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Month: October 2018

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1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet M491

This is a car I feel I have to bring more attention, but I’ll admit I find the ad quite strange. Not strange in the sense that I think something fishy is going on, but in the sense that this isn’t really the best way to get maximum dollar for your car. It should sell fast though and maybe that’s the point.

This is a 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet with the M491 Turbo-look package. If you’ve been following along lately you’ll know that these are rare. Very rare. Once the 930 returned to the U.S. market in 1986 sales of the Turbo-look package went down rather quickly. That makes decent sense. We also must add to this that Porsche debuted its new G50 5-speed transmission for the 911 in 1987, thus making the last three model years of the 3.2 Carrera a little more special on today’s markets. By the time we get to the final model year in 1989 the number of M491-equipped 911s had become quite low. Granted, of the three available models, the Cabriolet was produced in the greatest numbers so this one isn’t as rare as these 911s get. Nonetheless, there only were 24 of them. Oh and it’s up for auction without reserve. Rare indeed.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet M491 on eBay

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1978 Barkas B1000 Pickup

And now for something completely different.

Just left of zero of you will have ever heard the name Barkas, and yes – it’s German. Well, at least technically it’s German, because it was built in half of Germany. And if you had to venture a guess, which half would you suppose that would be?

That’s right! While the Trabant was the people’s car, the Barkas was the worker’s truck. Produced starting in the late 1950s in Chemnitz Karl-Marx-Stadt, the Barkas stole some technology from DKW, who had moved their pre-War headquarters from Zschopau to that fatefully renamed city in 1932 when they joined the Auto Union. Under the “hood” was the same 0.9 inline-3 two stroke you’d find in a DKW F91 and (rather unsurprisingly) the Wartburg, which also stole all the DKW tech. The drivetrain was borrowed, too, meaning that unlike the Volkswagen T-models, these vans were front wheel drive. The layout left Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau Barkas with the flexibility to create all sorts of configurations right up until they (and, the GDR) closed their doors in 1991; from mini-buses to delivery vans, from semi-trucks to even a pickup:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1978 Barkas B1000 Pickup on eBay

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2003 BMW M3 Convertible

Update 10/15/18: This M3 Convertible sold for $22,100.

Like yesterday’s base 944, the M3 Convertible isn’t a car I spend a lot of time on. However, the recipe is hard to argue with; you get the beautiful lines of the E46 mated to the sonorous S54 with limitless sky over your head at the touch of a button. When this car was new, it was the fastest production 4-seat convertible available, though at nearly $60,000 it was hardly cheap. Fast forward to today, and it’s generally become the cheapest way to experience BMW’s gem of a motor in the ultimate development of the naturally aspirated inline-6.

Though I don’t write of them often, I do keep my eye on them from time to time. And today’s particular 2003 is a very special package. Presented in 400 Steel Gray Metallic over N5ZM Cinnamon leather, visually this car is quite a looker. Inside you’ll find a 6-speed manual, too, and a scant 34,866 miles on the odometer. Oh, and the auction is no reserve, too:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2003 BMW M3 Convertible on eBay

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1970 Porsche 911T Coupe


Update 10/21/18: This 911T sold for $63,600.

This is a Tangerine 1970 Porsche 911T Coupe located in Malibu. It has a black leatherette interior, 123,042 miles on it, and is up for auction without reserve. Next to Signal Yellow, Tangerine (also called Blood Orange at times) is my favorite of the early Porsche colors that isn’t blue (it’s hard to have just one ‘favorite’). Tangerine is a color that is hard to pin down. In cases like the photos here, its red tones show up quite vibrantly and it almost looks like Guards Red. Truth be told I have many times checked out a 911 that looked like it might be Tangerine only to discover that it is Guards Red. The lighting in the photos just wasn’t very good. In other cases the orange tones stand out and you’re pretty sure you know what color you’re seeing, but ultimately it does look like a bright orange car and not everyone likes a bright orange car.

However, it is precisely this mix of red and orange that I find so appealing about the color. Under the right conditions it looks absolutely phenomenal. It is definitely not for the faint of heart, but I can think of few better options on any long-hood 911.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1970 Porsche 911T Coupe on eBay

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1996 Mercedes-Benz CL420

The Mercedes-Benz W140 Coupe, or C140, is one of those cars that you might have forgotten about until you see one in the wild or stumble across one for sale. There is good reason for that seeing that Mercedes made a little over 400,000 W140 sedans while only producing 26,000 coupes. You can see that is quite a difference in production numbers and now that the youngest W140 is almost 20 years-old, they are only are getting more rare. Today, I wanted to check out the rarest W140 ever produced, the CL420. Just 2,500 CL420/S420 Coupes were produced from 1994 to 1998 and exactly zero ever made it to America. These Coupes used the 4.2 liter M119 V8 borrowed from the sedan and was the smallest engine choice available in the C140. This 1996 up for sale in Spain is probably one of the most well-preserved CL420s out there despite its 112,000 miles. I just wish I could bring it to America.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Mercedes-Benz CL420 at Classic Driver

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