Sears Imported Autos Mercedes-Benz is hosting “Benz and Roses” a pre Valentines Day evening soiree full of all the finer things in life and YOU’RE INVITED! This should prove to be a very nice evening, please see the formal event invitation below. I plan on being at the event all evening if you’d like to discuss a particular car or just come in to say hello and have some refreshments.

YOU AND A GUEST ARE CORDIALLY INVITED

FOR AN EVENING OF EPICURIAN DELIGHTS,

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT, AMORE AND MORE.

GIFTS GALORE FOR THE CONNOISSEUR, FROM

BENZ & ROSES TO FASHIONS FOR MEN AND WOMEN,

JEWELRY, ACCESSORIES, HANDMADE CHOCOLATES,

AND CONTEMPORARY ART AVAILABLE FROM

THE TWIN CITIES’ FINEST RETAILERS.

WWW.SEARSIMPORTS.COM

Some of the items, people and organizations on hand include:

SURDYK’S
wine & cheese tasting

FOUR VOICES
string quartet

ARTS & FLOWERS
fresh floral arrangements & gifts

CHOCOLAT CELESTE
fresh artisian chocolates

CIRCA GALLERY
contemporary art

NEIMAN MARCUS
fashions, accessories and gifts
for men and women

All merchandise available for sale

Hope to see you at the event!

]]> http://daveknowscars.com/2012/01/26/join-us-at-sears-imports-for-benz-and-roses-february-9-2012-from-530-730pm-string-quartet-surdyks-wine-and-cheese-tasting-chocolat-celeste-handmade-chocolates-art-flowers-and-fashio/feed/ 0 http://daveknowscars.com/2012/01/20/mercedes-300sl-roadster-expertly-restored-here-in-minneapolis-by-my-buddy-bruce-kelly-of-lake-country-classics-crossing-rm-auction-block-right-now-in-arizona-today-no-reserve/ http://daveknowscars.com/2012/01/20/mercedes-300sl-roadster-expertly-restored-here-in-minneapolis-by-my-buddy-bruce-kelly-of-lake-country-classics-crossing-rm-auction-block-right-now-in-arizona-today-no-reserve/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:44:12 +0000 Dave Tobin http://daveknowscars.com/?p=3797

UPDATE! Sold at $670,000! It’s auction time in Arizona… this 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster will be auctioned this afternoon at RM Auctions Arizona sale being held at the Arizona Biltmore. What’s special about this particular car? A couple of things, one… it’s selling for no reserve, it’s a desirable 300SL roadster with Rudge knock off wheels that’s been recently exercised in the Copperstate 1000 Rally… but most interesting, to me anyway… is that this car underwent a complete, nut and bolt restoration several years ago by my good buddy, and partner in car crime, Bruce Kelly at his Lake Country Classics shop here in Minneapolis. Visit the RM Auction description here.

This is a superb example of an iconic 300SL Roadster, a model that has seen a serious upward value trend over the past several years. These are sought after by collectors today for several reasons. One basic reason is that they’re reliable, comfortable cars to drive, they start when you want them to start, they don’t over heat, they’re generally very reliable cars that you can feel comfortable taking on a long classic car rally without too much anxiety or worrying if it’s going to start in the morning and make it through the day.

This is lot number 331, it will be going over the auction block in a few minutes… you can visit RM Auctions website to see a live broadcast of the auctions as they happen. Just follow this link.

This 2008 Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet just arrived here at Sears Imports… what more perfect time to get a Porsche convertible that while it’s snowing outside? This is a silver exterior with red leather interior vehicle. It is a well equipped, complete with heated seats, navigation, parking sensors and a Tiptronic transmission, among other options. It is a one owner vehicle with a clean Carfax vehicle history report… it just turned 14,000 miles.

Odometer shows just over 14,000 one owner miles!

It is a Carrera S model with added horsepower, a blast to drive and something to look forward to in the Spring. Buy it now and stash it in the garage for a few months. This vehicle doesn’t have a scratch on it.. inside or out, it shows and drives as new. Sears Imports Stock# 20150, the price is $69,900. Feel free to give me a cal today to set up a time to come in for a viewing and test drive.

This used 2005 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG just arrived here at Sears Imports. The original MSRP of this car was just shy of $127,000. It is in extremely nice condition, classic Silver with grey interior, it’s nicely equipped with an Alcantara headliner, Bi-Xenon headlamps and 18″ AMG wheels. It has just 27,774 original miles on its odometer.

Just 27,774 original miles!

This V8 Kompressor cranks out 493HP yet is easy and comfortable to drive in regular city traffic. Originally from Alabama, this car spent most of it’s life in the South, and not standing in 2 feet of flood water! This vehicle is clean, clean, clean.. inside and out. It was brought to the Twin Cities in 2010 and serviced regularly at Feldmann Imports since then. It’s been fully serviced here at Sears and is ready to roll. Please see below for more photos and the full option list / original window sticker. Call me today to schedule a test drive. Sears Imports stock# 20160, price is $45,900.

This 2004 E320 Wagon was just traded in here at Sears Imports on a Certified Pre Owned Mercedes-Benz. Pewter with Charcoal leather (not MB tex) and loaded with options. Drive Dynamic seats, heated and ventilated seats, KEYLESS GO, Navigation (although your iPhone is probably a better bet than this 2004 technology). It’s a well maintained rear wheel drive E class that is ready to keep rolling down the road.

It has a little less than 108,000 miles on its odometer and it’s in very nice condition, inside and out. The original MSRP was more than $58,000!

It lived the early part of its life in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago and then spent time at a Winter home in Arizona with some time in the upper mid west. This vehicle drives nicely, the Carfax vehicle history report shows regular dealer maintenance and no accidents.

It’s available today at Sears Imports Mercedes Benz for $14,900. Stock# 19423C, have a look at the original window sticker and option list below if you’re interested in seeing all the equipment on this great wagon.

Mercedes Benz USA has released the 2011 sales report! It confirms the biggest sales year ever! The official count from MBUSA is 264,460 vehicles in 2011, almost a 20% increase over the total sales number in 2010. November was a huge month for Mercedes-Benz sales, December proved tobe a big month as well. December 2011 sales numbers were up slightly more than 30% over December 2010, a huge increase. As usual, the C class represented the largest sales volume, E class sales were brisk while the new M class SUV continued to sell at dealerships as fast as they could arrive from the Alabama factory. Check the sales chart by model for December below as well as the official MBUSA press release.

If you keep track of the sales battle between the luxury brands, you have probably seen that BMW was the leader in total volume in 2011, Mercedes Benz was a very close second and Lexus was third. It’s the first time in many years that Lexus wasn’t the top volume seller. The tragic earthquake in Japan disrupted Lexus sufficiently this year to set just about every link in their supply chain back, far enough to make way for BMW and Mercedes to slide into the number one and two sales volume slots.

We’ll have to see what 2012 brings… there are plenty of people still talking nothing but doom and gloom for the economy, but I talk to plenty of people, every day, who are doing very well and expect things to only get better. (official press release below).

MERCEDES-BENZ RECORDS THE HIGHEST YEAR ON RECORD WITH SALES OF 264,460
For Release: Jan. 4, 2012

MONTVALE, N.J. – Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) today reported 264,460 vehicles sold in 2011, representing the highest annual volume on record with a 17.5% increase over the 225,007 vehicles sold during the same period in 2010. On a month-to-date basis, 28,006 vehicles were sold in December, a 30.4% improvement over December 2010 (21,469).

The all-new sporty C-Class – the gateway to the Mercedes-Benz brand for younger and first time Mercedes-Benz buyers – was the volume leader for the year with sales of 69,314, up 17.9% over its year-to-date volume in 2010. The 9th generation E-Class followed with sales of 62,736, and the all-new versatile M-Class rounded out the top three with sales of 35,835. Total diesel units sold in 2011 numbered 14,358, an 85.2% increase over the same period last year.

For December, sales at the high-end continued strong as the 2012 CLS-Class posted an increase of 155.2% for the month. The company also sold 86 of its supercar — the SLS AMG — up 79.2% from December 2010, bringing its year-to-date sales to 722.

Separately, sales of Sprinter Vans also increased by 15.7% in December with sales of 1,595 – bringing a year-to-date total of 16,577 (up 93.7 % for the year).

Sales of the smart fortwo totaled 710 vehicles in December, up 24.6% for the month (compared to the 570 vehicles sold in December 2010). For the year, smart brand sales were 5,208 (compared to 5,927 sold in 2010).

Additionally, through the Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned (MBCPO) program, MBUSA sold 6,112 vehicles in December 2011, a decrease of 3.5%. On a year-to-date basis, MBCPO sold 74,571 vehicles, a decrease of 7.6% over the comparable period last year.

 About Mercedes-Benz USA
Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA), headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey, is responsible for the distribution, marketing and customer service for all Mercedes-Benz and Maybach products in the United States. MBUSA offers drivers the most diverse line-up in the luxury segment with 14 model lines ranging from the sporty C-Class to the flagship S-Class sedans and the SLS AMG supercar. MBUSA is also responsible for the distribution, marketing and customer service of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Vans and smart in the US. More information on MBUSA and its products can be found at www.mbusa.com, www.mbsprinterusa.com and www.smartusa.com

This is a 2007 Mercedes-Benz E350 4matic in the Barolo Red Color, relatively rare on an E class, with Cashmere (beige) interior. I believe this is one of the best deals currently available at Sears Imports… based on the car, equipment, mileage and year. It is currently for sale at less than half its original MSRP of $56,915… it has just over 54,000 miles and is for sale today for just $24,012.

Options on this particular car include the Premium 1 Package including Navigation, heated seats, power rear window sun shade, satellite radio and Bluetooth hands free phone capability. It is a two owner vehicle with a clean Carfax vehicle history report, it has been regularly dealer maintained. It drives perfectly, it’s been fully serviced and inspected by our service department and is ready to roll today for $24,012.

Tons of car for the money… and it’s priced cheap enough so if you want to buy an extended warranty for the car you can and still be under regular market value.

When you walk into Sears Imports Mercedes-Benz today you will notice two large boards full of color photos of select pre owned vehicles in our inventory. These are just some of the featured offerings  for our Pre Owned Vehicle Sales Event going on this weekend. While we have more than 200 pre owned vehicle sin stock, more than 50 of them have been marked down to well below market prices in an effort to ‘thin the herd’. The sale is in effect today and tomorrow, Friday and Saturday, January 5th and 6th!

How about a 2007 Mercedes Benz E350 4matic with just 53,000 miles on its odometer for just $24,012?!

All sorts of vehicles are included in the sale… a 2005 Corvette all the way back to a 1967 Cadillac Convertible for just $8,012!

50+ cars reduced to ultra low prices and ready to roll today!

Marked prices on the sales cars are no haggle, take it or leave it, bargain basement! The sale runs through Saturday the 7th… so give me a call and make an appointment for tomorrow.

This black on black 2007 Porsche Boxster was just trucked up to Sears Imports from a dealer friend of ours in Florida. Imagine that… a convertible like this coming north for the Winter, you bet! This Boxster is a great driving car with a manual transmission. It’s in essentially ‘as new’ condition inside and out, as well as mechanically.

Interior is clean and tidy, this was a non smoker car, shows as new.

This is a two owner vehicle with a clean Carfax vehicle history report. Amazingly, it only has just over 9,000 original miles on its odometer. It is seriously for sale today, at Sears Imported Autos in Minnetonka. The price is $33,900, Sears stock# 20129, feel free to give me a call if you’d like to have a look at it and take it for a test drive.

Just 9,116 original miles on the odometer.

The collector car market these days is red hot… at the top anyway. Blue Chip collectibles, cars like Ferrari 250GTs of just about any type are pulling big money, the best, well documented, no stories Shelby Cobras are on fire, Aston Martin DBs of any number are going through the roof and Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwings and roadsters have seen price increases over the last few years that would make any Wall Street investor wish all their investments paid such returns. The ’55 300SL alloy bodied car that’s pictured here is being offered at Gooding and Company’s Scottsdale, AZ auction in January of 2012… it is, arguably, one of the most sought after 300SLs and it’s poised to pull big dollars at the sale.

Iconic by any measure.

This blue plaid cloth interior was typical for the mid 1950s.

Mercedes-Benz made just 29 alloy bodied 300SLs (alloy bodied refers to the aluminum coachwork as opposed to steel) for special clients who, theoretically, planned to race their cars. Not only were the bodies lighter, but they were equipped with tuned suspension and a more highly tuned engine making them perfectly suited to the gentleman racer back in the days  when you could drive such a car to a race track, use some masking tape to cover the headlamps and put numbers on the side of the car, race the car and then drive it home afterwards.

The 29 alloy bodied Gullwings are well documented, they have been tracked for years, be serial number, by die hard enthusiasts and marque specialists around the world. A complete list of these cars and where they reside (and with whom) is printed in SL specialist and publisher of ‘The SL Market Letter” John Olson’s book “The SL Experience” available on his SL Marter website or at Amazon.com. This book is the definitive guide to Mercedes-Benz SLs by year starting with the 300SLs from the 1950s all the way into the early 2000s with the last of the R129 chassis cars.

This 1955 300SL alloy bodied car that will be auctioned at the Gooding and Co. auction in January is certainly one of the rarest of the breed. The auction estimate for this car is $2.5 to $3.5 million. Seeing how one of these hasn’t come up for auction in the past five years, and who knows when the next one will become available, it wouldn’t surprise me if this car sells handily in that range next month in Arizona. I suppose it wouldn’t surprise me if it went beyond that estimate, but it would certainly be all the money, as this estimate is easily twice the price of a perfect 300SL to this point… but hey, Where are you going to find another? If the right two bidders want this car bad enough, who knows how far up the price will go?