Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Following on to the Montana Green Mk2 GTI that Carter featured earlier, here is a nicely preserved, one-owner 1989 GTI 16V sure to appeal to our fans in right-hand drive markets. This one is for sale about forty miles northeast of London and looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor. This one is sure to put a smile on the faces of Mk2 fans everywhere.
About a week ago I posted a 1991 Volkswagen GTi 8V in Montana Green on our Facebook fan page. It wasn’t the best example, but it wasn’t horrible either and as I said finding these Mk. 2 GTis in rare colors such as Montana Green in original condition is really quite hard. For whatever reason, the questionable tastes of the watercooled crowds have claimed many victims who have suffered countless horrendous modifications in lieu of strong maintenance and careful ownership. Consequently, original condition GTis tend to command the strongest money out there, and today is no exception. Sure, you can find a VR6 or 1.8T swapped GTi from this generation for less money just about any day of the week, but if you really want to relive the days of the hot hatch at Volkswagen, the hottest setup you could get was the 1990-1992 GTi 16V 2.0, and today we see one in original configuration and relatively unmolested. Care to play the lottery? You might just need to to afford one of these:
It’s sometimes interesting to consider what might have been. Had the 928 superseded the 911 as Porsche’s flagship model, then would we still consider the marque the way in which we do today? Perhaps the 911 would have become an even more hardcore machine primarily restricted to variants such as the GT2 and GT3 while the 928 became an exquisitely refined GT in a vein similar to an Aston Martin. Might Porsche have become a niche vehicle like the Aston as well? Who knows? What we do know is that production of the 928 spanned nearly 20 years and encompassed parts of three decades. Furthermore, remarkably, it remained reasonably similar throughout the model’s life, especially in its appearance. It is a testament to the original design that so few refinements were even necessary and the 928 still looks good today! The car featured here is a fairly low mileage 1991 Porsche 928 S4 located in California. The 928 S4 was produced from 1987-1991 and featured a 5.0 liter V8 delivering 316 hp to the rear wheels. For the final two years of its production the S4 was only offered with a 4-speed automatic as the 928 GT essentially became the sport version of the 928 and replaced the manual version of the S4.
The C5 Audi S6 was a little soft, you say? Not this one. While enthusiasts may have been disappointed that the C5 Audi S6 was available in tiptronic automatic only in the U.S., it was also only available in Avant form here, something that fans could at least celebrate. Mated to the excellent 4.2 V8, it was a solid choice for fast, comfortable performance for a family. But for some folks that just wasn’t enough, and we thank them for that. From the few that have undergone the manual swap, there are some row-your-own S6s floating around for sale from time to time. While this particular car doesn’t have that option, what it does carry is a PES supercharger pushing a few pounds of boost into that awesome V8. The result is near RS6 levels of performance in a sleeper package:
Homologation for motorsport is nothing new, but it’s uncommon that a vehicle will make the transition into multiple race series. Mercedes-Benz had intentions of rally competition with the 190E when it was introduced in the early 1980s, but, as they say, life is timing. With the Audi Quattro lighting up the World Rally scene, Mercedes became a bit gun shy of the proposition. Instead, they decided to go racing in the newly devised Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (German Touring Car) race series. The first years of this series were legendary, with Mercedes going head to head with E30 BMW M3s on the track in some epic battles.
The two competition 190Es we’ll take a look at today were intended for two very different race series. The first 190E we’ll take a look at is for sale in Holland and was intended for the rally circuit.