Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Time for another Wednesday Wheels roundup – but this time, I’m looking at some great steering wheels I found. Check out the rare Volkswagen Petri model – or the equally rare Personal Audi Sport wheel. Then there are a brace of Momo Mercedes-Benz wheels including a neat original AMG wheel, and why not throw in a Ruf wheel for giggles even if it costs more than some cars? What’s your favorite?
Isn’t it amazing how far cars have come? Just yesterday, I was walking with my wife and we were talking about the cost of living today versus when our parents were our age. Certain things are significantly more expensive proportionate to what income was then; housing, for example, and utilities are – at least where we live – much more expensive than when our parents were young. In the early 1980s, the housing market was such that an average amount of money today would have bought you a real mansion – or in some cases, you could have easily owned two or three houses for the same amount as a not particularly extravagant home today. But then you turn to computers, phones, and music technology – remember the CD collection that you used to have? Or perhaps it’s taking up shelf space or boxes in the attic while you walk around with all of the music you can ever listen to on a device that’s smaller than your hand and cost only about a fifth of what a CD player cost new. But technology hasn’t just improved our musical library – technology has made cars safer, faster, and more luxurious – but amazingly, not more expensive. Sure, the dollar figures are higher and it’s worth a laugh looking at the original sticker price of this GTi; a paltry $10,300 in 1984. You can’t even buy a new car for that amount today! Of course, factor in inflation, though, and that $10,300 roughly equates to the best part of $24,000. Guess how much a base GTi costs today? I’ll save you some time….$24,395 gets you a base GTi. But base doesn’t mean what it used to – the “base” model comes with a 210 horsepower turbocharged inline-4, LED foglights, 18″ wheels, iPod connectivity, a touch screen radio, trip computer, and heated front seats – not to mention that things like power windows, air condition and power steering are all standard items now. Sure, as enthusiasts we can decry the nanny-state decreasing our connection with driving through technology and isolation, but ultimately the new GTi is just better at being a car than the original GTi was. It’s faster, turns better, stops better, is more comfortable, can carry more, gets better fuel mileage and is safer. Technology has helped this all occur with no real change in price, amazingly. Yet, we still look longingly at those old GTis, nostalgic for the days that you could toss a car around at 10/10ths without really even breaking laws:
Do you ever wonder what happens to all of those wild magazine cars? You know the ones I’m talking about – the ones you flip to first, creations that make you wonder what the motivation of the builder was? Honestly, most fade into obscurity – but once in a while one pops up again for sale, and today’s GTi EVII built by Guy Light is one of those cars that may just may you say “Oh, yeah….I remember that!” It’s been a full 25 years since this car was new and a flash in the pan. Light chopped the top off the car, added a body kit and some great BBS wheels and Recaro seats, and Viola! He made the Mk.III Cabrio prototype. Seriously, look at this car – if it doesn’t scream Cabrio to you, I’m not sure what would. Reading through the period article about the car, it was certainly an interesting and unique vision with an extraordinarily limited scope. The part that I found most fascinating? Light offered to charge individuals a staggering $13,000 – on top of the price of the car – to complete the conversion. Aren’t you surprised that you don’t see more of these floating around than the original prototype?
The 1984 GTi with a cool G60/turbo engine setup and some great Recaros and BBSs is back up for sale a little over a month…
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The Volkswagen Phaeton has been, since introduction, quite an intriguing car. Generally passed off by those out of the know as a rebadged A8, every time I see one I’m blown away that Volkswagen pulled the project off. Despite what the American enthusiasts think, the exclusive executive sedan has been very popular in Europe and specifically Germany – where it’s much more in vogue to fly a little lower on the radar. Fly low the Phaeteon does; for many, at first glance it doesn’t look much different than the B5.5 Passat, and many of the styling cues were incorporated into the B6 Passat sedan. Couple that with a general resemblance to the D2 Audi A8, and not many notice this serene Volkswagen shuttling its passengers in near silence. I say near silence, since the only noise you hear inside is the slightly slower beating of your heart and heavy breaths as you soak in the luxury. They’re disturbingly quiet inside, thanks in no small part to extra thick glass and soundproofing. Every conceivable option available in the Volkswagen catalog was thrown at these cars, including the top-spec W12 motor. Shared with the Audi A8, Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur, the W12 is a monster of power – easily capable of propelling the very important people riding along with you quite close to 200 m.p.h. when deregulated. This is especially shocking given the Phaeteon’s weight – a staggering 500 lbs heavier than the Audi A8 you’d presume was the same car, the Volkswagen was simply in another weight class and quite different than the D2/3 chassis. Yet, despite the exotic Bentley stablemates that share many components and the D1 platform, today you can pick up one of these expensive cars that were a bit of a sales flop at a substantial discount: