Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I have to give it to Mercedes, they milked as much as they could from the C190 AMG GT chassis. Launched for the 2015 model year, the lineup includes the GT, GT S, GT C, GT R, GT R Pro, GT and GT C Roadster, GT Black Series, and the track-only GT Track Series. Missing from that list is today’s car, the GT R Roadster. Production was limited to just 750 units – probably because they wanted people to just go buy the SL63 AMG.
Last week I was listing to an interview with everyone’s favorite comedian and 1990s sitcom star known to be a massive Porsche collector, and he was asked what his favorite modern 911 was. The person asking the question assumed it was the 911 GT3 RS 4.0. I too assumed that, but his answer was actually the 2016 911 R. A worthy choice for sure, but I do wonder if his answer was because he was rumored to have pitched the idea to Grant Larson, who then took it to the Porsche board. Nothing was ever officially confirmed and I’m sure Porsche will never admit it either, but still a fun tidbit on what is continuing to be very desirable car. Just 991 examples were ever produced, and it seems like handful of them trading publicly every year. Their values? A rollercoaster to say the least.
Today, we have an example in one of the launch colors with just 2,300 miles on the odometer. The price? It’s up there.
Way before the Golf K2 and Jetta Trek there was the…Vanagon Hobie Cat? That’s right, in 1987 VW launched a special edition of the Vanagon that – just like the aforementioned ski and bike editions – came with a roof rack and a sail boat. Well, sorta – it was actually a Hobie Cat Alpha sailboard. In addition, you got multi-tone side graphics including the silhouette of an actual Hobie Cat catamaran, and…well, that’s all. This particular example is also claimed to be a Wolfsburg Edition, which is interesting as that was only offered halfway through the model year. Let’s take a look:
That the E30 M3 has been on a stratospheric price rise is old news. So are the stories of “I could have bought one for $400 20 years agoâ€. You know what? I could have bought a really nice piece of land near the coast in Rhode Island for 10% its current value 30 years ago, but I didn’t. Old, too, are the stories of what floor some ex-M3 owners got off at; for unlucky examples, it was $15,000 a decade ago, but smarter sellers have cashed in on E30 mania. How high it will go? At what point will people say “You know what? This is a 4-cylinder near-luxury economy car that I’m paying $100,000 plus forâ€? It would seem that every time someone raises the flag of THE END IS NEAR another shockingly priced example clears what appeared previously to be an insurmountable hurdle and Mr. Toad’s wild ride continues. While there’s been a slight cooling in the acceleration curve, it’s still pretty insane – with top-condition cars priced at and selling well over $100,000. But the market has realized that many of the examples coming to market weren’t condition 1, or frankly even condition 2. Lesser than top-tier example’s value has gone almost completely flat, and now it’s the really exceptional models that are rising to the top rather than the entire crop. Today’s car is priced towards the top and claimed to have been restored – let’s take a look:
It seems that Porsche wasn’t afraid of turquoise judging by the 930 Turbo I looked at a few weeks ago. As you can see by today’s car, they certainly weren’t scared of it on the outside of their cars either. This 1996 911 Carrera 4S is a desirable car in any shade, but in paint-to-sample Dragonfly Turquoise Metallic? Oh boy. Rumor has it that this was a press and demo car for Porsche AG in Germany and then changed hands to an employee who owned the car from 1998 to 2007. That certainly explains I’ve never seen one in this color and it has the extra touches on the interior. The price? I guess we’ll be guessing on this one.
