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Month: March 2018

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Tuner Tuesday: 1989 Mercedes-Benz 190E Tommykaira M19

Update 3/6/18 – What appears to be this same car from July 2016 has appeared on San Francisco’s Craigslist with a $15,000 asking price but little more information. Thanks to our reader Jeff for the spot!

The last time you probably heard the term ‘Tommykaira’, it was ripping around a digital racetrack on Gran Turismo in the late 90s. The name Tommy Kaira was legendary in the JDM car scene in the 2000s with heavy hitter Nissan Skylines and even their own car that got them a place in the Gran Turismo video game series. But before becoming all that, they started off by dabbling in the world of Mercedes-Benz. They took the regular W201 190E and W124 300E and added their own speical touches to the engine, suspension, body work and wheels before reselling them to the Japanese market as the Tommykaira M19 and M30E . Very rarely do I see them for sale because of their relatively low production numbers but recently this M19 has come up for sale a few times on eBay in Yokohama, Japan. So let’s take a closer look at this JDM Baby Benz.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 Mercedes-Benz 190E Tommykaira M19 on eBay

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2011 Audi S5 Exclusive

I’ll be the first admit that I’ve never really liked the S5. It felt as though Audi could have done better and didn’t. It’s always looked fat, flat and uninspired to me, and that’s not helped by the engine selections or the color pallet. When it first emerged it immediately seemed to me that it was a direct copy of the E92 BMW, but with much less exciting engines. Don’t get me wrong – the E92 isn’t my favorite BMW design, either. But it somehow managed to have more presence than the A5/S5 duo in pretty much any iteration – especially so when it came to the vibrant M3. It was almost primed to take on the E46 M3, but when the 414 horsepower V8-laden E9x emerged, the S5 was immediately second fiddle. It’s sole trump card over the M3 was that they came standard with all-wheel drive. That’s about it.

So what’s one doing here? Well, occasionally in the sea of gray, dark gray, light gray, black, dark black, silver, light silver or white S5s, a really pretty one emerges for sale. Case in point: this Audi Exclusive Glut Orange example. Suddenly the S5 makes a lot more sense – why didn’t they sell them ALL in this color?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2011 Audi S5 Exclusive on eBay

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Motorsports Monday: 1992 Porsche 911 Carrera RS NGT

I’ve got a couple of very interesting and rarely seen 964s to start this week. Both, of course, are fairly expensive (well, in one case very expensive) and both showcase models not originally made available in the US market.

We’ll begin with this: a 1992 Porsche 911 Carrera RS NGT. Any Porsche enthusiast will be familiar with the Carrera RS. Whether you’re familiar with the 964 Carrera RS or not, the model itself is well known and follows the tried and true formula of combining more power with less weight to produce a wonderful performance-oriented 911. Less familiar is the RS NGT, a model that took the weight loss program of the standard RS a few steps further. So while we might think of the Carrera RS as a track-focused 911 you can enjoy on the street, the NGT really is more of a track car. The interior is fully stripped of all comforts (instead of carpets you get plywood floors!) and a full roll cage welded in place. Additional features like a long-range fuel tank, fire extinguisher, and external cut off further separate these cars from your standard RS. 290 were produced.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1992 Porsche 911 Carrera RS NGT on eBay

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1985 Mercedes-Benz 300SD

I’ve been featuring a lot of really pristine cars of late almost entirely thanks to their low mileage. The reality is these cars are actually pretty few and far between. The overwhelming majority of cars, even German ones that hold a special place in our hearts, are used on a daily basis to rack up the miles and in turn, the wear and tear. But today’s car, a 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300SD up for bid in California, managed to defy the norm and not only rack up a bunch of miles, but stay almost perfect in the process of doing so. How so? Well, it probably took the perfect storm.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300SD on eBay

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Viper Green 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Quite simply this is a holy sh*t car. I can think of no other way to put it. Obviously the GT3 RS itself elicits plenty of similar commentary simply from its sheer performance capabilities. It also looks kind of crazy in the same way most super cars look kind of crazy. Wings, vents, scoops: it’s all flashy and loud and of a singular purpose. As much as I think the appearance of the current GT3 RS has become a bit fussy, it is very much what it purports to be and makes no mistakes about it. If you want those capabilities with a more sleeper appearance, Porsche provides the 911R. If you want things toned down a few degrees, there’s the GT3. When you decide the GT3 RS is your car, you also decide to give up on all pretensions of subtlety.

But what if the standard GT3 RS simply is too tame appearing? Well, then you get this: a paint-to-sample Viper Green 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS with a Black over Lava Orange interior and matching exterior stripes. If you’re having any trouble getting noticed, this should solve that problem. Honestly, it just makes me giggle.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: Viper Green 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS on Rennlist

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