The Chrysler Crossfire, that forgotten offspring of the Daimler-Chrysler merger, was always a curiosity: an unapologetic American design draped over the perfectly competent, albeit slightly dated, bones of the Mercedes SLK. The result was a fascinatingly divisive roadster that quietly faded away after 2008. But occasionally, a ghost from the past emerges, demanding attention, and this one is making a scene.
Up for grabs is a 2006 Chrysler Crossfire Special Edition Roadster in dazzling Blaze Red Crystal Pearl, allegedly boasting a mere 192 miles on the odometer. For those who secretly yearned for the two-seater’s bizarre proportions and reliable German engineering (courtesy of the 3.2-liter M112 V6 engine generating 215 HP and 229 lb-ft of torque), this looks like a pristine time capsule. It even features the holy grail for enthusiasts: a proper six-speed manual transmission, ensuring you can manually milk every drop of that modest output.
The seller has even preemptively addressed the notoriously unreliable soft top, rebuilding the hydraulics and performing all the minimum maintenance required after 18 years of hibernation. The undercarriage photos, we are assured, look clean enough to dine on.
This seemingly untouched low-mileage unicorn comes with a minor, pesky detail: its Carfax report insists the car logged 63,899 miles as recently as February of this year. The seller’s defense? A classic “clerical error” from their office during the initial registration. Right. Because a 63,000-mile typo is just a routine oversight in the high-stakes world of collector car auctions.
The story now pivots from “pristine garage queen” to “The Great Odometer Mystery,” forcing potential buyers to choose between believing a pristine chassis that “sat with over 100 other wild cars” in Tennessee or accepting the cold, hard reality of the digital vehicle history.
Ultimately, you’re bidding on a piece of automotive history that is part American style, part Mercedes parts-bin engineering and fully confusing. Whether it’s a 192-mile gem or a meticulously detailed 64,000-mile mystery, the low depreciation and the sheer rarity of a Crossfire with a manual transmission mean that someone will happily pay a premium to find out.
