Mercedez-Benz R-class

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Alpine Electronics of America, Inc. today unveiled its new show car at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The car, which started life as a Mercedes Benz R500, was transformed into a show-stopping, elegant, rolling IMPRINT sound system demonstration.

Designed and built by Alpine’s in-house Advanced Application R & D team of Steve Brown, Gary Bell, Brent Davison and Glen Swackhamer from Alpine of Canada, the IMPRINT RLS is the newest creation to emerge from Alpine’s North American headquarters in Torrance, Calif.

The goal of the Alpine team was to build a great-sounding show car that was sleek and sophisticated, yet with custom work that would make it one-of-a-kind. The striking shape of the RLS was created entirely by hand, using only the original roof from the R500. The front, rear and sides of the RLS were shaped from fiberglass to give the car a sophisticated, flowing shape. The RLS differs from recent Alpine show cars which had bold custom airbrush paint designs. Instead, the RLS was sprayed with an elegant custom-mixed BASF R-M Carizzma Candy Cherry Cola Brown hue, which accentuates the shape of the car. The details and shadows on the external door panels, which have curves that undulate into the depths of the door, become more prominent depending on how light reflects off of the one-of-a-kind paint.