Last week I looked at a really cool 1993 Mercedes-Benz 600SL that took the early R129 styling cues and freshened them up a little bit thanks to some different wheels, tail lights and a little bit of paint. The price was more than reasonable for all you were getting and I think that you would probably do just fine when it came to keeping the value on that car. Today, I wanted to look at another early R129 that is nearly stock just to compare it when it comes to styling. This 1992 500SL up for sale in Alabama is painted in the classic Pearl Gray with dark gray lower cladding that is just a wonderful example of what these early R129s are. Nothing is aggressive or flashy, just a perfectly crafted Mercedes roadster that is built to pass the test of time. The best part about it? You can grab this one for under $10,000.
German Cars For Sale Blog Posts
I’m always interested in finding M491-equipped Carreras. They’re very cool cars that are pretty rare and tend to be sought out by both collectors and drivers. That tends to make them a little more expensive than your standard Carrera, but their fans find the extra cost worthwhile. When priced correctly (usually in the 60Ks and 70Ks) they can sell pretty quickly. Above that requires certain additional levels of rarity, typically PTS or one of the very rare G50 models from the last couple production years.
One thing I don’t see too often is modified examples and that brings me to the one we see here: a Guards Red 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in Tennessee, with 90,754 miles on it and, of course, that all important Turbo-look package. It looks very good and I really like the ducktail spoiler as a replacement for the Turbo’s tea tray. It’s a little more subtle, but still provides a more aggressive look. Other than some pop-out rear windows (love them!) hearkening back to the early 911s, the rest of the modifications are under the skin, but should enhance most areas of this Carrera’s performance. Where will they leave this already pretty desirable model?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe M491 on eBay
Comments closedI have a kind of love-hate with the Mercedes-Benz W220. The design of the S-Class from the W140 to the W220 was like high school senior who is just starting out in life to now a post-grad with an office job who realizes that this will be his life for the next 40 years. Everything is a little bigger, a little softer, not quite as handsome, but now you have some kind of money to spend on things like screens that will be obsolete in three years. Nothing wrong with that and totally acceptable, but the S-Class was now firmly blended in with the BMW 7-Series, Audi A8 and Lexus LS. There was some hope for W220 if you really wanted a full-size sedan to separate yourself from the rest and that of course came in the facelifted S55 AMG. The styling was much more aggressive thanks to some different bumpers and a quad exhaust setup, but the real gem was under the hood with the M113K. This engine was a gem the day it debuted in the E55 and SL55 in 2003 and to this day is a favorite by many for its relative reliability and ability to make huge power numbers. Now that we are well over a decade into the M113K existence and the regular W220 can be had for the same price as a gourmet pizza, finding an S55 AMG for not much money at all isn’t a problem. Although that doesn’t mean that all problems are solved, especially when it comes to maintaining these monsters. This 2004 up for sale outside of Chicago is no different.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2004 Mercedes-Benz S55 AMG on eBay
2 CommentsUpdate 10/24/18: After being listed as sold, the Coupe Quattro was resold in a no reserve auction format at $3,500.
Update 9/26/18: The 90 quattro 20V sold for $2,600, and the Coupe Quattro sold for $4,249
I’ve owned Audis of all sorts, but the B3/4 chassis has so far eluded me. It’s not that I haven’t come close, though. My first experience with a B3 was at one of my first jobs. One of the delivery men had bought a brand-new 1990 Coupe Quattro. It was a mess, though it was only 6 years old at that point. I offered to clean it for him, and thus was born my first drive with the 7A. It started up and sounded just like my 4000CS quattro, and if I’m brutally honest, below 3,000 rpms you couldn’t tell any difference between the two in performance. But keep your foot buried in the loud pedal and the DOHC 2.3 inline-5 began to sing, eagerly heading for the redline at every prodding. The fit, finish and luxury of the Coupe made me envious of the time; though my Audi was only four years older, it might as well have been five times that. Such was the jump from the B2 to the B3. Soon after I met another Audi fanatic who had a string of Lago Coupes I would often drool over.
My later encounter came much closer to actual ownership. I met a friend in England during grad school and we quickly bonded over Audis. It turned out that back in his hometown in Canada, he, too, had an Audi waiting. It was a graphite 1990 90 quattro 20V. And, after some time, he asked me if I wanted to buy it. When I got home I pursued this prospect since I had sold the 4000 to leave for England. Long story short, when the photos arrived of the car, it was quite a bit more crusty underneath than I was hoping. His price was reasonable, but then for about the same ask a 1993 4.2 V8 quattro came up for sale locally, and the rest was history for me.
The B3 20V has never left my thoughts, though I haven’t gotten any closer to owning one. The Coupe and its 90 quattro 20V brother each have their devoted fanbase, yet they’re remarkably different cars both in how they look and who wants to own each. Both are fairly rare, with around 1,500 Coupes and roughly 1,000 90s imported with the 7A originally – and, in all honesty, probably only a fraction of that number remain today. But surprisingly I found two examples of Pearlescent White Metallic to compare: