Mercedes-AMG SL 65 Black Series
Why 4.3: AMG welded the SL65's folding roof shut, stiffened everything, and stuffed in 661hp — the most extreme thing AMG did with the R230 chassis. DougScore 62 (fun 39, daily 23) reads exactly like that trade: brutal weekend car, difficult everything else.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €276k (2009) → €423k (2026), trending up · illustrative data
The long version
AMG built the Black Series by cutting the convertible mechanism out of the SL65 entirely, welding on a fixed carbon roof, and pointing the changes squarely at lap times rather than boulevard cruising — a fixed-roof answer to a car that was never meant to have one. Only a few hundred were built worldwide, and the combination of rarity, six-figure new pricing and a biturbo V12 that costs real money to maintain has kept mileage low since day one; this was a car bought to own, occasionally driven hard, rarely used up. Values cratered after the financial crisis like every SL65 variant did, then recovered hard once the fixed-roof Black Series was recognized as the rarest, most track-capable R230 AMG built. The 5-speed automatic is the one component AMG didn't replace, and it is exactly the kind of gearbox the DougScore's low daily-usability number is describing.