From ”I leased my spouse one” to ”Yeah, look up DTM on Wikipedia, you’ll see” is what the base CLK is to the roided-up Black Series. That, and about another $90,000. We’ve covered the Black Series cars fairly well on GCFSB so I don’t want to ramble on, but I think AMG did the best job they could given what Mercedes gave them in the CLK. A mix of C-Class chassis with E-Class features, the W209, even with AMG guise, was never the most hardcore sports coupe made compared to the holy grail BMW M3 that is fawned over. But when AMG teased the US with the CLK-DTM and finally gave us a taste with the CLK63 AMG Black Series, it was everything that we didn’t know we wanted. So if you are looking for a little piece of DTM heaven, let’s check out this 2008 for sale in California.
Month: July 2016
While derided by some for being a bit watered down compared to its European counterpart, there is no denying that the E36 M3 was a wildly popular model and widened the appreciation and market of BMW and the M brand. This particular model alone – the BG93 North American 3.2 Coupe – accounted for 11,793 examples produced. That’s greater than the total number of M products that had been imported to the U.S. prior to the E36 (E24, E28, E30, E34, and 850CSi) and doesn’t account for the 10,000 plus 3.0 Coupes, 6,300 convertibles and and 8,600-odd sedans. You’d expect, then, that finding good examples of the E36 would be quite simple as there are some 35,000 to choose from. But the popularity of the E36 M3 was in part its undoing, too. The flood of the cars devalued the market; many fell into hands unable to maintain them or who treated them like a pinball, bouncing them off every curb, guardrail or other cars. Additionally, the E36’s shift towards mass production did have tangible effects on the long term quality of the product. It’s not unusual to see rusty examples with the trim falling off and headlights so nebulous they’re useless. As a result, finding excellent examples of the E36 is somewhat cause for celebration and really nice ones have been finding a greater appreciation in the enthusiast world. This ’98 Coupe is certainly one of the better quality examples out there for sale today:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1998 BMW M3 Coupe on Providence Craigslist
6 CommentsOnly yesterday I was lamenting, once again, the dearth of nice condition E34s on the market. Well, as if to prove me wrong, another neat example has popped up on eBay. When these cars crop up in this kind of condition, they serve as a reminder of just how handsome an E34 can be when cleaned up. The lines are crisp and unfussy and the overall impression given off by the well-proportioned design is of a purposeful sport sedan. This particular example is an unusually specified 535i with ultra low miles. Unfortunately, it also has a rather ambitious price tag.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1990 BMW 535i on eBay
Comments closed I’ve been going through a lot of 911 Turbos lately – not that there’s anything wrong with that – so let’s move on to something valued a little more on the attainable side of the spectrum. This also rekindles my search for interesting 964s, something that was sparked by again seeing the lovely Carrera 4 that typically roams the streets of my neighbornood. Here we have a Venetian Blue Metallic 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe, located in California, with a White leather interior and 148,051 miles on it. Venetian Blue is a great color that we’ve seen a few times on the 3.2 Carrera and this would be the first I’ve seen of it on a 964. In part, that’s because it wasn’t available, which would make this a paint-to-sample option. We don’t have verification of the originality of that paint here so I think that may be one of the first chores prospective buyers will have to embark upon, but in most other ways this early example of the 964 looks in very nice shape and the seller has provided us with a good deal of pictures to assess that condition.