It is no mystery that as Editors, we often live the high life. Vipers, Vettes, Porsches, Lambos, Ferraris and more can be found in our driveways when we feel like reviewing one. We’re often found rolling in cars that aren’t even on sale yet. Imagine the shock of neighbors, when we rolled up in a GT-R or Viper ACR or R8 a few months before their release. People lose their minds, girlies throw us their numbers and we’ve actually had scrubs run after us for blocks just to take a picture. It is definitely reminiscent of the rockstar life, with some [minor] celebrity status attached to it. That aspect of the job coupled with traveling around the world to various shows makes one very jaded. Bottom line, it is hard to impress the staff here. But now we are impressed.

This big body Benz stopped us dead in tracks at SEMA last year. We had never seen this kit before and maybe one or two CLs before this one. And this wasn’t just any lip kit but major surgery on a $150,000 automobile, leaving us stunned and curious to know more. After a bit of investigating, we found out this CL600 creation was the work of our old associates Jim Pan and Scott Bingham. Pan is the proprietor of P-Factor Automotive and now General Manager of Car Nutz Customz (CNC) out of Bellevue, WA owned by Bingham. At this point, Bellevue is the place to be with plenty of Microsoft millionaires and their wealthy subcontractors running the streets looking to out-do the executive in the lane beside him.

Dubbed the ‘CNC Evolution V12’ this particular build left nothing untouched. We were expecting to find some elements of the car still stock but were totally proven contrary. Pan and Bingham went to great efforts (and expense) to drop the proverbial hammer on some of the other high end marques at SEMA and did so not being a household name like the rest of them. At the core of the project are some serious Kleeman upgrades on the already potent 6.0L V12 twin turbo mill. The Kleeman package the car has been blessed with ramps up the horsepower to 650 at the crank and a staggering 792lb-ft of pavement-shifting torque. The air is pulled in through CNC Evolution intakes and the resulting spent gases now flow though a less restrictive CNC Evolution dual exhausts. Topping off the Kleeman parts are the requisite LSD and the electronic lowering module to make it dramatically sleeker than stock.
Another high point to the project was the wheel and tire package. The Zenetti wheels are as expected a one-off custom design by Bingham specifically for this project. A 3-piece forged construction, the centers are a carbon fiber overlay with a color-matched outer lip – and lots of it. The front lip measures 3.5-inches while the rear is almost 7-inches deep. Up front, these massive wheels are 22x9.5-inches with a rear dimension that would be equally as home on a drag car at 11.5-inches. Pirelli PZero Nero tires were selected in 265/30R22 and 315/25R22 putting the almost 800lb-ft of twist to the ground. Yet, the big Benz is still able to light up the tires with ease but the Brembos will bring the ride to a full and complete stop if things get outta hand. The front binders are 6-piston monoblocks clamping 405mm (16-inch) 2-piece rotors. To provide a bit of brake balance, rear 380mm rotors with 4-piston Brembos amount to enough brake force to stop a dump truck.

On to the aesthetic treatment where CNC flexed some of their design and fabrication talents on the CL. The CNC Evolution package consists of front and rear bumpers with carbon fiber diffusers and LED light strips. Both front and rear fenders are oversized with active vents for proper cooling. The carbon fiber roof panel accents matches the CF grill insert in addition to some black chrome found on the shell. The tails are smoked and some LED courtesy lighting has been installed on the sills. The entire project was drenched in several coats of Maserati MC12 Bianco Fuji white with matching dish on the wheels. To cap it all off all off the emblems have been shaved and airbrushed by hot rod legend Michel Lavalle removing any of its previous identity.

With the windows rolled down on this true pillar-less coupe, one gets a glimpse of the upgrades made to the inside. An already finely hewn interior has made way for something that Mercedes designers would pay respect to. The seating has been reupholstered in a duo-tone leather and Alacantara scheme with contrasting double stitched diamond pattern along with the door panels. The headliner, pillars and visors have been recovered in Alacantara with the same stitching. Both upper and lower dash assemblies have been removed and recovered with the same duo-tone treatment. The dash features several panels replaced with titanium carbon fiber pieces and the ‘Car Nutz Customz’ logo in a conspicuous place. The steering wheel wrap is also off the same titanium carbon fiber around the rim and spokes. The accelerator, brake and dead pedal are all CNC brushed aluminum pieces to match the illuminated scuff panels. A few items round out the interior treatment with color matched deep-pile mats, Recaro Young Sport child seat and ambient LED lighting throughout.

True to Pan’s show car roots, he realizes that no build is complete without a slamming audio install. Pan was heavily involved with putting premier car crew TWCompetition on the map since back in the day. Belting out tracks from the factory system, the signals are amped with the Zapco hardware residing in the trunk. Driving the bass-line is a Zapco DC1100.1 mono amp hooked up to a trio of Image Dynamics iDQ v3 10-inch subs. The Zapco DC1100.4 4-channel drives the Image Dynamics CD-2 HLCD drivers, and XS69 mid-bass drivers. The entire system is orchestrated through a Zapco DRC-SL controller mounted in stealth location.
Rolling through the streets of Seattle, scratch that rollin’ anywhere … CNC’s creation gets noticed. There is nothing like it but for the right price, CNC will build it. Or if you have fallen for this particular one, it is for sale. The Car Nutz Customz motto is “We Build it, we show it, we sell it.” Whether it is hot rods, resto mods, to concourse or all out crazy exotics like what have here, the CNC crew will build it.