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Month: May 2018

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2008 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

With asking prices continuing to move upward for the 996TT – though we probably should note that judging from a few auction outcomes the selling prices may not be moving up quite so much – I have been on the search for certain 997TT models. While prices certainly aren’t as low as what we used to see from the 996 the 997 is beginning to represent pretty good performance value, especially given how much performance you get.

Truth be told, this particular example wasn’t really what I was looking for, but I’m glad that I found it. Once I saw it, it was near impossible to pass by. This is a Viper Green Metallic 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet with 6-speed manual transmission. It’s fitted with an interesting Cocoa leather interior and sport seats. This version of Viper Green comes from the late 70’s after Porsche had modified the original non-metallic color. It’s a bit lighter in shade and a bit brighter with the typical metallic sparkle. It makes for an attractive light green and the juxtaposition of light and dark in the interior gives the whole thing a rather earthy feel. Generally when we see Viper Green as a PTS option this is not the version we see, but rather the original version. That makes this 997TT a little extra unique.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet on eBay

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1998 Mercedes-Benz G320

Whenever I see a Europa Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen pop up for sale, I always take time to really check it out. Personally, if you gave me the choice to buy and live with any G-Wagen out there, from military-spec W460s all the way up to W463 G65 AMGs, I’d probably pick a Europa truck. I think they are the perfect compromise between the spartan offerings and the outrageous luxury you can get from a G-Wagen. You get a G that still can be daily driven in total comfort with modern safety but without the crazy options that ultimately you fear of breaking and then driving you nuts. This 1998 G320 up for sale in New Jersey just might be the perfect G-Wagen but fair warning, something this good won’t come cheap.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1998 Mercedes-Benz G320 on eBay

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2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Driving home yesterday I passed a BMW M2 that was stunning. It wasn’t the model itself that caught my eye, but the color. While I’m not as well versed in BMW colors as Porsche, I believe it was Long Beach Blue Metallic. For those like me who are more familiar with Porsche colors, it reminded me a bit of Minerva Blue. If you’re in the market I highly recommend checking it out.

This post isn’t about a BMW though. That BMW reminded me how much I love blue as an exterior color. It had such depth to it and brightness and the way the color shifted as we drove by really was something. I could have spent a lot more time looking, but that probably would have annoyed the people behind me. (Interestingly, coming the other way was a bright blue, non-metallic, Volvo C30. It was nice as well, but not nearly as pretty as the BMW.) I post a wide variety of Porsche colors and I really do like a lot of them, but as a whole I think blue might just be the best.

This seemed a good time to post this car, which I’d seen a couple weeks back and hadn’t gotten around to: here we have an Aqua Blue Metallic 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, located in Miami, with 12,811 miles on it. I’ll say from the start that I don’t think this blue is quite as good as Long Beach Blue, but it’s still quite attractive and among the GT3 RS it’s quite rare. I can’t recall coming across another one.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS on eBay

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Evergreen Forest III: 1998 BMW M Roadster

So, you have to drop $40,000 for a unique M Roadster? Hardly. If you’re willing to forgo the additional grunt of the S54, S52-powered Roadsters are still very affordable. And, they can be plenty unique in their own right. Take today’s ’98 for example. Evergreen is probably a bit polarizing in tone, but it’s also quite distinctive. The total pool of Evergreen examples represents only 2% of overall production of M Roadsters, though. Out of the 10,501 produced, 201 were shipped in the bright green shade – and out of those, 176 were equipped with the equally distinctive two-tone Nappa leather interior color matched to the outside. I’ve looked at a few of these examples previously:

Evergreen Forest: 1998 BMW M Roadster

So you get an unusual color, a more unusual interior, and still quite a potent convertible in the early M Roadster. What is the price delta, though?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1998 BMW M Roadster on eBay

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1985 Audi 5000S

Let’s go back to the beginning of Type 44 production today and take a look at this Audi 5000S. To me, this car represents just about the least appealing model in the lineup for 1985. No turbo, no quattro, automatic, Kalahari Beige Metallic – it really doesn’t get more yawn than this. “But it’s a ‘S’ model“, you say. Ah, but continuing on the theme of Audi’s unconventional naming strategy in the U.S., there was cleverly no non-S model for a few years – everyone got a participation trophy.

As it turns out, there were a lot of ‘everyone’. The new 5000, which started selling in the U.S. in 1984, was a massive success for Audi. In fact, it was far and away the most successful model they sold in the 1980s. And while we love to see turbos and quattro and manuals, it was specifically this car – gold Audi 5000S front-drive automatics – that sold in droves. Audi sold 48,057 5000s in 1985, for example. Only about 20% were Turbos. And the quattro model didn’t launch until very late in the year. Even when it did, they similarly never accounted for more than 20% of sales of the Type 44.

Still, ~40,000 doesn’t sound like a bit number. But consider Audi sold a total of 26,000 other cars between the Coupe, Quattro and all 4000s the same year. And the 5000’s proliferation wasn’t just over one model year. From 1984 to 1988, Audi sold 171,494 Type 44s in the U.S. and was really only limited by the November 1986 airing of the 60 Minutes debacle. This ’85 is representative of how a majority were delivered, but is not indicative of the condition of most today:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Audi 5000S on eBay

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