Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Need to transport seven of your friends all in one swoop? I have just the car for you. Today’s featured car is none other than the legendary Mercedes-Benz W124 diesel … that seats eight! Believe it or not, this car wasn’t hacked together behind Crazy Vaclav’s Place of Automobiles but it was actually Mercedes themselves that pumped out 776 of these 6 door W124s for whatever reason. So let’s cut to the chase and take a look at this 1991 250D six door.
Timothy Dalton was a pretty forgettable James Bond, and The Living Daylights was an even more forgettable Bond film. Beyond the pretty ridiculous plotline of the cellist turned assassin turned sympathetic refuge and maybe the only woman the protagonist never sleeps with, perhaps the most notable appearance was the Mujahideen in another sympathetic roll. They were, after all, the freedom fighters trying to kick out the Western baddy-of-the-decade Russians – never mind that they’d basically become the Taliban in short order, or that the CIA was funding guys like Osama bin Laden to be over there fighting and training alongside them. If you leave the serious lapse in global politics out of the movie, the best part was probably the two Audis you forgot about. James used a 100 quattro Avant for survaillence, but when he needed a quick getaway, it was a really slick looking Stone Gray Metallic 200 quattro with some particularly awesome BBS RS wheels under lightly flared arches. In European guise, it was not a car we got here, with the slab-sided 5000 carrying the torch in 1987 – the year the movie premiered. There was a 35 horsepower difference between the European variant and what came to us, too. That was rectified in 1991, though, when Audi very nearly recreated the look of that James Bond car in the 20V version of the 200. With flared arches, 15×7.5 forged BBS RG wheels and a new, double over head cam turbocharged 3B motor producing 217 horsepower channeled only through a manual gearbox and all four wheels, the 200 finally became a chariot worthy of a super spy. Audi also moved in a new direction minimizing badging; the rear window had a “quattro” script defroster and in front the quattro badge adorned the grill, but as with the 1990 V8 and Coupe models, no other model designation was present. You either knew what you were looking at, or you didn’t. Most didn’t, since these expensive Audis didn’t sell particularly well in the wake of Accelerategate, but those that got them bought a treasure of potential and great build quality:
A good friend of mine who lives on the coast in Massachusetts happens to drive an E91 328i xDrive Touring equipped with a 6-speed manual gearbox. This Touring would be the last five-door estate BMW would offer in the US with a manual gearbox. We sat around discussing potential replacements for this machine once the time comes but the only answers seemed to be buy an old car to replace it or become an expatriate. Given he’s married with two kids, the latter option would not be all that convenient. Well, if we want to take the latter route, why not size up this 2000 323i Touring for sale in Florida with the all important third pedal?
The Speed Yellow 2004 Porsche 911 GT3 we featured in June remains for sale. The price has not changed, but I still think that price remains fairly reasonable all things considered. The GT3 is one of the best of the 996 and unlike some of the other 996 models should stand to hold (or even increase) its value fairly well. Now seems like the time to snatch one of these up.
Named after the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer, the Mercedes-Benz 300d Adenauer wasn’t for everyone. These were for the rich politicians, celebrities and even the Pope was driven around in one — although his was the Landaulet. The $12,000 price tag in 1960 which equates to close to $100,000 today had a big part to do with that. These were a status symbol of exclusivity and wealth that gave off presence. Only to be replaced by the legendary 600, these cars still are a head turner in any situation. So let’s check out this 1960 for sale in Columbus, Ohio.
