the above stats exactly but if you use the above theory, there were 3,095 SL55's made in 2003. Take out the +/- 90% that were Black or Silver and that leaves 310 cars. Add to that the remainder of the colors were likely the most popular to least popular in the following order:

White
Pewter
Black Opal
Magma/Mars Red
Capri Blue
Orion Blue Metallic
Designo Graphite
Firemist Red Metallic
Aegean Blue
Tectite Gray Metallic
Designo Mocha Black Metallic (I've seen one '03, one '04 and one '07)
Everest Green Metallic (never seen one and probably never will although there was one for sale a couple of months ago)

And you end up with a rough number in my opinion that is around 25-30 Black Opal in 2003 alone. Figure that there were 8,354 SL55's built from 2003 to 2008 and that leaves around +/- 1,000 cars that are NOT Black or Silver. I've been looking for an SL55 for about 7 months and have seen at least 6-7 Black Opal for sale during that time.

I agree that Black Opal is a rare color, but not near as rare as bunch of the others.

I have one of those 'quite or maybe even very' rare Firemist Red pearl metallic 2003 SL55 AMG's. It get's lots of compliments almost every time I drive it!

Gary

I have a 2007 Designo Mystic White SL55... I don't know how rare it is but I haven't seen any others.... I also get lots of compliments....

Thanks for the info. I wanted to get two spots on my car fixed. The previous owner did a bad touch up job. I did read some where that it is a hard color to match. No two are exactly alike? It gets many compliments on the color and condition. But, I can't look at it without looking right at the flaws!
Gary, I would love to see a pic. Tyztoy, that car is sweet! it looks extra white!

Byron,

I'll try to get a picture into this response. IF unsuccessful, I'd appreciate any input on HOW to get one posted!
Gary--

PS: OK, need help in how to post a picture on this site!!!!

When they first were offered in 2009 I bought a SL63 rear Spoiler for my SL65...

I went to buy the paint for my Spoiler and the guy at the paint store handed me a huge ring of Mercedes Color swatches... On the ring there were 9 different #189 Black Opal swatches!

Each swatch had a hole in it and you hold it against your car to figure out which one matches the paint on your car...

Both my sL55 and SL65 were Black Opal and they were slightly different. My wifes CLK is also Black Opal and it is a lot greener then my SL65...

Steve,

They only built around 1,470 SL65s for all of the years (2005-2013)... I know there were only 390 built in year 2006...

I was multiplying the Black Opal SL65 numbers X 10 so I guessed at 25... I did not realize they built that many SL55s..

Yea, the numbers I have are:

2003 - 3,095
2004 - 2,280
2005 - 1,072
2006 - 860
2007 - 583
2008 - 464

What's weird to me is that were more made in 2003 than in the last four years combined. Not sure why the popularity dropped off so much?

The SL65 sales numbers are the same situation...

2005 MB sold 651
2006 - 390
2007 - 140
2008- 120

and then the sales numbers dropped yearly from 2009...

dark green is a very special color~

I have a white SL55 and have only seen 1 other here in Hong Kong....

It's just a guess, but the drop in production might have something to do with declining sales due to the number of problems reported with the 2003/4 cars.

Was it maybe because:
a) it was a new model year, so pent up demand
b) it was sold over 1.5 model years..... as a super early 2003 during 2002.?

no conspiracy re: so called problems........pretty much all halo model cars have the same sales cycle..........when its new everyone wants the latest and greatest, all the upgraders etc. then demand dies off....rinse and repeat on new model.......

don't have the rims any more.

Ok, I've got to ask, is that pic c189?? because my car is c189, but I was told it was cadet blue.....my car is not black opal, in any sense that I would consider it black! it is blue, sometimes green, my wife calls it teal.

help!?

c189 is black opal. it is not black. it is exactly what you explained. it is definitely a unique color. but from what I hear a monster to match if it needs paint work.