Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
This might be as good as it gets. A 1991 Mercedes-Benz 300SE with a mere 8,500 miles. The color combo? Pearl Blue Metallic over blue leather. This is the type of car that was regularly used and excelled greatly at it, but this one was somehow put away and spared. Now over 30 years later, do you dare? If so, it isn’t going to come cheap. Not at all.
As with Andrew’s R107, purists will want to look away from today’s car.
This 2002 is a mix of eras, to say the least. Representing the 70s is, of course, the base car – here augmented by Turbo-esque bodywork. Representing the 80s, the fantastic but oddly placed Centra Type 7 wheels and a 5-speed manual transmission from an E21, along with some Recaro front seats and E24-sourced rear seats. for good measure, there’s what appears to be a Volvo Turbo badge thrown on the rear. The 90s? This thing is rockin’ an Alpine stereo, of course. And from the Naughts comes one of BMW’s best shades, Laguna Seca Blue. The combination of all these things would perhaps lead you to believe that it should be this car that has the 1JZ under the hood, but no – a recently rebuilt M10 is still lingering. So does this car pull it all off?
I don’t want to say I told you so, but literally three years ago I told everyone to buy 996 Porsche 911 GT3s and they’ll thank me. Now, almost every 996 GT3 is pushing six-figures and the really low mile ones sell as much as the 991 GT3. I don’t think they are going to keep climbing like crazy forever given it is a really tough ride and not a great street car, but it seems just saying you own a GT car now is enough and everything else comes second. Today’s example, a 2004 up for sale in Arizona, is not for anyone looking for a deal on this and is probably priced way at the top of the market.
The M635CSi somehow gets lost among the other greats of the period from BMW. Perhaps, for U.S. fans, it’s the nomenclature that’s confusing. After all, there was a M1, an M3, and a M5, but when it came to the M version of the E24, BMW stuck with the moniker M635CSi in all markets but the United States and Japan. Confounding that decision was the launch of the E28 M535i. Like the M635CSi, it had additional body pieces, special interior trim and wheels from M-Technic. But while the M535i had a fairly normal M30 under the hood, the E24 received the full-fat M88/3 that was shared with the M5. Like the European M5 production started in 1984, well before they were available to U.S. customers. But while the M5 only sold in very sparse numbers over its short production cycle (about 775 sold in Europe between 1984 and 1987), the M635i was a relative hit, with just over 3,900 selling overall – far more than made it the U.S. market. Additionally, the European models were a slightly more pure form of the design; smaller bumpers, less weight, and about 30 more horsepower on tap without catalyst.
These European spec models were offered with some color combinations and interiors that never came to the U.S. market. This one is quite rare to find in Bahama Beige Metallic with Buffalo leather:
Back in 2021, I took a look at a string of Aerokit-equipped 996 Carreras, culminating in this neat Mirage Metallic example:
Even priced in the high 30k range, these are still some of the most affordable 911s you can get into. Today’s example is a ’99 with more mileage, but it’s got the correct-for-early-GT3 Sport Design wheels and it’s a bunch cheaper. Is it a good deal?
