The E12 was the first sedan from BMW to wear the 5-series badge. Available in the US only as a six cylinder model, it was sold here in two guises: the 530i (1975-1978) and the 528i (1979-1981). The classic, Paul Bracq-styled design was, and remains, a winner. However, the E12 is mostly remembered for its numerous flaws. Like a lot of European imports from the time, US market cars were burdened by less powerful, emissions-restricted engines and ugly, 5mph crash resistant bumpers. The 528 incorporated thermal reactors as part of its emissions control system and these had a tendency to overheat the engine bay, causing cracking or warping of the cylinder heads. The air conditioning was rubbish. The handling could be twitchy. The gas mileage was pretty awful. The bodies were particularly susceptible to rust, which is why most of them ended up in junkyards long ago. Still, I have a lot of time for these cars mostly because they are so handsome. Since there are so few of them left it’s always a pleasant surprise to find a nice looking survivor like this one.
German Cars For Sale Blog Posts
My company has a corporate office near Philadelphia with a handful of branch offices scattered in the Mid-Atlantic region. So twice a year, the CEO of my company visits the branches to give a ”state of the union” talk to employees. It’s about a five hour trip from Philadelphia to my office outside of Pittsburgh. Now this past spring when he started his speech, he said something that made me shake my head. No, it wasn’t that weren’t getting raises again this year (don’t worry, we didn’t). It was that he was tired from his five hour drive. Now this is a CEO who has a Harvard MBA, who makes decisions that impact thousands people and is compensated in the high six-figures. So I had to explain to my co-workers how crazy it is that our CEO is wasting his time driving instead of you know, working. After I explained to them that he is getting paid roughly $300 an hour to drive here, they got my point. So not only is he wasting 10 hours driving to our office twice a year, but he’s wasting his time driving to our seven other branches. You can see how this adds up. This brings me to today’s featured listing, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van. Specifically, this Sprinter that is setup to be a mobile office for people who make $300 an hour but don’t waste their time sitting on the Pennsylvania Turnpike because one of the tunnels is closed. Just to wrap up the story, I’m not saying our CEO needs a $79,000 Mercedes van to shuttle him around (because we didn’t get those raises, remember?), but at least a Lincoln Town Car so he can at least pretend he’s working in the back of it.
CLICK FOR DETAILS:Â 2015 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter on eBay
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We’ve got a few more additions to the Hammertime resource guide this week. A few are question marks – there was a surprising $10,000 sale…
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A couple of years ago this video of a murdered-out 560SEC AMG surfaced on Jalopnik and I fell in love. Not only did the car have tremendous, old-school presence, the film showed an owner who wasn’t afraid to smoke the back tires while driving it quickly and aggressively. Hooning the large, pillar-less brute looked like tremendous fun. Unfortunately, authentic AMG cars from the pre-merger period don’t come to market very frequently. And when they do, they are usually priced well beyond the means of mere mortals like myself (you can see examples we’ve featured before here, here and here). A cheaper alternative would be to find a regular SEC that has had some AMG exterior parts installed, like this one.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC on eBay
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I’ve talked before on these pages about a 911’s presence when seen in traffic. It’s a difficult concept to articulate, but I think we all understand the idea: you see a car approaching in the distance with little more than the headlights and front end to hint at what it is and some cars stand out more so than others. The 964 and 993 both do this for me in ways that current 911s, and even the classic 911, fail to do. Each model does it in a different way, but it’s apparent none the less. My attention is grabbed immediately and my appreciation for those great cars increases all the more. For whatever reason I don’t see 993 Coupes very often; my area seems to have more Cabriolets. Alas. Anyway, unlike many models I really like lighter colors on the 993. The lighter shades help accentuate the 911’s graceful curves and while they don’t make for as aggressive an appearance they certainly are beautiful. The example here is no different: a Pastel Yellow 1997 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in California, with Cashmere Beige leather interior and 32,483 miles on it.
