oddly enough, the original monroney identifies the 19" amg monoblocs as the standard fitting for this vin #.

but the spare is an 18" steel wheel. talking with a benz parts manager, he told me that benz did/does a lot of this kind of nonsense these days. he thought it had something to do with the spare cavity in the trunk.

i did some additional research. the cavity is large enough for a 19" wheel and tire. and in fact, the cl65amg was fitted with 19" wheels and the same tires as were fitted to 2006 cl55amg.

but for some reason, undisclosed, the cl65amg was manufactured with a 19" steel wheel for the spare.

go figure.

i know one thing, i prefer the manufacturing standards of my pre-2000 benzes. all of which have the same size wheel, same style wheel, and tire for the spare as are the "running" shoes.

as to the exterior paint and interior leather spec, living in metro-houston, i am keen on light colors. silver and java works for me. actually i miss my favorite interior color, blue....

my 1979 450sel6.9 is silver with orthopedic blue leather

my 1986 560sel is platinum blue with orthopedic blue leather

my 1987 560sec is arctic white with blue leather

my 1995 e320 cab is white with blue leather, blue canvas top.

for some reason, benz torpedoed this interior color in after the 1995. and i have always wondered why. after it all, it was the interior color for all of the silver arrows.

to the best of my recollection, the historical benz racing livery was white over blue, then silver over blue.

why do you think benz ceased offering blue interiors?