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I have in many cases hesitated to post cars from this dealer. It isn’t uncommon for sellers, especially many of the dealers, to photoshop their cars so that they look that little bit extra special. This dealer appears to do it to a higher degree than many others and that always makes judging the condition of the car more difficult and generally raises questions. But this one is too pretty to pass by. It’s also not a shade we see very often on these early Turbos. This is a Minerva Blue Metallic 1979 Porsche 930, located in Indiana, with 75,764 miles on it. Going back to those pictures, we are provided with a wide range of detail shots that don’t appear touched up so we do get a good sense of various aspects of the car, including the interior, along with a closer look at that wonderful exterior blue. I always have a soft spot for these shades of blue and on the 930, with its various contrasting black trim pieces, I really find it to be an enticing color. As a ’79 MY 930 this one has the increased displacement and air-to-air intercooler of the 3.3 liter flat-six Porsche fitted in 1978 and also is the last model year in which Porsche would bring the 930 to US shores prior to its 6 year hiatus.
The BMW E34 M5 is a perfect follow on to the Opel Lotus Omega we featured yesterday. These two cars were contemporaries, fulfilling the need for speed in the executive sedan segment in a seemingly similar way on the surface, but, with key differences. While both of these cars have twin cam, 24 valve inline-six engines under the bonnet, the M5 makes due without the turbochargers strapped to the Lotus Omega but still produces a respectable 307 horsepower by way of some clever tuning, most notably the individual throttle bodies. In addition, the M5 is lacking the 6th gear of the Lotus Omega but makes up for it with a more linear power delivery and the free-revving spirit we’ve come to known from the engines of the house of Motorsport. This 1991 M5 for sale in California has made it well past 200,000 miles, with a few battle scars to tell its tale.
There’s been a fair amount of talk on these pages about M branding, as BMW has moved towards slapping badges on seemingly every single model regardless of their sporting potential. Can you blame them? Perhaps, but obviously they’ve done their market research and just as Audi and Mercedes-Benz have similarly increased the breadth and scope of their limited run production, BMW has offered the public an ever increasing and diverse range of M badged products. It’s as if these three are cowboys on the range, fearful of each other’s steeds and stoking the fire to brandish their labels on the rear ends of their flock in a futile attempt to establish dominance and feign individuality. But, in all honesty this isn’t a new trend. As far back as the mid 1980s, BMW was offering badge engineering on some of its finest products, and the M535i is the best example of this. Essentially this was a 535i with a M Technic body kit and no real performance changes outside of an optional suspension package. Does that make it less desirable?
As I was jogging around the neighborhood yesterday, I happened to run across a Chevrolet SS parked on the street. For those not familiar with this car, it’s a version of the Australian market Holden Commodore, packing a 6.2 liter V8 under the hood with 415 horsepower. Amazingly, this sedan is available with a 6-speed manual and the car parked on the street was one so equipped. Quite a rare sight. If I told you GM had a similar car in their arsenal 25 years ago, you probably wouldn’t believe me. But such a car existed in the form of the Opel Lotus Omega. This car would hold the title as world’s fastest four-door sedan for a number of years and represents a neat retrospective for Tuner Tuesday.
Under the hood of the Opel Lotus Omega was a 3.6 liter inline-6 with twin Garrett turbocharges and 24 valves, capable of producing 377 horsepower and launching the car to 60 mph in a hair over five seconds. Hooked up to this engine was a 6-speed manual gearbox from the Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1. Unlike other German manufacturers at the time, Opel did not limit this car’s top speed to 155 mph. Instead, this car’s top speed edged 180 mph. Quite the feat for a car based off an ordinary executive class sedan. Along with its stablemate, the UK market Lotus Carlton, this Lotus Omega for sale near Stuttgart, Germany is one of 950 examples ever produced.
As a general rule final model year cars always hold a particular cachet and command a premium over their predecessors. That isn’t mind-blowing news or anything, but what I suppose we can wonder is just how much of a premium makes sense. That is more or less where I am at with this car, a Guards Red over Cashmere Beige 1998 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet located in New York with 28,822 miles on it. In a way I’m at a similar crossroads to my feelings on the two ultra-low-mileage and rare color 911s I’ve posted over the past weeks. They were otherwise standard Carreras and as such I wonder how high they may ever go – or at least their ceiling over the next decade. This one seems to be banking on the final model year designation, which of course in this case is compounded by it being the last air-cooled model as well, to reach its high asking price. There is no doubt that for those seeking the full open-top experience in an air-cooled 911 that an example like this one serves as a good place to start. It’s the most modern and refined air-cooled 911 available and the 993’s lines seem to work a little better with the Cabriolet shape than on some other 911s.
