DIY Maybach Exelero Coupe - $325,500 (and Counting)

Most readers will probably have no trouble recalling the bonkers Maybach Exelero coupe from 2005—700 horsepower, three ton, $8 million Darth Vadermobiles aren’t quickly forgotten as a rule—so you’ll understand our initial excitement at seeing an apparent listing for the car on eBay Motors. Of course, as is so often the case with these types of too-good-to-be-true listings, getting your shot at the Exelero for a starting bid of just over $300K is, well, too good to be true.


What seller Mark Sanford is really offering is a promise to build you your very own Maybach one-off, albeit one with no actual Maybach parts of any kind. Sanford’s company, Ikit Exotic Cars and Luxury Yachts, is predicated on the notion of building replicas of elite vehicles like the Exelero, using tube chassis, fiberglass, and carbon fiber. Sanford boasts that his company is able to produce these exotic knock-offs for a third, or sometimes a fourth the cost of the original items, while offering a 3 year/30,000 mile warranty for peace of mind.


Sanford’s warranty (and NBA basketball pedigree, zero games played) aside, we’d probably feel more comfortable if he saw fit to include at least one actual photograph of one of his cars in the listing, as opposed to throwing up stock shots of the Maybach. Cribbing the VIN from his personal Mercedes-Benz G500 for the auction isn’t exactly confidence inspiring either.
 
+ eBay Motors: 2009 Maybach Exelero Coupe