

This 1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK 5.8 BRABUS is a fully converted car with engine work, exterior, and interior upgrades and comes with an official Letter of Authenticity from BRABUS. It was first auctioned on The MB Market in April of 2025 where it was purchased, shipped to Georgia, and titled in South Carolina. Finished in Black (040) over custom Black Mastik Leather, power is provided by a stroked and bored 5.8-liter V8 paired with a five-speed automatic transmission. This W208 started out life as a CLK430 and then was modified by BRABUS and aimed at the C5 Corvette to compete with. Features include bi-xenon headlights, fog lights, sunroof, heated multicontour front seats, an electric rear sunshade, cruise control, dual-zone automatic climate control, COMAND with Navigation infotainment, Parktronic, and power folding mirrors. Other BRABUS upgrades include a full body kit, Alcon brakes, full exhaust, suspension, 330km/h gauge cluster, 19" wheels, and more. Recent services in preparation for the sale include new spark plugs, all fresh fluids, engine mounts, alignment, and a full paint correction. This BRABUS CLK 5.8 has 72k kilometers (45k miles), and is now offered on consignment through the selling dealer in Marietta, Georgia with TÜV invoices, service records, in-period magazine articles, 1 full FOB, 1 spare key blade, 1 valet key, original license plate, BRABUS literature, and a clean SC title.
The car is finished in Black (040) and features a complete BRABUS body kit with front bumper, side skirts, and rear apron extensions. Additional features include a sunroof, a monoblade windshield wiper, bi-xenon headlights, headlight washers, fog lights, Parktronic sensors, and heated side mirrors. The rear trunk badging has been modified by BRABUS with the engine size denotation and the BRABUS “B” logo replacing the Mercedes-Benz silver star. The hood badge has also been replaced and two BRABUS badges can be seen on the front quarter panels along the impact strips. BRABUS twin polished exhaust tips come out at an angle. The door handles, windshield cowling, wiper arm assembly, and grill insert have all been plainted gloss Black (040) by BRABUS.
The 19″ twin six-spoke multi-piece BRABUS wheels are mounted with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S tires on all four corners measuring 8.5" wide in the front and 9.5" in the rear. Dates codes on the tires show 2023 front and 2022 rear. The machined faces are rimmed with a polished lip and BRABUS center caps. Braking is handled by Alcon disc brakes at the front with lightened four piston brake calipers and 330mm vented brake rotors. A brake fluid flush was done earlier in 2025 and a wheel alignment performed in preparation for the sale. BRABUS chose a Bilstein suspension setup for the shocks paired with white AMG springs from a W202. A BRABUS rear muffler was fitted during the conversion with the angled exhaust pipes.
The cabin features heated power-adjustable multicontour front seats trimmed in custom Black Mastik Leather by BRABUS. The leather was selected from scar free hides and shows a slight ruching on the seats. Burl walnut wood veneers accent the center console, dashboard, and door panels with an added BRABUS burl walnut wood armrest. Amenities include front seat position memory with orthopedic front seats, an electric rear sunshade, cruise control, dual-zone automatic climate control, COMAND with Navigation infotainment, Parktronic, power folding mirrors, and adjustable steering column. Additional BRABUS appointments include floor mats front and rear, an Alcantara headliner, moon roof shade, grab handles, vanity mirrors, and rear view mirror. Additional leather has been added on the door panels covering the hard plastic Mercedes-Benz used around the door pocket area. BRABUS polished door sills have also been installed along with metal pedals to replace the black OE rubber ones.
The leather-wrapped multifunction steering wheel frames a BRABUS 330km/h speedometer and a tachometer with a 6k-rpm redline. Additional gauges show coolant temperature and fuel level. The digital odometer indicates 72k kilometers (45k miles) and all pixels are in working order. The steering wheel is wrapped in leather with a smooth bottom and perforated top and a BRABUS logo pressed into the airbag. BRABUS used blue back lighting for the instrument cluster.
The 5.8-liter twin-spark V8 M113 engine sends power to the rear wheels via a five-speed 722.6 automatic transmission. This W208 started life out as a CLK430 which garnered the attention of BRABUS CEO, Bodo Buschmann, who was quoted saying, “With the Mercedes-Benz CLK430, we finally have a sports coupe that’s worth putting our money where our mouth is.” With the CLK55 AMG still a few years out (the prototype teased as the 1998 F1 safety car), BRABUS upped the stock 279 horsepower and 295 foot-lbs 4.3-liter M113 to 5.8-liters, now with 395-horsepower and 427 foot-pounds of torque. Engine work included crankshaft modifications and cylinder boring to bore and stroke the engine from 89.9 mm x 84 mm stock to 99 mm x 93 mm. The heads were remachined and included new camshafts to ensure the modified valve timing. The end result is a car that accelerated from 0-125 mph in 20 seconds and beat the C5 Corvette around the Nürburgring. A red BRABUS air intake with K&N air filters hover above the engine. All fluids were flushed and new spark plugs installed earlier in 2025 with new engine mounts installed in preparation for the sale.
Detailed underbody photos are provided in the gallery along with photos of the BRABUS Letter of Authenticity, build sheet, service records, in-period Auto Sport magazine articles on the 5.8, and other BRABUS literature. This BRABUS CLK 5.8 has 72k kilometers (45k miles), and is now offered on consignment through the selling dealer in Marietta, Georgia with TÜV invoices, service records, in-period magazine articles, 1 full FOB, 1 spare key blade, 1 valet key, original license plate, and BRABUS literature.
A driving video, underside inspection, and walkaround video of the car has been provided by the seller.
We’re privileged to say we’ve got a lot of wheel time with this very car now that it is safely in the United States from Germany. We’ve come to the conclusion BRABUS is the Mercedes-Benz equivalent of Alpina from BMW. They love enlarging stock engines, focus on using different, exotic interior materials, and tune cars for grand touring and utter straight line speed. They are the private jet for Mercedes-Benz. The CLK55 AMG feels way more tense than this CLK 5.8 and has a snappier top end. The 5.8 lurches off the line similar to a W202 C43 but with asphalt destroying torque that exists everywhere in the tach. Where the C43 falls on its face, the 5.8 rushes forwards with expediency and ruthless urgency. The engine and tuning feel unlike any other M113 we’ve driven. The interior is spectacular in the CLK. BRABUS really went nuts with it as there’s Alcantara everywhere! Who wraps a rear-view mirror in Alcantara? BRABUS does. Because they can. It also gets all the cool goodies U.S. market cars never got like Parktronic, power folding mirror, and COMAND. This is a crazy and unique car that is a snapshot of late ‘90s German tuning culture and it still holds up today which makes this vastly cool. And now it’s in the United States for us Americans to enjoy. The hard part of shipping it from the Fatherland is done. We’re extremely pleased to have this car back on the site to find it a new home. We beg the winner to bring this to RADwood at next year’s Amelia Island Concourse since we’re going to have a strong presence there in March. It’ll fit right in and you’ll probably win a trophy...
Open Transit:
Enclosed Transit:
The winning bidder will receive an email with the quote and option to proceed with shipping.

Get the best of The MB Market directly in your inbox every day. Subscribe for a curated list of our top market listings and articles!

21 Comments
We're currently talking with the high bidder per MB Market. Where were you guys when the auction was ending?? @mbenthusiast @bottropG @apoosterIm interested as well. Hope to discuss.I'd be interested as well. Please reach out to me to discuss.Definitely interested in working something out!@OriginalAndRare You know we don't share reserves ;) thanks though@apooster It did not. The team at MB Market will be reaching out to the bidders and try to work something out. We were close! You should reach out to them if you're interested.Its a nice "B" here from an ex 1997 m119 / 6.5 V8 owner i would say .. GOOD LUCK WITH AFTERSALES ... RESERVE IS ROUGHLY HOW HIGH? CLARKSON LOVED THESE BUILDS , BEGINNNG IN THE END 90-TIES@apooster NoDid this sell?$32,500 bid placed by @Dannn
My feeble American mind wasn't ready for Parktronic and power folding mirrors on a W208... from 1998!. That's all forbidden fruit for us.@Stuttgart_Steel Agreed, this car is mind blowingly cool in person. It's so clean both inside and out. A really special car to say the least and I don't know of another one stateside.I love this thing. BRABUS stuck this engine in a lot of their cars early on. I was really impressed with it in person.Just under 30 minutes remaining on this one. Hopefully all questions have been answered and someone will be taking this home for the holidays. Good luck to all bidding!$32,000 bid placed by @ThirdManSon
Final day and thanks to all for the comments,. questions, bids, and compliments. Let us now if there are lingering questions in the next 7 hours. -Yes we're happy to hold the car for a week-ish while you set up shipping. We can also organize longer-term storage as needed (DM us) -You'll get a 45-day temp tag -yes, it really is THAT cool!$31,000 bid placed by @Cultivated
Thanks all for the compliments, love, and general enthusiasm! We really can't emphasize enough what a blast this thing is drive. Most of us would have LOVED to have it on a good weekend road trip this last week but she's sitting in climate controlled storage waiting for one of you!Good heavens this is delicious. A real OG that's in the states!😀$30,000 bid placed by @perzbenz
$22,500 bid placed by @Cultivated
Neat.$20,000 bid placed by @perzbenz
$11,000 bid placed by @Jaydeandre
Good morning all, Happy THanksgiving to those of you celebrating and thanks for looking at our CLK listing. To answer the lingering question our client actually purchased ANOTHER collectible MB out of Europe that he's chosen to keep over this one....Biggest difference, it's a convertible. Now, on to this 5.8...It's absolutely WILD compared to a 208 5.4 car. The cabin quality is top notch and what we expected from BRABUS but the build definitely backs it up. Let us know if there are questions along the way. Good luck to those bidding!Hi. Why the quick sale?Oh wow, How nice...$10,000 bid placed by @Bankrep40