Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The Porsche 928 has been on my mind lately, no thanks in part to the knowledgable folks over at flüssig magazine. Normally we like to feature examples for sale in the US, but today I decided to peruse one of our favorite sites for used vehicles in Europe, Mobile.de. After searching about, I found a diverse grouping of 928s, all with their own particular charm. We’ll start with this eye catching 928CS prototype, the rarest of all 928 variants, for sale in Spain.
The Porsche 911 is a favorite when it comes to Motorsports Monday features. There are plenty of examples out there which have been race prepped by amateurs and professional race teams alike, along with some rather valuable factory built examples. They are a very versatile vehicle to go racing with, having seen action in everything from IROC to the rally circuit. This 1971 911E for sale in Atlanta has seen race action on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. It ran in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in the late 1980s and was subsequently imported to the US and raced by John Forbes and the crew at Black Forest Racing.
Anyone who reads GCFSB knows that your managing editor isn’t too keen on SUVs. After being driven around in a Range Rover Sport yesterday morning, I was impressed. Not impressed as something to drive but rather to be driven in. Occasionally, an SUV will come along that forces me to take a second look, like the Porsche Macan. Based on the Audi Q5, this is Porsche’s smallest SUV. The top model is the one you see here, the Macan Turbo, with a 3.6 liter, turbocharged V6 pumping out 395 horsepower. Mated to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic, this SUV can launch to 60 mph in well under 5 seconds. One curious side note about the Macan is that it is the first Porsche to be offered with a four cylinder engine since the 968, as a base Macan has been released for the UK and Japanese markets with a 2.0 liter turbocharged inline-4.
Beyond the performance, the looks are rather handsome. The rear three-quarter view is especially attractive to me, with tail lights that could almost be described as an update of those which adorned the 928S4, GT and GTS. For me, this is a much more attractive looking machine than the oft-maligned four-door in the lineup, the Panamera.
The two-door estate, or shooting brake, as it is sometimes referred to, is a bit of a dying breed in the automotive realm. MINI revived the concept a bit with the Clubman based on their second generation platform. Technically, this was a five-door vehicle, but it was essentially a two-door vehicle with a third door for rear egress and two dutch doors for the tailgate. Volkswagen has dabbled in this breed as well, most recently with the Fox, a variant of the Brazilian market Gol brought to the US in the late 1980s. It wasn’t a huge seller, being pulled from the market after a few short years and two years before the Fox disappeared altogether. You could almost consider the car you see here, the Brasilia, as that car’s ancestor.
The Brasilia was developed by Volkswagen do Brasil as a larger, more luxurious alternative to the Beetle, with some being built in Mexico, like the car we see here for sale in the state of Jalisco in Mexico. This car was never sold new in the United States, but a few have appeared in enthusiast circles north of the Mexican border, serving as a curious and slightly more up to date version of the Type 3 Squareback.
Three things we like here at GCFSB are Swedish cars, fast wagons and manual gearboxes. Sometimes, we are fortunate to come across a combination of these three genres in one package. The last ten years have been good to fans of fast wagons, with choices ranging from the bonkers Cadillac CTS-V Wagon to a hauler that Mercedes-Benz won’t give up on, the E-Class AMG Estate with a bunch of fast Audi Avants in between. Volvo was a bit of an outlier in this game, but nonetheless put forward a quite capable wagon in the form of the V70R in 2003. This wagon had a 2.5 liter, turbocharged inline-5 under the hood cranking out 300 horsepower hooking up to a Haldex all-wheel drive system. And yes, you could order one with a third pedal. Rounding off the package was Volvo’s 4C suspension system and Brembo brakes. This V70R for sale in Richmond, Virginia wears a unique Flash Green hue and has a host of IPD performance upgrades.
