This Long-Roof Sleeper Is Packing What AMG Won’t Give You Today

This C43 is one of just 772 Japanese-market examples that were built

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Wagons from the ’90s don’t often get pulses racing, but every so often something genuinely interesting pops up, and this is one of those moments. A Japanese-spec 1999 Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG is now up for auction in the U.S., and it’s about as effortlessly cool as long-roof German performance cars from that era get. Even better, it’s selling with no reserve on Bring a Trailer.

Read: Not Even Mercedes Wants The C63, So They’re Doing Everything To Offload Them In The UK

After living out the first 15 years of its life in Japan, the car was imported into Canada by the current seller in 2014. It was listed for sale through BaT earlier this year, but bidding on it only reached $24,059, and it failed to sell. The owner is trying once again to find it a new home.

AMG V8, No Nonsense

At the time of its release, the C43 served as the flagship version of the W202 generation of C-Class. And unlike today’s C63, which swaps V8 thunder for a complicated, hybridized four-cylinder setup, this one keeps it old-school. Under the hood is a 4.3-liter naturally aspirated V8 making 306 horsepower at 5,850 rpm and 302 lb-ft of torque at 3,250 rpm, numbers that still hold up if you appreciate power delivered without the hum of electric motors.

Those figures may not seem all that impressive compared to current super estates like the BMW M5 Touring and Audi RS6 Avant, but the C43 Station Wagon can hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in 5.9 seconds, roughly on par with a modern hot hatch.

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The estate is painted in Merc’s Brilliant Silver Metallic and rocks the original 17-inch AMG alloy wheels, now clad in Bridgestone tires. Found in the cabin is black leather, wooden trims, cruise control, and a Bose audio system. The odometer reads around 141,000 km (87,000 miles), which is relatively low for a car of this age.

AMG’s V8 is mated to a five-speed automatic transmission that sends power through the rear wheels, and while this isn’t a drift missile by design, it should still offer plenty of rear-biased charm. That, plus a wagon’s built-in practicality, makes for a package that’s both rare and oddly sensible in an old-school AMG kind of way. Whether bidders agree remains to be seen, but it deserves a better fate than another failed auction.

If you’re already daydreaming about adding this sleeper AMG wagon to your collection, or just want something a little more interesting than the usual crossover parade, you can check out the full listing here and throw your hat into the ring. No reserve means someone’s driving it home. Might as well be you.

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