ASMA-Design's Mercedes CLS
eMercedesBenz alerted us to this outrageous vehicle - ASMA Design's CLS Shark II, an update to their CLS Shark tuning package. Unveiled at the Essen Motor Show this week, this, um, distinctive car is evocative of… something. But what? Our ideas after the jump.
Ashley at eMercedesBenz says it reminds her of Darth Vaders helmet. Which got us thinking of the CLS Shark II in
black. Which led us to The Green Hornet! Yes, the masked crime-fighter whose secret weapon was Black Beauty, his car,
driven by his faithful chauffeur and martial arts sidekick, Kato.
While there was a tacky Green Hornet TV series in the mid-60s, with a version of Black Beauty based on a Chrysler
Imperial, the original Green Hornet movies of the mid-30s apparently featured a version of the Black Beauty based on
the Lincoln Zephyr.
Note the compelling similarity in the deep, flaring grille treatments on the Lincoln and the ASMA Shark. A
coincidence? I think not.
The CLS Shark II is the perfect car for a 21st century Green Hornet - in black, of course. Kato would approve.
[via eMercedesBenz.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joel A 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
First Chrysler (the 300s) now Audi. This, though, has the be the worse.
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Ron 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
OMFG..... I can't even describe how ugly this thing is..
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Asad 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Looks like the put a freakin cowcatcher on the front of it. Way to ruin a nicely designed body, they could have just taken the existing grille and taken your focus off it and smoothed it into the body better.
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Mike 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
I see a 1930's Cord... But it doesn't look nearly as good as one.
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franke 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
ASMA "design" .. design! .. hahahahahaha
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Eyad 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
IMHO inspired by MB's own Excelero
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Bob 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Looks like an updated version of the Edsel.
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Robert Schwartz 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
What's with the ugly grills? Audi, Subaru, now this. Is there a designers cabal that issues decrees on these things?
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Asad 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
#6 The Excelero pulls it off, evoking some kind of menacing power about it. This just looks out of place on this car.
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Karl Kirchner 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
It is a nice car and very reminiscent of the Black Beauty. However do not underestimate the 60's Black Beauty. It was a design of noted custimizer Dean Jeffries and was quite advanced for its time. How do I know? I own one of the two TV used Dean Jeffries built Black Beauties. Its not bad for a car that is 40 years old. See my website for details on that car.
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Christian 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Looks like a 1930s-40s Nazi mobile. Just in keeping with M-B tradition of course.
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mike 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Sorry to be off topic but what does "after the jump" mean? I've been following this site for a while and have yet to see a "jump".
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Dr. Woo 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
Completely out of place. Audi designers are looking at this car and saying, "Ew."
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Stuart Waterman 10:50PM (12/18/2005)
#12/Mike, Long posts are broken into two parts. "The jump" is actually the "Continue reading [the post title]" link at the bottom of the first part of the post. If you get to the post directly (from an rss feed reader, for example), you will see the long post in its entirety on a single page, without the break/jump. Hope this clears it up!
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