220S

I'm glad you posted that article. It shows how people get their info misconstrued from internet "sources." Ironically, the links that the "ehow" author uses as his references tells a completely different story. Read carefully the referenced Motortrend article. That's the real story. The "ehow" guy (a truck driver and mechanic) used his sources incorrectly (actually just kinda made up his info) and made inferences that are not there. http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/..._benz_clk_430/

The Edmunds article http://www.edmunds.com/mercedes-benz/clk-class/ that the "ehow" guy also uses as a reference says absolutely nothing about any CLK430 AMG.

The reference he called "The History of AMG" is simply a link to the current AMG/Daimler AG website. The other reference is just a "0-60 times" website. There's nothing there. The last link is somebody's name and address and is a dead link.

Ehow is not journalism. It's a unsubstantiated "info" advertisement revenue generating website, like all those "answer" websites. It's just filler crap like how to cook lamb chops or which bank to use, etc..

Here's what the referenced Motortrend article actually said:
Why not a "full AMG" version? Mercedes could have easily done it. But with the C43 already in the lineup, the 350-plus-horsepower E55 super sedan on the way, and an AMG-spec M-Class to follow, the company felt this was enough, at least for now. The full autobahn treatment would have also pushed the CLK430's price well into the high-50s, not the market Mercedes was aiming for with its obviously aggressive-and comprehensively equipped-base price of $47,900. This version nicely splits the personality and cost between the CLK320 and our theoretical CLK43 AMG. Mercedes plans to import only about 3600 CLK430s this year.

Yes, there was a CLK 430 V8 available with "bold AMG Monoblock 17-inch alloys with Z-rated low-profile rubber. A bit more AMG flavor is added by the special front and rear fascias, sculpted rocker panels, and monochromatic paint scheme."

(btw, here's an old article from Car and Driver: "Now, that same styling, augmented by AMG wheels and body add-ons, can still win the hearts of our test crew, and the CLK430's SOHC 24-valve V-8 generated just enough grunt.")

That's all they were. They were not marketed as an AMG product. That came with the CLK55 and later, the CLK63. In the meantime I'm sure there were some dealers adding on AMG trunk badges to the 430. It was and is a great coupe with a great V8. It's just not a Daimler/AMG and nor is it a pre-merger AMG.

In the meantime here's an 18 page thread started way back 7 years ago and with the last post in 2010. Have fun slogging thru that mess.
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w208...k-430-amg.html

JonnyWalker

Well since I have the AMG appearance package, I am going to put the AMG badge, and an AMG window sticker banner on my windshield.hahahahahhaa

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Incredible MooseJaw!

bigben320e

A lot of used car dealerships (not franchised Mercedes dealers) are slapping badges on MB's, that would explain the amount of falsely badge cars. Happened to my car when I bought it personally, and have seen many come from used dealers like that, even the high end ones.

More often than not, you will find that most people that have the fake badges, don't even know what an AMG is and have no idea they are posing. They just bought a used MB, and started driving it. Speaking from personal encounters in Atl.

Jon2007E63P30

There is a thread on the PL where one of the members had a good talk with MBUSA.

There never was an official CLK430 AMG. Urban legend.

MB Dealers who put AMG badges on non-AMG vehicles can loose their franchise. As you note, there are a lot of other dealers who do not face this threat.

cal1

There is a M5 (looks stock sounds stock) in town that I have run into twice now. He really wants a piece of me bad. Maybe he walked a SL500 AMG so he figures he will walk the SL55 AMG too. Dude wants to run me from a dig . I just won't do it on such busy streets. I do hope to see him in Mexico soon.

moosejaw

I still say that authorized MB dealers are doing this practice
They are just too many late model cars on the road that have the AMG badge in the correct location.
The first CLS 500 is a prime example of this.

Yes I agree that the CLK430 AMG is a urban myth, but do not fault the individual owners for doing this to their cars. I believe MB Dealers were doing this as a marketing tactic. How else could you explain the rationale for so many cars and further more could it be ignored for so long by MBUSA ?

I would like to belive that the average CLS owner (or CLK 430 Owner) back in the day would attempt to badge their cars in this fashion. Had to be some directive from a regional source.

bigben320e

That is fraud, and should be reported to MBUSA if you actually saw a MB franchise dealer doing fake badging. We discussed this before in depth on another thread. It was noted some poor guy thought he had an AMG until someone explained it, and he was highly pi$$ed. The car was bought from a used car dealer if I recall correctly.

AMG emblems can be had on the cheap from Ebay or premium from a dealer. Hell, my CLS had the AMG and 55 on it when I bought it, and I had them removed before the dealer delivered my car. It happens.

220S

AMG badges are easily available and cheap on eBay. I'm not trying to point fingers at a particular community, but Eastern Europeans and Russians are well known to badge their cars (not just there, but also in the USA where there are large populations such as in LA and SF.) It's not considered a 'bad' thing to do, and it's very common (as are fake YSL bags and Rolexes.) It's kind of a cultural thing.

There was a long post about an AMG badged E350 that had dealer registration info on it recently on the AMG PL forum. The car was a complete poser and with bolt-on quad tips. The dealer was Mercedes Benz of San Francisco. The salesperson's card and the dealer's info and number were clearly visible in the pic.

Somebody posted and said the car is "well known" at MBSF and it went in for service recently and was laughed at by all the techs there. The owner badged it and made it into a huge poser. It's a pre-facelift E Class, but now says E63 on the back. In CA, it can take 4 months or more to get plates. In the meantime you drive on dealer plates. That's a long enough time to dress up your non-AMG into an AMG.

I called the number of MBSF to see what they would say. The salesperson said the owner did it and there's nothing they can do about it. He said that they don't add badges since that's fraud. They can't CPO cars that way, either.

I'm sure some dealers look the other way. But when you confront them they say it's not something they do as a MB franchise.

gaspam

every criminal in jail is innocent.. do any criminals really admit their guilty when caught? of course they are not going to admit they raped your dog and licked its pooper

220S

Um, well, duh.

Your illustrious and enlightened post is such a worthy intellectual contribution to the thread. Thank you for taking your valuable time to post.

moosejaw

I agree with you. However it can also be surmised that MBUSA may be feeding you a pile of doo. Why would you strip a dealer of it's franchise esp if it is doing really well? And also say if they own three or four delaerships in the immediate area?

Makes more sense to look the other way if you ask me.
Ask the MBUSA person on here to chime in. Im curious what he has to say

220S

It was already talked about in depth on the PL, as Jon pointed out. The AMG product managers are on there once a month for a chat session.

No doubt that some dealers could care less. Autonation, imho, are one of the worst corporate dealers in the country. I probably wouldn't trust much that they say.

MBUSA has a policy. But whether they can effectively control things or not is another question. I personally know the owners of my dealership and they don't engage in any of this stuff. There's no reason, they have a very educated and high end clientele (it's not in a big metro area like LA or Miami, but in a very exclusive community.)

MBUSA is simply the importer of Daimler AG products. Just like Hoffman was when BMW was first being imported (Max Hoffman later sold it and it became BMWNA.) Dealers are independent franchises. Just like the owners of McDonald's stores. McDonald's has a protocol in place. Most McDonalds are run well and follow the rules. But you can find bad McDonalds in certain parts of the country.

I still would argue, however, that the majority of mis-badging cars comes from individuals and second hand dealers. And not the franchises. Again, MBUSA has said it is a fraudulent sales tactic. You can call them yourself. 1-800-FOR-MERCEDES. Or write to them at:
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC
Customer Assistance Center
3 Mercedes Drive
Montvale, NJ 07645

Now whether you want to believe them or not, is entirely up to you. I'm not naive nor ignorant about fraud in the world. On the other hand, I'm not going to live my life without some modicum of trust until proven differently. One can become a bitter, angry, and distrustful person otherwise.

RedBullJnky

[quote=JonnyWalker;4822636]Well since I have the AMG appearance package, I am going to put the AMG badge, and an AMG window sticker banner on my windshield.hahahahahhaa

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!


You got a sweet ride bro.

gaspam

lol its a car forum and thread calling out posers... its not like you are pontificating the heisenberg theory

you are saying "no they cant be doing this. its not MB policy.. they said!" as if someone saying something makes is 100% true... as other members have said, they have seen it with their own eyes... and i believe the south florrida ones especially since i am from there and prob half the sales people at the dealerships have criminal records so i wouldnt put it past them for a moment to lie and badge a car themselves to push a car.

politicians arent supposed to lie either as its against the government's policy, buuuuuut i am pretty sureeeeeee some have lied even though its against policy

02S430

i really dont see what the big deal is other then to point and laugh and say thats not real who cares what someone puts on there car

220S

Sigh. Don't you just love obvious irony? It makes it all so entertaining. Oh, and thanks for enlightening the world with this unique analogy about politicians that no one would have ever thought of before.

There's nothing like having a dialogue that suddenly gets shut down by someone with reading comprehension difficulties and devoid of any critical thinking skills. I feel like I'm in grade school. No, I take that back. Classmates in my grade school were sharper.

I love the internet. It's so full of the obvious.

Use what's between your ears. If there's anything there.

moosejaw

220S,
I think that comment is a little harsh.
This is a poser thread, a lounge type thread of you will. This thread that offers absolutely no use to the forum other than a source of entertainment (which I enjoy, pointing out another members ride <see previous pages> was interesting for me) But bantering with other ppl makes no sense. We all agree about the same thing..... Posers dilute the brand image that we work so hard to cultivate.

In any event.....Ive been on the benz scene for the better part of 10 years, while you do have the douchebags who go to extreme attempts to make their car a AMG. Im seriously telling you there are just way too many of these types of cars out there (in this locale) with the AMG badge. And if you asked the owners of these cars, they will tell you they bought it this way, they have no idea what AMG means, whats under their hood, other than its the top of the line benz.

This has to be dealer initiated....

ENDSMTG

Allow me to introduce another perspective about rebadging cars. In HS I had a classmate that had a '88 Mustang LX with the 2.8L I believe. He rebagded the car with 5.0 and GT OEM decals. He put SS exhaust tips and a hood scoop. Looked OEM without question. About a year later, he got into an accident and totalled the car. Police officer wrote the report as '88 Mustang GT. Would you believe that his insurance, I believe Allstate, would not honor his claim? They stated that this was not the car they insured. His dad fought it in court, but never got resolution. Rumor had it his dad had to file bankruptcy to fend off the lawsuit from the person that got hit, and the city for some damage to property. All of this for $50 worth of rebadging? So let these people rebadge, let them crash trying to race, and pray nobody gets hurt in the process. Then let the AMG badges fall where they may!

PACougar

I don't doubt your story and I'm sure your telling us what happened, but let's face it you'd have to have the worst lawyer on earth to have that happen to you. I think it's sad that people are so caught up in image they have to fake something they don't have so other are impressed, but I guess that's the society we live in today.

mekantor

Then they ran the VIN and the whole thing blew over?

I'll be sure to tell my insurance company that I drive a model-less MB if I ever debadge the car.

ENDSMTG

Don't forget to mention your IROC-Z WHEELS!

gaspam

your hillarious and full of ASSumptions you dont know my IQ or my education level ... and you want critical thinkin and intellectual dialogue i suggest MIT, not internet car forums or perhaps you tried MIT and did not get accepted and feel insecure about it so you come to internet forum to profess your profound intellect

you ammuse me with you "i'm smarter than you" attitude however i think your highly overestimating the supremacy of your intellect

you arguement is "no way MB would allow this kinda activity" and that shows your naivety in believing that no big company would ever allow something dishonest to happen (enron, haliburton,exxon, BP, firestone aka child labor abuses..etc etc etc... yeah big corps never do anything shady )

i am sure you will come back with how smart you are and how stupid i am but i dont care as i take the internet for what it is

CharlyE500

CLK500 AMG V8 Kompressor !


http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...e&rdpage=thumb

fly2nite

Always fun to see one with a DEALER TAG! In all fairness, I'm not sure who "Martinez" is but it's not a local MB Dealer.

BlkE55K

Martinez is a city in Texas.