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Month: May 2014

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1974 BMW 2002 Touring

Published May 8, 2014 by Carter

If you’ve missed the most recent bandwagon, it’s been firmly hitched to the back of the E30 Touring. Recently these cars passed the magical “25 Year” importation ban and have begun flooding the market. The reason is simple; they haven’t previously been available here, the E30 market is red hot, and they’re relatively dirt cheap in Europe. But if you really want to show up those bandwagon-jumping E30 hispters at the local show, why not look towards the original Touring – the 2000/2002. Available only for a short run between 1971 and 1974, it ran the full production line in engines minus the turbo; the most valuable examples are clean tii versions or the ultra-rare Alpina variants, but a nice clean example of any shows just what a neat design it was:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1974 BMW 2002 Touring at Volante Classics

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1998 BMW M3 Cabriolet

Published May 8, 2014 by Paul

The E36 BMW M3 Cabriolet has always been a bit of a riddle for me. Who would want to buy a serious sports coupe and compromise all of the engineering work by chopping the roof off? An even greater travesty in my mind is saddling said drop top with an automatic gearbox. But then, if you are going to take the performance equation half-heartedly, perhaps this isn’t such a bad thing? This Estoril Blue M3 Cabriolet for sale in New Hampshire, however, is one of the rare ones with the 5-speed manual gearbox.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1998 BMW M3 on eBay

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1975 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe

Published May 8, 2014 by Rob

I typically don’t like to feature modified Porsches and try to focus on original cars, especially when it comes to the air-cooled 911. I’m making an exception in this case for a couple of reasons: first, the modifications here are not extensive, everything is tasteful and keeping within the spirit of the car. Second, the seller appears to have a very good knowledge, and detailed inventory, of all recent work done to the car and possesses most of the original parts should a buyer desire to return the car to its original state. Last, the 1974-1977 Carrera is not nearly as desirable, at least at the moment, as the rest of the air-cooled 911 model range so this is not the sort of car where collector status need be of much concern. Here we have a 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe in Black with Gold script/accents, located in California, with a little over 147K miles. In 1974 Porsche modified the original design of the 911 in order to meet more stringent impact requirements and also raised displacement from 2.4 liters to 2.7 liters. That lay-out remained mostly unchanged for the 1975 model year and then in 1976 displacement again was increased to 3.0 liters. This would then lead us into the era of the 911SC and the establishment of the 911 as a Porsche icon.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe on eBay

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1989 Porsche 944S2

Published May 8, 2014 by Carter

Pining over visions of just-out-of-budget E30 M3s? I recently covered a low mileage 1988 944 Turbo S, a phenomenal alternative to the E30 that’s – if anything – better built, more capable and faster. In my mind, thought the iconic M3 screams boy racer meets Park Avenue, the 944 – especially in Turbo/S2 guise – looks just as much the part. They’re also quite a bit cheaper right now, but likely not for long – Turbo values have steadily been on the rise, especially for good examples. And while there are plenty of enthusiasts who have daily driven 944 Turbos, you have to admit that they’re the best part of 30 year old technology that you’ll have to sink some money into. For everyday driving, a better option for most people would be to look at the slightly less complicated and only slightly less powerful twin-cam version of the 944; the magnificent 944S2:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 Porsche 944S2 on eBay

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Wednesday Wheels Project: BBS RS Refresh Part 2: Cleaning and Centers

Published May 7, 2014 by Carter

A few weeks ago, I started up my BBS RS Refresh post with work on the centercaps. The time had come to do some work on the rest of the wheels; in this case, although overall the wheels were certainly in serviceable shape they needed a good cleaning. In addition, the center “waffles” seemed to bear the brunt of the years of brake dust; two had given up the ghost completely and had nearly no paint on them. But before I got there, the wheels needed a good cleaning. In particular, the backs of the wheels had years of material buildup. I’m not sure why having clean backs to wheels is at all important to me, but I really like having clean wheels – front and back. Over the years, I’ve tried many different ways to get the crud off, from scraping to chemicals, and worn down my nails in the process. I wish I had known the ways I’ve found now, because it would have saved me a lot of time and effort.

The answer was staring me in the face, though I guess I didn’t know it. One of my favorite race cars of all time was the 1992 Audi V8 DTM, and it was sponsored by Sonax – a company that produced some impressive wheel cleaners, according to the reviews I looked up. I took the plunge and ordered a bottle. The product is pretty amazing; you spray it on, and as it reacts with metal deposits in the caked on brake dust it changes from a bright green towards a wine-color.

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