c2jones

Well, while Juan Montoya may or may not be thrilled with his future Formula One ride with Mercedes power next season (Mercedes is having their problems this year), he's at least taken the mantle with his street version of his Mercedes affiliation for next year.

The dealership which I buy my cars from, Mercedes-Benz of Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, had me know that none other than one high-profile racer Juan Pablo Montoya came in recently to take delivery of his new MB SL65. It was something of a spectacle.

Juan lives just south of here in Miami, which has larger MB dealerships, but
the one in Lauderdale has ranking for special cars there. They always have a
Maybach or two, and the dealership and overall AutoNation (largest USA
dealer group) owner, Mr. Wayne Huizenga (also owner of the Miami Dolphins NFL club), is said to be readying for his McLaren SLR.

Given that this car has only recently come out of the rumor mill to now
being built and shipped in limited quantity, Juan must have had his tabs on
this car for some time now; probably just as soon as he agreed to drive for
Mercedes-McLaren last year. (Maybe it was even a perk from MB. That would be saying something, because Huizenga purportedly had to pay for his SLR, and he owns the dealership and its network.)

The SL65 that Juan has is really special. Of course, let's hope its not more special than the other MB he'll be in next year. (His mulit-million dollar 900+ BHP Mercedes powered Formula One racecar.)

With all the resources that MB is putting into their program, this ought to
make for significant strides forward.

All this said, maybe taking the keys of the SL65 is a prelude of good things
to come for both Juan and MB.

After all, if MB really picks up their program (as some feel they truly
will, and soon), and Juan takes a new "lease" on life with them, perhaps
there are some special things on the horizon with the packaging.

Meantime, I hope I can catch a shot of Juan in his new ride somewhere on Miami Beach. Think he'll stop by the LoveMercedes Tour? Na.

Twinturbo

"The SL65 that Juan has is really special." Please elaborate

c2jones

Sorry, perhaps there was too much room for multiple translations for what was meant given the way I wrote this.

Actually, I have no details as to whether Juan's SL65 has anything more special about it than any other. (Although I would imagine that he had every available option one could have with the car.)

All SL65's are of course, special.

The purpose of my statement was to offer this as a premise to the motorsports enthusiasts (like myself) with some humor of the SL65 being a bigger success than the new Mercedes F1 racecar that Juan takes over next year.

Mercedes is having their problems this year and the thinking with many in the sport is that Juan might have possibly got himself into a bad situation before he's even started. One statement was used as a premise or set up statement for the other. That's all. Sorry to mislead you.

The motorsports people know what I meant. Perhaps I should have worded this differently.

Let's hope that the Mercedes racecar has no problems with being upstaged (in terms of reviews and success) by its street relatives (SL65 and SLR). That was the pun.

JackStraw

Thanks for clearing that up.

Twinturbo

OK thanks, I definitely agree the SL65 is special, I just thought you meant that by special, it had some custom modifications from AMG or something since he is a Mercedes racer.

SLK55_AMG

I thought the same thing as you twinturbo...