Mercedes-Benz CLS Refurbished & Sold It For $200k

It looked like a steal: a man paid just $38,000 for a Mercedes-Benz CLS, bought right off a roadside repair shop. The car was a wreck. Filthy, scratched, clearly neglected. He then rebuilt it from the ground up and claims he later sold it for $200,000.

I bought a Mercedes CLS for $38k – Refurbished it and Sold it for $200k

 
That is the part that raises eyebrows, because $200,000 is real super-sedan money these days. That is brand-new Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance territory. But let’s get to the rebuild first, because the process itself was legitimately serious, because everything started from dirt, grime, and the point of no return.
 
This was not some “hose it down and flip it” job. The CLS was caked in years of mud and who-knows-what. The team stripped the car to the barest bones: body shell on one side of the shop, parts covering the floor like a mechanical yard sale.
 
Everything was unbolted. Everything was cataloged. Every piece was either headed to a deep clean or the scrap bin. Engine out. Gearbox out. All fluids drained. Every component was literally reset to zero.
 
Industrial-scale renewal
After pressure washing, foaming, chemical degreasing, and sanding, even the original paint was removed. The bare shell then went through full electrophoretic coating, exactly like a new-manufacture Mercedes body.
 
The shop wanted it “factory new” by the book, not just “good enough.” A nano-phosphate coating was applied for corrosion protection, and then the body was baked at 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit) to cure the layer. Only after all that did the usual factory-style multi-layer paint process begin.
 
Then came the tedious parts: wiring, insulation, soundproofing, and material fitment. Anyone who has ever restored a car knows this is where the real time gets burned. Wires look like tangled ramen until they don’t.
 
Meanwhile, the engine was torn down and rebuilt like a thousand-piece puzzle. Worn internals got replaced. Gaskets, seals, bearings, and ancillaries, all renewed or upgraded. Eventually, all the freshly rebuilt systems were married back to the manicured shell.
 
On pure craftsmanship alone, the car arguably came out nicer than when the CLS four-door coupe originally left Sindelfingen.
 

But that $200,000 claim…
And here is where we should all tap the brakes. The story claims the fully restored CLS sold for $200,000. Maybe someone somewhere paid that. Maybe hype pushed a buyer over the edge.
 
But in today’s market, $200k is the price of a factory-fresh Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance, the company’s wild V8 plug-in hybrid monster that sat at the top of Mercedes’ range before the AMG ONE hypercar arrived.
 
And the GT 63 S E Performance is not a casual comparison. It is a headliner: 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 hybrid, 831 horsepower, 1,032 pound-feet of torque. Zero to 60 mph (0 to 97 kph) in just 2.8 seconds.
 
That sounds like a nuclear fast, state-of-the-art benchmark. A $200,000 cheque gets you that level of firepower and a factory warranty.
 
So yes, the restored Mercedes-Benz CLS looks magnificent. Yes, the effort is impressive. Yes, it is satisfying when an old four-door coupe, the genre pioneer, is rescued and reborn.
 
However, we don’t get a clear shot of the car when the full restoration is complete. The footage filmed at night with the CLS on the go is not quite relevant.
 
But the alleged sale price? Let’s just say: believe it if you want, but keep a pinch of skepticism in your pocket.