Ever since Henry Ford invented the assembly line and ushered in the era of mass production, exclusivity has become an increasingly exclusive commodity. A citizen of the United Arab Emirates beat the system by commissioning a car joint developed by Mercedes and Lotec called the C 1000. It features a lightweight carbon fiber body, twin-turbo 5.6L V8 producing a prodigious 1,000 horsepower, Hewkand 5-speed racing tranny and 4 Ram AP IMSA racing brakes. Performance figures are impressive with a run to 60 mph taking 3.2 seconds, 125 mph comes in 8.08 seconds and its top speed is 268 mph. No word on whether that velocity's been tested or not.
The bidding started at $350,000 and so far, no one's placed a bid. You have two days left to beat Jay Leno to this one-of-a-kind Merc, so get to it.
[Source: eMercedesBenz]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tom Design @ May 13th 2006 1:29PM
Oh, my, what beautiful beast! How can we even look at our daily drivers after seeing this? Inspiring and uplifting, yet depressingly unreachable. Awesome design.
In a bizarre fashion, it has similar "eyes", indented rounds, of the fabulous Lincoln Cosmopolitan 1951:
http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/51linc01.jpg
gbh @ May 13th 2006 1:40PM
As I recall from a couple of sources long ago, this car cost 1.2MM, not 2MM. But hey, why would a car dealer let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Either way, nothing wrong with separating a fool and his money when he's got this kinda cash to piss away.
When these were designed there was supposed to be a run of about 30-50 of these, but you know that goes. IIRC, there was also one more constructed with a Ferrari lump instead of Benz power. The MBZ powered car also used to have different wheels, or at least the shots I remember did.
If the Cd figures given back in the day were correct, and the engine output was about 1000 HP, it should be good for around 250. But, I don't recall anybody ever wringing one out.
gbh @ May 13th 2006 2:01PM
BTW - Just talked to a buddy of mine. This car was sold at Barrett-Jackson PHX this year for $243K
(+ usual B-J buyer's premium bend-over).
So, if you buy it for the opening bid, those cheeseballs in ATL just made at least 80K. Probably why nobody with their head out of their ass has placed a bid. But I'm sure they'll find a sucker sooner or later.
Dave-in-pa @ May 13th 2006 3:03PM
Hey gbh...I have no idea of the original price of the car, it might well have been 1.2 million. Probably the additional 800K was Freight, Dealer prep and fabric protector. :-) Okay..maybe he got an extended warranty for that too.
Tom Design @ May 13th 2006 3:15PM
Dave-in-pa => HAHA...you're a funny man. Don't forget clearcoat and dealer installed wood trim and shift knob.
gbh @ May 13th 2006 4:10PM
Dave, Tom,
You guys are forgetting floor mats and lifetime oil changes...
As far as I can tell, the R&D figure was about 1MM. So, they are rolling that into the 'originally paid' for the car.
Sure, R&D does get amortized in. If it were really to be a 'one-off' 100% bespoke car, then I would accept rolling R&D into the "what the guy originally paid for this car" party line.
However, like other things done by Lotec, the ultimate goal was series production - very short run - but still, series production. They had another proto done in the early 90s. I forget the name. Same idea.
Also, they made (at least) two. So they can only fairly charge half to each car.
BTW- Still a pretty impressive performer at 250K. Less impressive at 350K.
Fooman @ May 13th 2006 4:58PM
Yup this thing sold at BJ in Phenoix this year, same vin number on ebay as the BJ car...
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/auctionresults/common/cardetail.asp?id=183637
bloggaru @ May 13th 2006 5:19PM
that thing is awesome
GDUB @ May 13th 2006 5:22PM
Runs on a mixture of unleaded gas, and aviation fuel.
Cool i can mix this up in my kitchen. Better get granny to stop smoking in the house.
Cody Peterson @ May 13th 2006 6:52PM
Thats it, where's my Mastercard....
(I need a new daily driver) ;-)
....... @ May 13th 2006 11:54PM
thats really nice but......
1. is that street legal? i mean if you tap the accelarator and "accidentaly" cruise to 268 mph.
2. is 1k horsepower a bit to much?
Keith @ May 15th 2006 8:33AM
This weekend on Speed Channel, it replayed the Barrett-Jackson auction on this car and it sold for $250k, now the new owner starts the bid at $350k. Talk about looking for a quick return on his investment.....
ROCKY @ May 17th 2006 5:29PM
WELL THATS WEIRD. A DEALER IN ATLANTA SELLING IT AND THE AUCTION ENDED 2 DAYS AGO WITH NO BIDS. I WORK AT PHOENIX MOTOR COMPANY MERCEDES AS A TECH AND AT LUNCH THAT CAR CAME IN HERE AND THE GUY DRIVING IT SAID HE WAS DELIVERING IT TO SOMEONE THAT JUST BOUGHT IT.
RacetrackOwner @ May 19th 2006 7:26AM
1) Street legal is unrelated to top speed. It is almost certainly not street legal, though. For one thing, it has no bumpers which I believe were a requirement by 1991. Even the one-off rules are pretty stringent these days.
2) There are lots and lots and lots of cars on the road today with well in excess of 1000 HP. If you live in a reasonably large metro area, there's a pretty good chance you've passed (or been passed by) more than one in your life. I won't say making 1000+ HP is necessarily easy, but it isn't rare.
DPC car videos @ Sep 20th 2006 1:24AM
Nothing on that car resembles a Mercedes, except the emblem.