I got a text from the driver that the SL55 would arrive around 7:30 pm.

Since I figured they would be in a semi-tractor trailer, I suggested we meet at the nearby Lowes Home Improvement center instead of my house. While there is room on the farm for a semi, it would be hard to turn around and this would just make it easier.

At the advice of the seller, I used T&J Auto Transport and I was very happy with their service.

I had it shipped to North Carolina from California in an enclosed trailer, and as you can see from the video the car was pretty well protected during the trip. I could not convince the driver to drop off the other cars, however.

The car arrived a bit dirty, and with zero gasoline, so my first stop was to fill it up. Also, the auxiliary battery was drained, so the top wouldn’t go down, but by the time I turned on to my road it had charged enough that the last two miles were driven as a convertible. I had the same issue when I got my first SL55 but a few sessions on a CTEK charger fixed that.

Overall the car is as promised. There is a ding on the back bumper and some scrapes on the front air dam. There is also “clear bra” protection film on the front, part of the rear and behind the door handles that wasn’t noticeable on the pictures (although it was mentioned in the auction description) and I’m not sure if I’m keeping it. It isn’t up to the standards that I like to keep my cars as far as detailing, but that is part of the fun.

It is due for a Service B (based on time, not mileage) so I plan to schedule that for September.

This car has a custom exhaust, and oh my does it sound nice. I just hope we get the license plate issue sorted out so I can get it registered and start driving it.

Okay, I honestly didn’t expect to be bidding on this auction much less winning it. As I mentioned before I expected this car to go for north of $60K and that was more than I was willing to pay.

Yesterday I noticed that there was less than a day left in the auction, so I set an alarm on my watch for 2pm and promptly forgot about it. I was actually on a call with most of my coworkers when the alarm went off, so I had to bring the auction up, discreetly, on my phone. I was surprised to see it was still lower than the $30,500 I paid for The Shark, so on a whim I put in a bid of $31,000.

I bid a couple of more times, again pretty much just for fun, when the seller announced that the reserve was off. I put in a final bid of $37,000 and, after the longest two minutes of my life, I won the auction.

Wow, I didn’t expect that.

I reached out to the seller (who had listed over 700 cars on BaT so I assumed they would be professional) and we started working out the logistics for payment and shipping.

I then had to go and tell my wife, who surprisingly just laughed. She later came into my office and asked to see the car, and when it popped up on the screen she laughed some more and said it looked like a big banana.

The name stuck.

I just got back from my trip to LA to see that the yellow SL55 was now at $240,000.

What? I mean it is a very unique car, but that is crazy money.

Of course, soon after I saw the bid it was retracted, as the bidder added in an extra zero.

Heh.

Ever since I bought The Shark (a 2003 SL55) I’ve had a notification set up to let me know when any R230 Mercedes cars are put up for auction on BaT. I was in LA for a work assignment when I happened to look at my phone to see “Original-Owner 2005 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG” as the subject in the e-mail.

This was a little newer than The Shark but still a year too early for that sweet spot of the post-facelift 2006-2007 SL55. Anyway, since I block remote images in my e-mails I hit “load images” to check it out, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

A yellow SL55.

I love yellow on a sports car, even more than red. To my knowledge they didn’t make a yellow SL55, but apparently there is at least one.

Reading more about the car, it started to tick even more boxes.

One owner? Check.

All options? Check.

Performance upgrades? Check.

Like The Shark, this SL was fully loaded with features like the Panoramic Roof and Distronic. Unlike The Shark, it had 52,000 miles on it versus 18,000, so I would expect more paint chips and more wear. Still, 52k miles over 17 years is just a little over 3000 miles per year, and that isn’t bad. With cars like this it is probably best to have one that has been more routinely driven.

The other issues with the car included an accident in 2021, but from the pictures it looks like that has been repaired. From the auction comments there have been around four R230s in Yellowstone, but that includes the SL65 versions as well. I was only able to find one SL55 referenced on the internet, a yellow over red version that doesn’t work as well for me as the yellow over black.

The commenters also seemed divided on the SLR-style hood. I think it looks pretty cool, but many said it made the SL55 look more like an SLK, and there is some validity to that argument. Still for pretty much a one-off car I was very interested in it, and since I was in LA (where the car was located) I reached out to the seller to see about an in-person visit. Unfortunately, I only had Sunday afternoon available and they weren’t going to be around then.

I figured that this car would go for the $60K to $70K range. The most expensive SL55 I’d seen sell on BaT was a 2005 red over red with 25k miles, and I thought because of this car’s uniqueness it would trade in that range, and that was more than I wanted to pay for it.

As you might guess, that didn’t happen. (grin)