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Month: November 2018

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1986 Audi 4000CS quattro

While it hasn’t been particularly long since I looked at a B2 – either in Coupe GT or in 4000S form – it has been a bit since we saw a nice example of the fan-favorite 4000 quattro. In fact, it’s been over a year since I looked at the last late-build 4000CS quattro.

Such is the marketplace at this point. The newest example is on the verge of being 32 years old and, frankly, not many have lived glamorous lives. Despite this, they are resilient. I was reminded to the 4000CS quattro when I watched a recent Motorweek featuring the then-new 325ix. While admittedly the E30 packed more power than Audi’s traditional normally aspirated inline-5, to me the 4000 still holds greater appeal and was better in its execution of a reliable all-weather sedan. I won’t go through everything that made these cars special as I have done several times, but if you’re interested you can read about the early or late models by clicking.

Today, both the ix and quattro models are few and far-between. Audi originally sold about 4,000 each model year of the 4-year run of the democratized all-wheel drive system shared with its very rare Quattro brethren, but at a cut-rate price and with exceptionally low residual value (I bought mine at 9 years old with under 100,000 miles for only 10% of its original sticker price), there just aren’t a lot of good ones remaining. Here’s one:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Audi 4000CS quattro on Seattle Craigslist

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2017 Porsche 911 Targa 4S

The second-hand car market for almost-new Porsches is kind of amusing to me these days. On the one hand, you have the various GT cars – the GT3, GT3 RS, and GT2 RS. All of those have been selling for above MSRP and in the case of the GT2 RS the markup is high enough that you easily could buy yourself a second nearly-new 911 instead. They are amazing cars and prices will come down, but still.

On the other hand, you have pretty much every other Porsche on the market, which, like most any other car, goes through a decent bit of depreciation almost immediately. For instance, there is this Graphite Blue 2017 Porsche 911 Targa 4S, located in Texas, with Graphite Blue/Chalk leather interior. In truth, this one probably isn’t even a particularly good deal, but it is one that I like quite a bit. The Graphite Blue exterior is a fantastic color, I really like the interior contrast, it has the 7-speed manual transmission, and it’s a Targa. There’s a lot to like about this 911.

To be clear, I am in no way perplexed by these phenomena; I just find it amusing.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2017 Porsche 911 Targa 4S on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 1999 Mercedes-Benz G500

Have your eye on that G63 AMG 6X6 Brabus B700 but can’t swing the $1,895,000 price tag? I might have a solution for you. You are probably looking at the title and seeing 1999 G500 and looking at the photo not seeing a 1999 G500. I have an answer to that question as well. This W463 started life as your regular G500 and was transformed into a faux Brabus B700 6X6 by master craftsmen in Eastern Europe. You are probably chuckling when I say ”master craftsmen” and ”Eastern Europe” in the same sentence, but hear me out on this one.

As you might have noticed this G is not in Miami like the listing says, but is actually in the city of Lutsk in Western Ukraine parked outside of a khrushchyovka and a store that sells fertilizer. Mercedes made less than 100 6x6s in total and Brabus converted a handful to their B700-spec so it’s not you can just go grab a 6×6 body from the local parts department. Being a former resident of Ukraine, I reached out to this seller to ask a laundry list of questions as to how this 6×6 came to be. The seller said the entire body was custom fabricated by his team and all the carbon fiber pieces, including the giant fenders, were made custom by his factory that molds carbon fiber pieces. How he got all the specs and dimensions, he wouldn’t tell me. Simply ”its secret”. When I asked if Mercedes or Brabus contacted him, seeing as he somehow replicated one of their most exclusives vehicles ever that sold over $700,000, he replied that they had not, but he hopes to sell the 6×6 before they do. As for the mechanicals, it is a 6×6 system that fully functions and mentioned that while it is fun to drive, actually parking this monster is less than ideal. Oh yeah, we haven’t even talked about the interior yet.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1999 Mercedes-Benz G500 on eBay

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1966 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Type 34

I don’t spend a lot of time talking about air-cooled models on these pages, and that’s a huge gap in Volkswagen’s history. It’s also not so long ago that VW continued to crank out brand new Beetles alongside their water-cooled replacements. The proliferation paved the way not only for the water-cooled replacement models I tend to favor, but some pretty awesome air-cooled examples, too.

Of those my favorite certainly must be the Type 34. I dissected Volkswagen’s first attempt to move upscale in an article on The Truth About Cars last year:

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2017/01/volkswagens-other-karmann-ghia-the-type-34/

Basically, like the Phaeton, the Type 34 was a sales failure. It was too expensive – costing about 50% more than a normal Type 14 Ghia. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t a very good looking failure. While the underpinnings were shared with its less exotic 1500 cousins, the upscale Karmann Ghia was aimed squarely at making peasants feel like landed gentry and certainly looked the part. Sweeping character lines ran the length of the car, giving it its signature “razor” nickname. Added to the upscale look in terms of desirability today is rarity. Never imported to the United States, the Type 34 only achieved about 42,500 units – less than 10% of the total number of the more popular and familiar Type 14 Karmann Ghia. But we’re lucky to find one today in Michigan:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1966 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Type 34 on eBay

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2001 Mercedes-Benz S500 Pullman

After looking at my favorite Pullman ever, I thought I’d circle back and check out another one of my favorite Pullmans that is still for sale. This W220 has a new price of $46,888, which is a $13,000 reduction from the price a year ago. Find it here. 

Finally. After so many times looking at aftermarket limousine conversions (with questionable build quality) on Mercedes I finally found a real factory Pullman. This is a 2001 S500 Pullman six seater with the AMG Advanced Mobile Media System. And here this whole time you thought AMG was just good at making cars that burn tires. This is a fully mobile office computers, desks, live televisions, DVD players and 43 kbps internet service. Well, maybe stick to your smartphones for the internet service. But this car is a great example how well a limo can be done with the right materials and planning. Lets check it out.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2001 Mercedes-Benz S500 Pullman on eBay

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