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It’s amazing what happens to a car when you put fins on it. That’s what happened to the entry level line Mercedes-Benz in 1961. The W110 was a perfectly tame, conservatively styled basic sedan all the way up to the point past the rear axle then the fins come out and the crowd goes wild. Because of these fins, the W110 now carries the name ‘Heckflosse’ which is of course is German for ‘Fintail.’ These Heckflosse sedans were nothing special outside of the style point and Mercedes really didn’t plan for them to be their flagship. You had two options for the engine in a 1.9 liter gas four cylinder or the 2.0 liter diesel. Both a little under powered, but sturdy and dependable. With the newest of these cars just being almost 50 years old, the Heckflosse is starting to become more rare by the year. So let’s take a look at this wonderful 190D for sale in New Jersey.
I like the E36 M3 sedan because it offers the practicality of a four-door without having to sacrifice much, if anything, in terms of looks or performance over the coupe version. I tend, however, to veer away from modified examples when scouting out cars to write up for the site. There are a few reasons for this. First, I’m a bit of a purist at heart, and I think that cars should probably be enjoyed the way their makers intended. Second, many cars that have had their internals altered also sport grotesque mods on the outside; outsize spoilers and fiberglass bodykits and the like. Third, buying a used, modified car comes with its fair share of risk, particularly if you can’t authenticate the quality of the work that has been done. But this car caught my eye because it is happily free of external modification and looks very neat.
I’ve been having better luck coming across classic 911s for much more reasonable cost of entry lately, but what about once we move past those years? Do we find the same with the 964 and 993? That seems more of a mixed bag – though perhaps it’s not mixed at all with regard to the 993 as they remain fairly expensive – but this 964 does seem quite reasonable. Even better it’s up for auction with no reserve. Here we have a Guards Red 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe, located in Illinois, with Black leather interior and 113,045 miles on it. When Porsche debuted its fully redesigned 911 as the 964 with it they debuted a new model: the all-wheel drive Carrera 4. Following in the footsteps of the all-wheel drive 959, the new Carrera 4 provided more dynamically stable driving for the rear-biased 911. Purely in terms of performance and driver engagement I’m not sure it’d be the preferred avenue, but as Porsche has always prided itself on its blend of performance and refinement the all-wheel drive setup was a logical progression in the 911’s life.
After the legendary run of turbocharged inline-5 motors ended for U.S. customers in 1995, Audi would not deliver another S6 to these shores until 2002. When it arrived, it came in only one form – the popular Avant package. While many rejoiced that this was at the very least an option, it was still pretty expensive and not everyone loves the fast five doors (crazy though it may seem!). But Audi came very close to offering S performance in the special package which was the A6 4.2 quattro. There were many variants of the C5, and ostensibly the 6-speed manual 2.7T was the “sport” option for the chassis. But the top of the heap 4.2 40V offered you the ART/AWN V8’s torque and 300 horsepower with instant throttle response starting in 2000. Underneath the 4.2 carried a special aluminum subframe. Additionally, the all-aluminum engine was joined by specially flared fenders and hood in aluminum, “door blades” that would later be seen on S models, plus optional 17″ x 8″ Speedline (later changed to forged and polished “Fat Fives”) wheels and upgraded brakes and pads. Suspension was lowered and stiffened with the 1BE sport springs and struts in the optional Sport Package; a 20mm drop was accompanied by 30% stiffer springs, 40% stiffer shocks and larger sway bars. The combination gave a menacing appearance to the C5 that wasn’t really present in the narrow-body 2.7T. Today, the argument over which is the better chassis still rages in multiple fora, and while tuners usually love the twin turbo manual option, many others prefer the velvet hammer 4.2 which really was a defacto S6 sedan Audi never brought here:
I’ve posted several 190Es since joining GCFSB, making no secret of my love for the W201. But I haven’t yet written up a 2.3-16, the high-performance version developed in conjunction with Cosworth to go racing at the DTM. It’s not because I don’t like them. Far from it; I lusted after one of these when I was in the market for a W201 a few years ago. But the 16v models in my price range were all wrecks and so I settled for a stock 2.6 instead. (I did, however, get my hands on a full 16v body kit but, as some of you will know, I crashed my car before I had the chance to install it). The reason is rather that many of these come to market in poor shape, and it takes a special car to pique my interest. This one has it’s faults but, being a European market gray import, it also has a few redeeming features.
