A few months ago I took a look an early Porsche 912 that while the price was right, had a bunch of issues known and maybe more than weren’t yet found. As luck would have it, another 912 popped up, this time an even earlier car, that has a little high price tag but perhaps is a much better starting point. Dare I say that this is even a turn-key example? I maybe won’t go that far since it is a 1966 after all, but heavy lifting is not required on this one.
Last week I took at a look at a Mercedes-Benz E350 in a very interesting color that drew an above average reaction in the comment section. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the shade, but some enjoyed it and at the end of the day, I’m just glad they still offer some crazy colors. Today, I wanted to take a look at another Mercedes-Benz in a maybe not so popular color, but a lot easier to sallow.
This 1987 560SL is finished in Ivory, and that name pretty much nails it. It is an off-white, eggshell, beige, kind of color. Exciting? No. Understandable on a luxury convertible in 1987? Very much so.
The winter months are here for some of us, but that won’t stop the seemingly never-ending offerings of Porsche 911s in wild colors. This 2018 Carrera 4S is finished in the slightly lighter hue of Riviera Blue with the matching brake calipers for extra points. Unlike Miami Blue that is an optional color on the 991 generation, Riviera is only reserved for the paint-to-sample program, so that means tack another $7,000 or so to the sticker. Of course, why stop there when it comes to the options, so a $112,000 base price for a Carrera 4S is now $156,970 when it is all said and done with the options. Now just 6,800 miles later, it is up for sale.
I don’t mean to harp on the Porsche 996 Carrera 4S so much, but the entire package of what they offer, especially at their current prices, always seem to draw me back in. Whether it be the wide rear end, 18″ Turbo Twist wheels, or the heckblende rear reflector, these cars just seem to do it for me. For what they were working with, I think Porsche nailed this design and pulled just enough pieces from the Turbo to keep you interested, but not so much that it was almost as expensive as the Turbo and no one would bite on it. Now, some 15 years later, this are at the bottom of the price curve and ripe for the picking. Time to snag one?
Sometimes the grass is greener on the side. I’ll make that argument sometimes for car selection for certain European makes, but usually it’s for wild models with extra power or crazy options. Today’s car, a 1995 Mercedes-Benz SL280, is the opposite of those scenarios. It is about a basic as it comes. It’s got a rock solid M104 inline-6, manual climate control, and the real kicker? A five-speed manual transmission. How about we throw in some Monoblocks and finished it off in Almandine Red Metallic just to make it even better?
In terms of the “windowmaker” Porsches, the 996 GT2 certainly seems worthy of that title. Hard to believe that a 996 can be deemed scary, but that is exactly the kind of false confidence that gets you in trouble with these. Having a twin-turbocharged car that will get you to 60 mph in under 4 seconds without the help of traction control or stability control is the perfect combination for the result of “I just lost it” after getting a little too confident. I think Porsche knew this, and as a result only 303 examples of these cars made it to the US from 2002 to 2005. To put that into perspective, that is half of how many Carrera GTs there are.
Color is a big piece of the pie when it comes to buying a car. Sometimes it is the only piece. Today is one of those one-piece pies. This 2011 Mercedes-Benz E350 up for sale in Arizona is finished in Pearl Beige Metallic, and what a color it is. To me, pearl + beige + metallic = gold. This is the first time I’ve seen a modern Mercedes-Benz in Pearl Beige Metallic and by the looks of it, I’m probably not the only one.
Usually when manufacturers start pumping out ‘special editions’ it is either at the beginning of the generation or knocking on death’s door as a last grasp to get people to buy the aging model before retooling for the next model. Today, we have the former. This Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is already a huge hit for Porsche fans as everyone guessed, and the European-market already has a ‘special edition’ to go with it. What is it? The Sports Cup Edition. You might be looking at that photo and thinking it is a track-focused model with a bunch of lightweight parts and more hardcore suspension. That would make total sense, right? Nope. Just some stickers.
These ultra-low mileage cars that come out of the woodwork every so often can either can one of two ways. On one hand, they are stashed away with care and caution. Regular exercise, maintenance, and cleaning when necessary. On the other side, basically none of that. Just throw it in the corner under a cover and let it sit. Then bring it out and say it is perfect. That might be true in a loose definition, but not when it comes to really caring for the car. Today’s car, a 2001 Mercedes-Benz SL600 for 427 miles, maybe is on the latter of those scenarios.
“It’s got a cop motor, a 3.2 liter flat-6 plant, it’s got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It’s a model made before catalytic converters so it’ll run good on regular gas.”
Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the exact quote, but you get what I’m saying. What we are looking at is a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa modified to be used by the Rijkspolitie. What exactly is the “Rijkspolitie?” They are the state and national police of The Netherlands. The story goes that post-WW2, Dutch motorways lacked a speed limit and required police cars to keep with whatever was roaming the highways then. Their solution? Call Porsche and order a bunch of 356s to convert to police cars. Apparently they were happy with this arrangement as this practice continued all the way up until the 964 chassis and even included the 914 and 924 as well. A total of 507 Porsches went into police service, making it the largest Porsche police car fleet in the world. Over the years, some of these cars have trickled into private ownership and trade hands every now and then. This Carrera Targa up for sale has all the cool touches, but also comes with a giant price tag.
