Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The Mercedes-Benz W140 Coupe is growing on me. Especially when they are done as well as today’s car. This 1997 S500 Coupe up for sale in Costa Mesa is painted in the ultra-bright Imperial Red and most importantly, the 18″ three-piece AMG wheels. The interior is take it or leave it beige leather, but it does make up for it having just a little over 25,000 miles. Time to buy in on the C140? Probably not this example given the asking price. Let me explain.
Almost exactly a year ago I took a look at the 2019 Mercedes-Benz AMG GT63 that was just hitting dealer lots. The standard GT63, if you can even call it “standard”, is a bonkers of car that does 0-60 in 3.3 seconds and has a top speed of 193 mph. In typical Mercedes fashion, they had it turn the dial up to 11 and release a GT63 S, which means this fairly standard looking four door sedan, I mean coupe, now gets to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds and can hit 195 mph. I know, what a dilemma to pick between the two. However, there is another reason to pick the GT63 S: the wheels! These are the 21″ Monoblocks I was raving about last week and now they are available on the GT63 S. How much? This or a new Mercedes-Maybach S560?
Last week I took a modest dive into cars that have been produced in the past 20 years or so and how they are in a bit of strange spot. Too new and insignificant to be collectible, and generally not worth the trouble. That in turn, with a few exceptions, sends prices to floor. Today, we have another example of that.
This 2001 Mercedes-Benz S430 is a perfect storm of a car that seemingly no one wants. A pre-facelift W220, it is finished in tan over tan with the less-powerful 4.3 liter V8. I don’t need to rehash my thoughts on how the pre-facelift W220 was a massive disappointment compared to the end-of-production W220, but it seems I’m not alone on this one. The good news is that this car is in really nice shape for having over 100,000 miles. The even better news is that is cheap. Really cheap.
Oh boy.
It was bound to happen. Everyone’s favorite “love them or hate them” Porsche tuner, RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF (RWB), has suddenly been pumping out a ton of builds over the last few years thanks to the magic of the internet. These cars are extremely divisive in the car community as some think they are rolling art, while others think they are all show and zero go, along with the fact is it literally cutting up clean Porsches. The formula is pretty straightforward on the builds, as you contact Akira Nakai, give him a giant pile of money, a 911, and enough beer and cigarettes to get him through the process, and he gives you a one-of-kind car that will never be overlooked. Some builds are pretty tame like this backdated G-body, while others go really wild like this 993. Either way, these cars are not for the purists.
Naturally, when things get popular organically, companies want to jump in and try to capitalize. This is exactly what went on with the build we are looking at today with a 1991 964 that was commissioned by a video game maker Electronic Arts for their Need For Speed series. Just as a side bar, I grew up addicted to the Need For Speed games, especially Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed and can directly correlate some bad grades on report cards because I was playing those games instead of studying. Although look at me now; we all have spell check and I write about cars for a living. Back on track, this 964 was built in the typical wild JDM style we are used to seeing, but also had some help from some other builders. Electronic Arts also reached out to Magnus Walker for the styling and Bisimoto Engineering for drivetrain. They must have been writing some pretty big checks for this one.
Last week Porsche announced the new 992 Turbo S and of course, the stats were bonkers. All you really need to know is that it does 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds and will top out a little north of 200 mph. Much to no one’s surprise, it will be an 8-speed PDK gearbox with almost zero chance of a 6 or 7-speed manual gearbox given that the entire 991 Turbo generation did not offer a true manual gearbox. I totally get why, and you can’t blame Porsche for not offering it. First, the majority of 911 Turbo buyers don’t want a three pedal car, and if they did, as soon as they smashed the throttle in first gear, they’d be banging it off the redline. As much as we like to think we are all amazing drivers, your dentist Gary is not. That means if you do want a 911 Turbo with a 6-speed manual gearbox, you have to venture all the way back to the 997 generation.
This 2012 911 Turbo up for sale in New York is just 1 of 163 examples produced for the North American market with the 6-speed compared to the significantly more PDK cars. That means finding one is very a tough task to say the least. Finding one in Carrera White with a Carrera Red interior and just 6,000 miles? Bring your checkbook.
