Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
If the W198 300SL price tag of over a million dollars is just slightly over your budget for a late-1950s to early-1960s Mercedes roadster but you still want the iconic design, look no further than the W121 190SL. At only one-tenth of the price tag but not just one-tenth of the car the 300 is, the 190 is still a model that you can’t really go wrong buying. So let’s take a look at this pristine 1958 located in the Netherlands.
For my first BMW post, I wanted to go with something a little more unique than a run-of-the-mill M3 or M5. I can’t imagine that many people are aware that BMW offers their M6 Gran Coupe with an option for a manual transmission. This makes it one of very few high-end, performance oriented luxury sedans still available with a third pedal. There is no such option available on the Porsche Panamera or the Audi RS7, and certainly not on the Mercedes CLS63 AMG. So I decided to go with a very striking Sakhir Orange Metallic M6 Gran Coupe with a 6-speed manual transmission.
Searching through various BMW forums, I couldn’t find anything on a manual M6 Gran Coupe. However, I did come across a thread on m5post where a consumer was recently contemplating whether to order their new M5 with a DCT or a manual (6MT), and asking for guidance on what to order. Surprisingly for a car enthusiast forum, the vast majority of votes went for DCT. Commenters said that the F10 M5 was not designed for a manual, and that the DCT was much better suited to the car. In the end, the original poster decided to go with the DCT. Bummer, but I guess that makes the manual that much rarer. Anyhow, given the unpopularity of the 6MT on the current M5, I can only imagine that it’s even less common on the M6 Gran Coupe.
Many times in our search for interesting and rare cars to feature we pass over the regular cars; cars that are in good shape and would make for great options for many prospective buyers, but that don’t immediately jump off the page. Or, at least, I find myself doing that. The negative side of this, of course, is that these are the cars that typically come with the most reasonable prices, a point that is particularly true with the 911 where any sense of exclusivity quickly raises the bar on value. I think this 911 fits within that ‘regular car’ category and while we can never be totally assured of such the hope is that it will also come at a decent price. Here we have a Guards Red 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in Oregon, with 98,750 miles on it.
Along with the switch in nomenclature that came with the 1995 A6, there were visible changes. New headlights, all-red tailights and a revised grill stood over smoothed, monotone bumper covers. Gone were the wide black plastic rub strips that had been the signature of Audi products for more than a decade, and in their place were more discrete color-coded units. New wheels from Speedline were the standard 15″ option for both quattro and front-drive models. Outside of that, there were few mechanical changes to either drive configuration and the interiors remained unaffected. Despite this, Audi rolled out one more new name for its lineup that most have forgotten; FrontTrak. What did the fancy name get you? Well, perhaps when being sold it sounded more special than just saying “Oh, you’re not opting to buy a quattro-equipped model? Well, the consolation prize is FrontTrak, so everyone leaves a winner!” The reality is that it was still basically just an open differential front-drive sedan, and so ubiquitous was the name Audi with quattro that many have forgotten the popularity of their front-drive models even into the 1990s.
As popularity of the BMW 3-series doesn’t seem to be waning much even with the death renaming of the 2-door variant, finding a slick coupe to set up apart from the BMW crowd can be difficult. Outside of the obvious M3 choice, the ZHP models like the one Craig wrote up on Friday are certainly highly prized and priced. When it came to the E46’s replacement, there was no ZHP package offered – bummer. But, late in the run BMW did roll out a very special package with an even more storied connection to the 3er. In 2011, BMW reintroduced the “is” moniker to the top-notch 335 2-door. The new 335is differed from the regular production run in many ways. Replacing the N55 motor was the trusty N54, just like in the 1M. BMW remapped the engine to deliver 320 horsepower and 332 lb.ft of torque channeled through a short-shift 6-speed gearbox or you could opt for the dual-clutch DCT 7-speed from the M3 for repeatable 5.0 second runs to 60. Because it was turbocharged, you also have a 7-second overboost function that gives you another 40 lb.ft in passing situations (or, to show off). The 335is helped to mitigate this additional power with a revised cooling system and heavier-duty motor mounts. The additional cooling meant no fog lights for the coupe, though oddly they could be had on the convertible 335is. Typical M adornments outside meant revised front and rear bumper covers, and the 335is wore unique Style 313 forged wheels measuring a substantial 19×8 in front and 19×9 out back. There were also discrete 335is badges under the side indicators to let drivers beside you know you were in some obscure BMW model besides a M3:
