Mercedes Benz C43 AMG (Purple/Orange) – 1998 PPG Pace Car

1 of 2 nearly identical C43 Pace Cars. This one lives on in a private collection.

History

In 1997, Mercedes-Benz commissioned AMG to produce two special versions of their C43 V8 cars for use as pace cars in the CART-FedEx Indycar championship series. The two were specially prepared, then shipped to PPG, where they were stripped, mechanicals removed, then painted. One car was painted metallic orange to purple and spent time on the track, while this one was painted purple to metallic orange and never had strobe lighting added for track use. It likely spent most of its life parked on display. At the end of 1998, both cars were returned to Mercedes-Benz. The orange to purple car was dismantled and scrapped. This purple to orange car was somehow given to Bob Snodgrass of Brumos Porsche in Florida, where it sat in the company’s museum until 2005. Then it was given by Bob as a gift to its current owner, with just 600 miles on the odometer.

Specifications

Unknown.

Current Status

Privately owned.