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2004 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

Summer is approaching, which means warmer weather is on the way! At least that’s the theory. I’ve already seen that a baseball game has been postponed today because of snow. Still it’s probably safe to assume that it will be sunny and warm relatively soon and top-down motoring will once again be the thing to do. Back in the days when I actually drove on a daily basis I used to love the first few top-down drives of the Spring. They always brought a renewed sense of freedom and exhilaration to any drive. It was the best way to drive when I had nowhere to go. As the air grew warmer and the days longer I looked forward to those drives more and more. Even commuting wasn’t terrible.

So, let’s look at a Cabriolet then. Here we have an Atlas Grey Metallic 2004 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet with Natural Brown leather interior and a lovely 6-speed manual transmission. It only has 11,352 miles on it and the price is quite high so this isn’t bargain shopping by any means. But I wouldn’t expect a sale at this price anyway so perhaps it can be worked down to something more reasonable. While just about any top-down drive can be a joy, having 415 hp at your fingertips certainly makes things that extra bit more enjoyable. To quote Dr. Frasier Crane, “if less is more, then just think of how much more more will be!”

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2004 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet on eBay

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2002 Mercedes-Benz G500 Faux×Faux²

Do you really want a Mercedes-Benz G550 4×4² but short about $200,000? Well, I have a solution for you. This is a 2002 G500 up for bid in New Jersey that has been jacked up thanks to a suspension lift and 40 inches. Not to end it there, the body work has been added to mimic a 4×4² thanks to the W463 literally staying the same for the past 15 years. All this sounds pretty good in theory, but put in practice like we see here, I think it’s a disaster. Let me tell you why.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2002 Mercedes-Benz G500 on eBay

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1978 Porsche 930

An early 930 is always a nice thing to come across. One that comes in a unique color palette is even better! The example we see here requires some sorting out, but let’s get to what we know. This is a Medium Green Metallic 1978 Porsche 930, located in Florida, with a white leather interior and green carpets. It’s said to have only traveled 39,500 miles. As you might note immediately this is a color combination we don’t see very often. The only other one I can recall is Kermit: the 1979 911SC Coupe painted Scirocco Viper Green. There may be others, but probably not many. As a testament to that rarity this one is said to have both a paint-to-sample exterior and a leather-to-sample interior. Rare indeed.

1978 saw the most notable changes made to the 930 over its 13 year run. The original 3.0 turbocharged flat-six was increased to 3.3 liters and an air-to-air intercooler was added. The rear spoiler was modified as well, changing from the whale tail to the tea try, so as to make use of that intercooler. And then a short two years later the 930 was no longer offered in the US market. So there aren’t a lot of them and while the ’78 isn’t typically as valuable and sought after as the earlier 3.0 liter they still do command attention.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1978 Porsche 930 on eBay

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1983 Volkswagen Rabbit LS

Update 6/1/18: The seller has dropped the price from the original $6,995 asking price to $5,995 today.

Continuing on the Volkswagen theme, and with the Roman Catholic-based holiday also in mind (our Orthodox friends celebrate next week!), let’s take a look at Volkswagen’s first foray into water-cooled products. The Golf was, of course, not marketed as the Golf in the United States, but the Rabbit. Ostensibly, the ‘Golf’ name followed in the convention of VW’s other wind-based products (Scirocco, Passat and Jetta) since Golf is German word for “Gulf” – it has nothing at all to do with the game, though a set of clubs would fit nicely in the back. But Volkswagen still won’t tell anyone why they changed the name to Rabbit in the United States. More concerning, they changed the name to ‘Caribe’ in Mexico. That’s a Piranha. At least our market had a more friendly mascot?

While the Beetle was certainly a tough act to follow be sold alongside of, the modern, convenient and completely practical Rabbit sold in droves at a time when fuel-conscious Americans were looking for solutions to their 19 foot long Lincoln Mk. V’s inability to clear 6 mpg. It’s 7.5 liter V8 with a 4-barrel carburetor managed to squeeze a massive 208 horsepower out of all that capacity. And that was the optional upgrade engine. Standard was a 6.6 liter version of the Cleveland V8 rated at only 166 horsepower, yet not really getting any better fuel economy. Of course, the Mk.V needed these giant motors as it was itself a giant. Curb weight was close to 5,000 lbs. So while the Rabbit seemed fairly insignificant in its stature by comparison, the reality was that it was a much better choice for most motorists.

To capitalize on the popularity, Volkswagen moved production of Rabbits from Germany to the United States for 1978. The move was signified by a shift towards rectangular square-beam headlights, just as we saw with yesterday’s early A2 Golf. Sales soared when gas prices did, too: between 1980 and 1984, Volkswagen sold over 620,000 Rabbits from Westmoreland. The sold a further 77,000 Rabbit Pickups – a creation solely aimed at North America, and now sought by some Europeans.

Because there were a lot of Rabbits produced, finding examples for sale even today isn’t all that hard. But low values have meant that restoration is really out of the question unless it’s your labor of love. However, things are beginning to change…

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit LS on eBay

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1985 Volkswagen Golf with 29,000 Miles

Continuing on the theme of basic Volkswagens, as I mentioned in the A2 Jetta post I have a soft spot for the Golf. I’ve twice owned them; my last was a ’98 K2 4-door and my first Volkswagen was just like this car. It was a 1986 Westmoreland-built Golf. Compared to most of the cars that come across these pages, the Westmoreland Golfs aren’t really very special. They were very basic models. But they were also unique in their trim, and they were only built in the configuration you see here for two years. Of course, that really only matters to Golfphiles, but it’s a neat bit of trivia, anyway.

I covered the details of these models when I last covered a Westy Golf back in July, 2017. Basically, the easiest way to tell them apart from German builds are the wheel covers and the grill with sealed-beam rectangle headlights. That particular ’86 was mega impressive, as it had only 44,000 miles. Well, today’s ’85 has even less:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Volkswagen Golf on eBay

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