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MBCA Arizona

Howdy Y’all,

I wanted to share with you my 1998 Mercedes C43 AMG. It was my first and is still my favorite of all the Mercedes I own.
It’s a rare (for a W202) Black Opal Metallic (189). I’ve done an engine swap, so it boasts a 5.4L V8 with a Dynocomp (Scottsdale, AZ) ECU tune.

I love it for its rarity, reliability, speed, and aesthetic. Thinking of it, I love everything about it.

The fun story about the car is I bought it in 2010. I had it for a few years when the opportunity to buy an E63 AMG came up.
It was a great opportunity, and though it pained me to sell my C43, I did. The car was sold to an out-of-state buyer in Colorado.

Almost two years later, I was in an accident, and the E63 was no more. It was a sad loss, as that car was a great car as well.
Six months went by with just driving my Toyota, and though I love my 4Runner, not having something special like my AMG was
beginning to wear me down.

On a whim, I looked on eBay to see what was out there, specifically a C43 like my old ’98. Lo and behold, there was my car, and it was now in Florida. I knew it had to be the same car. Same color, same imperfections. This was it!

Three days left. I waited patiently for the auction to end, and when it did, I was the winner. There was no way I was going to miss this opportunity.

I spoke to the seller, telling him he didn’t disclose all of the imperfections only I would know. He was bewildered how I could know so much about this car. I then told him how it used to be my car.

A couple weeks later, my C43 AMG was back in my driveway, and we’ve been together ever since. Love story.

Thanks for sharing, Jeff!

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