Australian car culture is as united as it is divided. We have our niches, and we stick by them. Complements here and there, “wow that’s cool”, but it tends to be in passing interest. We align what we know, invest wholeheartedly into our area. Unfortunately this tends to lead to less-than-pleasant attitudes towards things we’re not educated on.
For Richard Liu, car culture wasn’t super accessible as a child. Growing up in China, his first experience was his father teaching him how to drive their Volkswagen Santana (look it up, I don’t know it either) in an empty parking lot when he was only thirteen years old.
Today it is commonplace for the Chinese to be ahead of the curve when it comes to trends, you see it in tech and fashion all the time. However, in the late nineties and early noughties China was still slowly coming out of its strict, controlled environment. I remember heading to a couple mainland Chinese cities to play football, and the difference between the mainland and Hong Kong (don’t even think about mainland vs. Australia) was incredible to see…
It wouldn’t be until a move to Australia that Richard would be exposed to the world of customisation and modification.
“Everyone on their P-plates drove any car, but all of them had subwoofers and loud exhausts. That was pretty cool.” Richard remembers of his early years in the scene.
There is a common trend for the millennial generation to cite tuner-based movies and video games as inspiration for their passion, and Richard is no different, he rattled off a very familiar set of titles to me including The Fast and the Furious, Gone in 60 Seconds and Mad Max 1/2 as the primary catalysts for his interest in vehicles.
These days it’s common to see Richard heading to the track with his GC8 or DC2R. Both are JDM legends, and the GC8 is extensively modified. So why are we shooting this CLK63 Black Series?
Having known Richard for a few years now, what I love about him has been his open-mindedness. As an automotive enthusiast, he just enjoys cars, no particular preference, as long as it’s a decent build with proper pedigree he’s into it. He wasn’t lumped into a particular genre of car as a kid, meaning that his experiences with vehicles have come from a more mature standpoint.
We see so many of the same thing that it’s easy to be conditioned into having preferences and living by the book. JDM can’t tolerate the nuisances of European vehicles, while Europeans lean on the “legacy and heritage” of their performance marques, machines from the east “Jap Junk”.
Richard began his life with JDM, but if you spend the time to talk with him, buying European performance has nothing to do with finding status symbols through vehicles. He simply has access to more now, but buys for himself, not for the validation from others.
He tells me, “I think it’s a habit that runs in the family, I like collecting older things. Cars, watches, jewellery, all sorts of antique stuff”. A bit like Fatlace’s philosophy (who we use as a reference point), he just wants to experience all the things worth experiencing, objectively as unique individual items rather than comparing it to another of the same kind.
What he appreciates about the CLK63 Black Series is its position as a unique, OEM+ from factory machine. He insists to me, “Who says that it’s not modified? It’s widebody from factory, got shorter diff ratios, no rear seats with specific buckets for the front, a load of carbon bits and bespoke performance upgrades”.
While Richard is a collector, the car isn’t simply there because it’s a limited run, only-32-in-Australia build. He was selective in placing this vehicle as part of his rotation, having taken the opportunity to inspect and try other vehicles from the era, including 996 GT3s, R34 GTRs and E46 M3 CSLs.
Why this Black Series?
He doesn’t believe that in the price range, there are comparable vehicles in delivering the an experience that epitomises the merge between digital and analogue that the early-2000s provided the best of. He says, “it’s a very raw driving experience, the only electronic helpers are the ABS and traction control, otherwise you’re by yourself!”
While performance continues to be increasingly accessible to the general population (a mapped 7R would run rings around this), the romanticism and nostalgia for vehicles from the turn of the century continues to grow. In hindsight, that era was the last of the “driving experience” products.
The CLK63 Black Series wasn’t the best in its class when it was launched. Being a collectible now doesn’t make it any better, and for AUD$150 000 you can certainly find better performing, more recognisable vehicles.
Thank God Richard doesn’t think that way.
