Crawling From The Wreckage

Crawling From The Wreckage

The old trappings of the wealthy are fascinating to me since it nearly always appears what rich people spent their money on years ago doesn't look like that much of a big deal today. 135,000 today. For that kind of money, for what is ostensibly nothing more than a stubby, two passenger, mid-'80's, GM E body, one would hope to find gold bars inside the door panels. Seems like only yesterday Cadillac came out with the Allante and it's sobering to realize that "yesterday" was more than thirty years ago. Anyway, critics slaughtered these cars because they were, first and foremost, ridiculously overpriced. Something being expensive not necessarily bad but when you take into consideration what you got, more importantly, what you didn't get for your money with the Allante, it was no Mercedes or Jaguar, the value proposition simply wasn't there. This isn't a bad looking car, mind you, but priced twice the price of an Eldorado with half the seats?

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how and why these things tanked. A big reason why these cars were so expensive was because Cadillac commissioned the famed Italian coach builder Pinninfarina of Turin, Italy to design and build Allante's handsome body. Ok, fine - but Cadillac shipped the chassis over there for them to bolt the body onto; then it got shipped back here for Cadillac to install the engine. That engine, at first, was a warmed over HT4100 that had a tad more horsepower and torque than the head gasket eating original mill but it wasn't enough to make a difference in the performance of the 3,700 pound roadster. Cadillac dropped the first generation Northstar V-8 into the Allante just as they pushed the whole project off a cliff. That big engine solving only one of the Allante's myriad problems; the biggest problem was that GM never figured out how to make the Allante appeal to the buyers they targeted it at originally. In many ways Cadillac still has the same problem today - if a buyer has the means to purchase a very expensive car, why would they buy a Cadillac? Doesn't really matter anyway since in thirty years whatever rich people spend their money on today won't be that impressive. And people wonder why I drive a 24 year old Chevrolet Camaro as a daily driver.

First is its high price tag, which leaves the CLK thousands of dollars out of whack from its closest competitor, the BMW 3 Series, but still unable to equal the more elite 6 Series in either performance or prestige. The second issue is that despite the CLK's formidable power, it simply isn't as engaging to drive as either of these Bimmers. If you're interested in purchasing a used, second-generation CLK, there are a few changes to be aware of. This line of CLK originated in 2003. First came the coupes, which at the time were a CLK320 with a 215-hp 3.2-liter V6, a CLK500 with a 302-hp 5.0-liter V8 and a CLK55 AMG with a 362-hp 5.4-liter V8. In 2005, the CLK500 switched from a five-speed automatic to the current seven-speed automatic transmission. This was also the last year the CLK55 AMG was available in coupe form, and the year the navigation system switched from a CD-based to a DVD-based unit.

The following year, the CLK320 became the CLK350 (and also adapted the seven-speed), while 2007 was when the CLK500 and CLK55 converted to the current CLK550 and CLK63 AMG, respectively. During the transition, the CLK63 convertible adopted a sport-tuned version of the seven-speed transmission. An AMG coupe also returned for '07, albeit only in limited-edition Black Series form with a six-figure price tag. The first-generation Mercedes-Benz CLK was produced for the 1998-2002 model years in coupe form. The convertible was available from 1999-2003. Each debuted as a CLK320 powered by a 215-hp 3.2-liter V6. The CLK430 variant, motivated by a 275-hp 4.3-liter V8, arrived a year later. The high-performance CLK55 AMG coupe and its 342-hp 5.4-liter V8 joined the line in 2001. Its convertible equivalent followed in 2002, and both went away at year's end. All models had standard leather, dual-zone automatic climate control, SmartKey keyless entry, a Bose cassette stereo, power seats with memory, front seat side airbags and antilock brakes. CLK430 models added 17-inch wheels, aero enhancements and different-colored interior items. CLK55 AMGs went further with a stiffer suspension, performance exhaust, xenon headlights, a sunroof, rain-sensing wipers, multicontour front seats, front seat heaters and a rear sunshade.