As a send off to the Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class in 1999, Mercedes gave 600 S500s the treatment of the Grand Edition. All painted black, these cars had 18 inch AMG Monoblock wheels, the same hand stitched seats and steering wheel from the S600, a special birdseye maple woodgrain trim, privacy screens on the rear and back windows and illuminated door sills on top of all the standard things you got on the S500. Sticker price for these 600 cars was $89,500, a mere $2,000 more than the regular S500 — which is totally worth it in my eyes. Most of the time these older Mercedes-Benz ”special edition” cars haven’t had any impact on their value once they are past their warranty limit. But for this W140, it has been just a little different.
Month: November 2017
I’ll admit this post is kind of silly. The universe of interested buyers for this 911 is going to be vanishingly small. It’s very high priced and has so few miles you pretty much can’t allow it to leave the garage. Yet here I am writing it up. It’s been for sale for a little while. I’m not sure if it’s been continuously for sale, but I first came across it two years ago and I feel like I see it now and then. I suppose the problem is that every time I do come across it I’m attracted. I was on the hunt for 993s to feature after coming across a Turbo that immediately reminded me why these 911s are so beautiful and captivating. During that hunt this one popped up again so I went with it.
This is a Speed Yellow 1997 Porsche Carrera 4S, located in New York, with a ridiculously low 1,096 miles on it. It’s also well optioned with hard-back sport seats and factory Aerokit. It is nothing other than stunning.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S on Excellence Magazine
3 CommentsI love a really well-kept Mercedes-Benz W116. Maybe because I own one, but I can’t be alone in feeling this way. These cars feel as solid as anything when everything is sorted and won’t cost you a ton of money to buy and maintain one. All the gas-powered W116s are fine cars and the first ever production turbo diesel car to go on sale in the United States in 1978, the 300SD, was a gem as well. I have a hard time justifying ever selling my 300SD because for the money, nothing can replace it equally and frankly, there is nothing wrong it. So when I see these W116 300SDs come up for sale now and then I always take a closer look to see how other owners treat theirs. Today’s 1979 model for sale in Oregon has me envious and jealous thanks to a few OEM upgrades.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300SD on eBay
1 CommentUpdate 3/1/19: Some 15 months later, this ’05 911 Turbo S Coupe 6-speed is still available with a $15,000 reduction in price to $94,900 today.
Last week I featured this Cobalt Blue 996TT. I said in the post, and most of you agreed, that even with its rare and eye-catching color the price was too high given its mileage. Some of you thought it was way too high. Much of the problem is that it’s a Turbo without the X50 performance package, but priced like a Turbo with the X50 performance package. If you’re looking for performance value, you might as well maximize the performance side of that equation, right?
Another similar comparison is with the car we see here: an Atlas Grey Metallic 2005 Porsche 911 Turbo S Coupe, located in Delaware, with Grey natural leather interior and 29,700 miles on it. Outside of its single-year production there isn’t too much difference between a Turbo S and an X50-equipped Turbo. While the comparison with the Cobalt Blue Turbo isn’t really direct given this Turbo’s much lower mileage it still makes for an interesting point to consider. And, of course, it is also interesting enough in its own right given how rarely we see a Turbo S Coupe come up for sale.