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Month: May 2019

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2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

If you told me I had to go spend every last penny of my money that wasn’t used to sleep or eat, I’d probably go buy a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Why? It has everything. Power, looks, exclusivity, and most importantly, Gullwing doors. In all seriousness, this car is a monster. My editor Carter instructed in one at a supercar event and the car looks like it was ready to eat every single cone for lunch then move onto eating the light poles next. This isn’t a re-bodied SL63 with some fancy doors. This is a exotic super car. It was first Mercedes-Benz automobile designed and built from scratch entirely by AMG. It had the the world’s most powerful naturally aspirated production series engine at the time. They had to nail this car and they did. In all honestly, I probably couldn’t handle this car at anything more than 50% of what it is capable of. It’s too much. One of my daily drivers is a 240D for heaven’s sake. All this still isn’t stopping me from saving every penny though.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG at Hemmings

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1988 Volkswagen Scirocco 16V

How can you talk about 1980s Volkswagens and not mention the Scirocco? Karmann’s lift of the Giugiaro Asso di Picche, Asso di Quadri and Asso di Fiori designs was plainly evident, but that they were borrowed really should come as a surprise. After all, the reception to the master Italian designer’s other pens – the Golf, first generation Scirocco, Audi 80 (4000) and Coupe GT firmly established both companies in the public limelight. In the case of Volkswagen, it defined a company emerging from the shadow of the air-cooled generation; for Audi, it modernized designs and capitalized on the success of the 100 lineup in the 1970s. But Karmann had been integral in the production of the first two as well, making an easy transition from ItalDesign to Volkswagen’s go-to special production for the second generation Scirocco.

But while the design was all grown up and modern for the 1980s, the underpinnings were the same; little changed dynamically between the 1981 and 1982 model year, and though upgrades came over the next few years with higher-spec trim and a bit more power, it wasn’t until 1986 that VW coupe fans finally got to rejoice as the addition of the PL 1.8 liter dual-cam inline-4 finally joined the lineup. Now with 123 high-revving horsepower, the Scirocco went a bit more like the wind it was named after. The wide-ratio, economy-minded gearbox of yore was gone too, replaced by a close-ratio gearbox. Like the GTI and GLI, 14? ‘Teardrop’ wheels and a new bodykit heightened the boy-racer appearance, and the 16V models got all matchy-matchy before the Golf and Jetta, too, with body-colored painted bumpers.

Perhaps this was a shot across the bow of the other Giugiaro-designed, sporty 2-door coupe on the market – the Isuzu Impulse Turbo. Because as much of a VW nut as I am, let’s be honest – the Impulse was cooler. It had much better integrated bumpers, for example, and looked even MORE modern than the Scirocco. And it had cooler wheels. And it had a turbo, and as neat as having dual cams was, having a turbo got you into pants in the 1980s. While it only had one cam, the intercooled 4ZCI was good for 140 horsepower in 1985. That power was channeled through the back wheels, too, with near perfect weight distribution. To top all of that off, in 1987 you could get the “RS” model which was painted all white – yes, even the wheels. That was as radical as it got that year – people actually paid a lot of money to tuners to achieve that look, yet a few models like the 300ZX, Audi Coupe GT and Impulse RS gave it to you from the factory. They came fully loaded with electronic gizmos, and mostly unlike the VW, they worked. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, GM links created the “Lotus Tuned Suspension” package for the 1988 model year. If one of these rolled up to the party you and your Scirocco were at, you were going home lonely (and, more slowly).

But this isn’t “low-production Japanese cars for sale blog”, so we’ll look at the Scirocco.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco 16V on eBay

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1962 Opel Rekord P2 Coupe

We don’t cover many Opels on these pages, but every once in a while one catches my eye and is worth a look. Here’s one such case; a Opel Rekord P2 Coupe. The P2 replaced the P1 in 1960, and the “P” moniker came from the panoramic windshield signature of the early model. While the P2 dropped the heavily rounded windows and become significantly more angular, it kept the “P” nameplate. In many ways, the P2 mimicked the Michelotti BMW 700 design – but of course the GM roots also drew design language from cars like the Chevrolet Impala and Biscayne, while adopting a more discrete, diminutive size for European distribution.

Under the hood was a 1.5 liter inline-4 rated at 50 horsepower, with an option 1.7 liter unit good for 55 horsepower in normal form or 60 horsepower in “S” specification. These were linked to a 3-speed manual mounted on the column, though a 4-speed became optional later in production. The Rekord P2 was West Germany’s second-best selling car (behind the Beetle, of course!), with nearly 800,000 produced between 1960 and 1963. Rare to see today, this Coupe certainly looks like a nice alternative to the traditional air-cooled history:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1962 Opel Rekord P2 Coupe on eBay

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Roll the Dice: 1994 Mercedes-Benz SL500

I must be getting old, because it seems like every year that passes my tolerance for “project cars” gets smaller and smaller. When I had a bunch of free time, I had no problem messing around for countless hours on one of my cars. Now? Get this job finished as fast as possible and be done with it. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my cars, but they wear my patience thin sometimes. This doesn’t mean I still don’t browse for cheap cars constantly and run across some that might not take all that much to have a decent example for way less than market value. Today’s car, a 1994 Mercedes-Benz SL500 up for sale in California, might be that. Looking at the price, I thought it was going to be a total basket case that didn’t run or looked like a nice family of mongooses took up residence in the interior. Much to my surprise, that isn’t the case and this car actually has some extra goodies on it as well.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1994 Mercedes-Benz SL500 on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 1994 Alpina B10 4.6 Touring

While the B10 BiTurbo generated the headlines as the world’s fastest sedan, BMW’s replacement M60 V8 motor was making its way into production and the M30 inline-6 was on its way out. Of course that meant it wasn’t too long before Buchloe got their hands on one, and in turn it wasn’t too long before the B10 4.0 replaced the BiTurbo as the top offering. But a year later, Alpina had already punched out the block to 4.6 liters. Now generating 340 horsepower, the new B10 4.6 not only was as quick as the M5, it was considerably cheaper and less complicated than the BiTurbo had been too.

Like the 4.0 before it, the standard 17″ Alpina wheel treatment, upgraded suspension, larger and less restrictive exhaust, aerodynamic tweaks and unique interiors all made their way here. Also like the 4.0, the 4.6 was available as either a sedan or Touring, and as either a 6-speed manual or 5-speed Switch-Tronic automatic. A scant 46 were built before the end of E34 production, of which only 19 were Touring models – making this one of the most limited Alpinas produced:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1994 Alpina B10 4.6 Touring at Springbok.de

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