Year 1997; mobile phone was a symbol of wealth, except talking it was just offering games to play. You would not able to imagining to watch a movie in your mobile phone. The Brave Heart won the Academy Award. Internet was something very privileged, only a small portion of people were able to use and it was just pictures and text and some animated pictures and that was all. Sure, there was nothing called Internet Explorer, actually there was but nobody was using it. Netscape Navigator was the navigation for internet. There weren't any organic vegetable section on markets because everything was organic! The world was cooler than today and global warming was just an issue, if you were in Cyprus or Malta during your holiday. People were still trying to find their friends through their home phones which is odd for new generation. And there was a space station in space which is called MIR. And IBM' Deep Blue super computer was a super computer. Nobody ever heard of Paris Hilton and Jennifer Lopez was just an actor. And there was the Mercedes CLK!
CLK was a breakeven point for Mercedes, it was the reflection of new era. From the boring face of Mercedes to timeless design. The CLK was the icon of timeless design with its magnificent colours. I still remember the first time I saw the CLK, it was a CLK 320. CLK 320 was powered by an atmospheric engine which was producing 218 horsepower. Today Golf has more power! The eye catching point was its design. From front end to back end it was beautifully design and nothing was annoying your eyes! It was both having lovely curves and aggressiveness. Mercedes was able to combine this at those years. Also the interior was not invaded by plastic or ugly designed buttons! Everything was perfect, fitting extremely well and you understand that you are in a luxury car not a car which was suppose to be expensive! It was the era when Mercedes cars were over engineered and their parts don't fall or they don't show any errors. That CLK was the most beautiful CLK model. And you never get bored of seeing it
Now, Mercedes named CLK as E Coupe. Yes, it is a very good looking car but nothing special. It has many new technology, it is able to understand anything if you are planning to pay a price of small island for a 1,8lt car! It could automatically stop, predict accident, offers hundreds of different varieties of gray and black! Including spare wheel, everything is optional and overpriced. If you are not going to buy V6 or V8 engines, you will be using the same 5 speed automatic gearbox which you could find in a 1997 CLK! Unfortunately, you will be finding very "high" quality plastic interior. Mainly interior is invaded by plastic in the name of cost minimization, profit maximization. Even the lever for opening your optional spare wheel is made from very high quality plastic. And also it has a huge screen which could annoy you any time by saying "Please Visit Workshop". Sure, engines are more efficient, it has diesel, it is more aerodynamic, safer, cleaner, sexier, more expensive. And more things you could find in its catalogue which does not make any sense at all!
I really don't like old cars but CLK is something totally different, it was the Dolce Vita of Mercedes which will never ever happen again. In next one decade, Mercedes will be racing with Lexus for producing more boring car with some unknown technologies. Despite the technology is moving forward, everything else is going backward. Unfortunately, this happens to many car company and they are offering more and more senseless cars to market. I don' have any Great Expectation from Mercedes anymore.
Pictures are taken from;
Mercedes Website
