The sedan, nicknamed Blueberry, was built for the founder of AMG North America Richard Bogsbaum. The car received a lot of technical improvements, a completely broken interior and a special body color.
At the March auction of the Sotheby’s auction house, the Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL 5.0 AMG sedan, nicknamed Blueberry, donated by the AMG, Afrecht, his American colleague from AMG North America, Richard Buhasbauma. The name the machine got for the original color – Lapis Blue Metallic. “Mercedes” was painted in it for only four years – from 1980 to 1984 – after which Lapis Blue was replaced with a close shade of the Nautical Blue.
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The idea to paint 500 SEL in blue came Aufrecht after a conversation with a boxbaum when he complained about the inability to find a car in bright color. And since it was a Christmas gift from AMG, the case was not limited to repainting. The velor salon was replaced with a leather, the colors of Orion Grey, and the door cards with a blue line were made in the Gemballa studio. The AMG specialists also installed the four-spoke steering wheel ITALVOLANTI CORSA, branded devices and chairs from the S-Class coupe.
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Aerodynamic body kit, wheels – all this was also new. Bilstein shock absorbers appeared in the sedan suspension, but the brakes remained standard. Like the engine, which was added to the custom -made sports exhaust system. The thrust on the rear wheels walked through a regular four -band automatic machine and AMG differential, so that in terms of sled characteristics, Blueberry was very different from the usual 500 SEL.
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The gift, of course, surprised and at the same time shocked the Buildings. He drove away by car for more than a year – he drove the children to school on it, met guests from the airport and arranged test races with them along the Chicago highway. In 1986, Blueberry bought a billionaire Rick Cohen. Then the car again returned to the Buildings, but the final reunion occurred only in 2022.
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The restoration of the sedan did not regret either time or money. The Chicago workshop of The Last Detail was responsible for the mechanics, DryCenation for cosmetics. A total of more than 100 thousand dollars spent on work. I had to replace the fuel system, brakes, components of the cooling system and some parts of the suspension. At the same time, Blueberry crossed the engine and with the help of furniture workers restored the wooden overlays of the cabin.
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