It’s been awhile since I’ve given any consideration to the E28 BMW M5. Not because they’re aren’t super cool either, they most definitely are, and will be fore the foreseeable future. For that reason I’ve been passing over M5 listings frequently, they’re too in style at the moment. The bubble in which they currently sit isn’t as bad as the 911 or the M3, but I think it’s fair to say that the M5 is over valued. People are snatching these things up left and right, adding them to their collections, and waiting for them reach retirement fund status. That’s a shame because not only does it screw with the market, it means these cars likely aren’t being driven as intended. That was most likely not the case with this example given that it has 190k on the clock. Whereas a potential buyer would hope that the majority of those miles were from easy highway driving, I hope they were were accrued on winding back roads.
Month: July 2015
I’ve covered a series of BMW 3 series Individual cars recently, and I seem to be on a streak of finding neat ones. Today for your consideration are two E92s; one 335i turbo with low miles in a nice color combination compared to a M3 Individual with higher miles. The price is nearly the same between the two examples; which would be the one you’d select?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2012 BMW M3 on Craigslist
5 CommentsFor the C5 chassis, there was a major change in that the popular S6 sedan was discontinued in the United States. In its place, you got to choose from a few options; if you had to have a S6, Audi would oblige but only in wagon form in 2002/2003 with the S6 Avant. If you had to have a S sedan, your option was to wait until the 2003 twin turbo RS6 launched and pay a serious premium over a standard A6. But Audi had two spiritual successors to the C4 S6. First, you could get the twin turbocharged 2.7T V6 in the A6 sedan and it could be had with a 6-speed manual. A little heavier than the C4 but with a bit more power, performance was very close to the legendary turbo 5. But few remember that there was a 4.2 V8 option on the C4 S6 in Europe as well, and you could even specify your S6 with (gasp!) an automatic transmission. Audi recreated this package as well in the new C5 A6 4.2 quattro, and to make it a bit more special it was given some S6 details. The 4.2, for example, sported lighter aluminum fenders and hood, along with an aluminum front subframe to match it’s alloy V8. A full 1.4″ longer and with 3.5″ of additional track over the standard A6, the 4.2 also gained the door blades that would later be seen on the S cars. It was the defacto S6 sedan that was never offered, though the 300 horsepower V8 was down on power to the S6 motor and only 2/3s the power of the later twin-turbo RS6. Despite the special aspects the A6 4.2 doesn’t seem to enjoy as much as cult following as either the S6 Avant or the A6 2.7T 6-speed. I’ve rounded up two 4.2s to consider today; one with a manual swap and another with quite low mileage. Which is the winner?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2001 Audi A6 4.2 quattro on eBay
Comments closedI was watching a very interesting piece about mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders last night; a trend which started in the 1980s, some people have been thrown into jail quite literally for the rest of their lives for being involved – even in a minor role – in the war on drugs. In drew into sharp contrast the dichotomous nature of the 1980s, where as a society we declared that drugs were a horrible thing while simultaneously celebrating a community of music, art and even Wall Street that was built around them. In some aspects, one can see that dichotomy in some of the tuner cars from the 1980s, and I think that the mega Mercedes-Benz products are a great example. Starchy, upright and conservative, Mercedes-Benz used to be the standard by which engineering was measured; the automotive bar for luxury automobiles. Yet, at the same time, various tuners took them and turned them into monsters; lowering the suspension, fitting giant wheels and motors, they transformed the conservative Republican into a Punk Rock idol. Some of these creations are more celebrated than others; AMG, for example, has a near faultless reputation which is backed even by Mercedes-Benz themselves, who decided to buy them later in life. Others are…well, not so highly regarded, such as the numerous Koenig specials that were created from otherwise unassuming ’80s Benzs:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC Koenig Widebody on Autoscout24.it
5 CommentsWe always love coming across 911s in a rare color here at GCFSB and especially when that rare color comes on a classic 911 in one of the period-correct choices from the ’70s and early-’80s. Yes, we also feature plenty of black 911s, but those have their own appeal and there also happen to be a lot of them. The example we see here can almost be taken as an inside out 911, making use of a popular interior color but utilizing it on the outside. For prospective buyers who are particularly fond of the natural colors Porsche offered during this period this Cashmere Beige 1980 Porsche 911SC, located in California, with Tan interior could make for a very attractive option that should also come at a fairly reasonable price.