Photographed at Castle Island in South Boston, Massachusetts – September 2019
Wordless Outtake: 1997 Mercedes-Benz S 500 – How The Mighty Have Fallen
– Posted on September 27, 2019
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Curbside Classics Archives
Photographed at Castle Island in South Boston, Massachusetts – September 2019
Technically, the coupe versions were called CL starting in 1996/97, but that’s a minor nitpick.
Still a pathetic sight though, nothing more than depressing than a busted up luxury car.
I always think of this as the “CL” too, but they actually weren’t badged as “CL” in North America until the 1998 model year, one year later than in Europe.
“S500 for sale; minor issues. Includes free air freshener.”
That’s not much of an exaggeration. Right now there’s an S500 with similar suspension issues listed on Craigslist in Richmond, Va. for $1,000. Described as “Car needs a little bit of work.”
No low ballers. I know what I got!
It would make a great COAL for you, Eric. Maybe Dave could fly out for a few days and put together a Tech Tuesday post on air suspensions too. I’m always looking for more content…
And after Dave replaces the suspension with recycled El Camino parts, I can enter the S500 in an autocross…
Did this thing have some kind of air suspension? That why it’s flat-footed?
Air suspensions. Brilliant idea.
It happens to almost all luxury cars, as well as all cars in general. The point where the owner is no longer interested in maintaining the cosmetic appearance of the car and is just going to drive it until “something” major goes wrong. This model Benz coupe was never too attractive in my eyes. The following series is a real favorite of mine.
The Lincoln Mark VIII had air suspension too. My aunt & uncle had a white one and I remembered how low it got when the vehicle was parked. It was almost like the body was touching the ground! Unfortunately, that’s how it eventually stayed when the suspension failed & they couldn’t afford to have it fixed. To this day I’m not certain what has become of it. This one isn’t theirs but this is how I last saw it when they quit driving it.
And we know how well air suspension worked out in the late 50s for GM.
Even the bargiest of Detroit land barges never looked as heavy as this thing does right now.
Never have I ever noticed the resemblance to a Ford Thunderbird ca. 1988-’89. Until now.
I noted this too. The window that’s cracked open simulates the look of the thicker-framed glass on the T-bird,
Wow, now that it’s been pointed out I can’t unsee it!
You’re welcome. X-)
What’s the problem?
Lowered.
Negative-camber.
Just needs a wing and some stickers of that cartoon guy that pees on things and the kids will think it is dope/fly!*
*I am old
But the boy-racers LIKE negative camber on their cheap BMWs and Japanese coupes! Sell it to a targeted audience!
And I am NOT posting comments too quickly!!
Someone (Moparlee?) voiced an opinion last week that the posting too quickly thing may actually have to do with multiple people posting at the same instant and the system being overwhelmed by more than one at a time. There in fact was a comment by Jose on the Autocross post that ended up posting one minute before yours posted here, which may have been the instant you tried to post the first time(?) And then you redid it successfully a minute later?
Jim, I looked up these issue a few weeks ago (to the best of my limited-tech ability), and what I understand is that it’s some sort of bug in one of the WordPress plugins… apparently very common on WordPress sites. I’m not sure if folks have identified a fix, but some folks have had luck in updating that particular plugin. Beyond that, I’m lost.
Thanks, I will relay to the volunteer tech team…I have noted that I used to get this error all the time and have in the meantime become diligent about always being logged in – significantly less issues. Not minimizing what some others are apparently still noticing, but it is working for me.
Either way it’s working better than the suspension on the Merc!
I have a 2003 X5 with rear air suspension, in over 200k miles I’ve had to replace the bags once (DIY @ 190k miles, a whopping $200 in parts from Arnott) THAT IS IT! I love how I can drop an 7,000 trailer on the hitch (a sport boat), load over 500lbs in the back, and put 4 passengers in it without it looking like it’s loaded. I get TONS of comments at the boat ramp, and it trailers better then my neighbors p/u, HIS words, not mine.
Air suspension works great, it just need some TLC every now and then.
My 2011 MB GL450 also made use of the Arnott replacement bags, however it was at much lower mileage than yours and as I recall it was more than $200 for all four corners. But still, significantly less than the stock items and not at all difficult to replace, the rears weren’t much more work than just changing the wheels and easier than replacing brakes.
A lot of people don’t know about Arnott, but their products are OEM quality and offer a lifetime (to the purchaser) warranty, making it a very worthwhile replacement part provider. Build quality of the items I got from them was excellent.
Ive seen replacement airbags for these advertised cheap it must be a common issue if 2nd and 3rd tier manufacturers are churning them out, I did find out about the alignment and tyre wear issues these cars have when I had my Citroen set up last year the comment was ‘at least this outfit knew how how to make height adjustable suspension work properly unlike Mercedes’.
I have always thought it might be fun to take something like this into a local M-B dealership and say “Take a look and tell me what it needs” – then look at the estimate. Would they even deign to work on such a car?
I can only imagine 🙂
Unless they could tell you were pranking them, I’ll bet they would give you an estimate. And I’ll bet the estimate would “total” the car!
Very depressing. More so because you don’t see many around as used up old cars, so they are still in my brain as swanky new ones. In the early 90’s, I delivered pizzas in an upscale area. I remember seeing at least one of these coupes parked in a (circular) driveway and thinking “man, that’s living!”.
I liked the detail of how they had the door jambs covered in chrome.
As advertised in the local Bargain Bulletin. . .
Ads for cars like this are often found with ads like “For sale, hamster cage. Will throw in 2 hamsters free. One might be dead. $5 or offer.”
Is this car still running? I remember the 140 S-Class had double glazed windows hence why the window glass looks so thick. Probably due for the junkyard because I can bet restoring it will be very costly. Wheels look a bit too small for a car of this overall size as well.