Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
After several relistings since I initially wrote it up back in May, this 350SLC is back up on the auction block. There was an claim that some of the 350SLC cars came badged as 450SLCs, making this car appear original, though I can’t find any proof of that – does anyone know better? Miles are very low, condition appears good and this would certainly be a fun package that would last – but the asking price is fairly steep at $19,000. What do you think this car is worth?
Red can be a hard color to pull off well on a big sedan – they sometimes end up looking like the Fire Brigade’s car. But there are some notable exceptions; Red C4 Audis, for example, look particularly spectacular when well polished. Another car that seems to stand apart from other large red rides is the E34 BMW. Just look at this M-Sport model in Hellrot – it’s a brilliant example of how to do the lines of a car properly. I really wish BMW still made sedans in this mold; it was the first step in cleaning up the U.S. specification bumpers into a well-unified design and I’m not sure that they’ve done much better since. While last week I wrote up a E34 M5 that most people seemed to like, today’s example answers at least one of the complaints of those that didn’t with the M60 V8 packed under the hood. Otherwise, this car is as close to a M5 as one could get in 1995:
This is somewhat strange. While Porsche always has offered a wide variety of colors, including paint-to-sample options, it’s rare that we come across a 911 where I can’t really tell what color it is. The car here isn’t described as paint-to-sample, though perhaps that’s the fault of the seller, but rather it is described simply as Brown. It does look somewhat Brown, but I can’t say I’ve seen a 911 in this shade, and Brown itself was much more popular in the ’70s than the ’80s. Either way, combined with the lovely interior color this 1987 3.2 Carrera definitely is eye-catching and not an everyday color. The G50-equipped Carreras have shown rapid appreciation of late especially when in excellent condition, as this one appears to be.
If the Porsche 928GTS we featured last week was a bit too rich for your blood but it’s a V8 Porsche you still lust after, have faith. There are still a few options out there on the market. Case in point this tidy 1986 928S for sale in Nevada. This is one of the last pre-facelift 928s, as 1987 would see a more rounded rear end. Under the hood is the 5.0 liter lump, good for 316 horsepower, making this a bit of a straddling year in the 928 production run.
In yesterday’s Audi project post, I wrote up two more-rare Audis with potential, though both would require some work and dedication to get to daily driver status. Today, I’ve got two more “project” cars – though, if anything, these two are considerably more rare these days than either of the two Audis. Both are all-wheel drive wagons from Volkswagen, but if you can quint and see a family resemblance, that’s about all that links them together. The first is the B2 Audi-derived Quantum Syncro – essentially, an Audi 4000 quattro with Volkswagen hubs, wheels and brakes and a unique rear suspension under the Quantum body. The Passat W8 also shared Audi A4 all-wheel drive components but essentially was a completely different offering, from the 6-speed manual transmission this model sports to the unique W8 motor stuffed into the discreet Passat Variant package. While there were considerably more Quantum Syncros produced than W8 6-speeds, finding one today can be quite hard – many succumbed to poor residual value, rust and neglect; though not complicated cars, the were more expensive to work on than the standard 4-cylinder models. The W8 is at the verge of falling into the same fate, with the exception of original production numbers – with only a handful of W8 Variants imported originally, both of these cars are serious unicorns these days. Which is your style?