Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The 1994 Porsche 928GTS that Andy from flüssig magazine featured back in January is back up for sale, with a Buy It Now of $75,000. The 928GTS is the ultimate expression of Porsche’s long lived GT car, and with the 5-speed manual gearbox it makes it all the more desirable as a collector vehicle.
Mercedes gets all the attention for producing some unstoppable diesel sedans and making them available in the US for the better part of a decade. BMW only brought its oil-burning straight-six to the US for 2 years, but it got the benefit of coming in the sharp E28 5-series. Of the few 524tds I’ve seen on the road, most have been beat survivors, still chugging away in spite of less-than-attentive owners. This example, however, may be the best one out there, and certainly the cleanest I’ve seen. Silver on bottle caps looks as good as ever, and the blue cloth interior has held up better than just about any E28’s leather. This 524td has had the same owner since 1987 and looks ready to be classy, comfortable, and decently efficient transportation for another 30 years and 100k miles.
I typically steer clear of salvage titles for obvious reasons, but this Westy seems deserving of an understanding eye. For starters, I’m guessing that you could sneeze on a 1980 Vanagon and the insurance company would total it. A little engine fire in one of these oldies would certainly do the trick. Some kind soul saw fit to save it, however, and the world is a little better for it. The restoration is a mix of subtle and style, with the classic brown exterior looking stock and the plaid-plaid-plaid upholstery making you think this thing’s top speed is a few orders of magnitude higher than it actually is. The new interior, pop top, and exterior plugs all turn this Westy into a faux time capsule instead of a basket case. It may be aircooled, but this thing looks brand new!
The 7 series might have a tradition of being one of the priciest vehicles in the BMW lineup, but like many luxury sedans, depreciation takes hold quickly. Thus, it’s not uncommon to see many clapped out examples of Munich’s finest flooding the used market, tempting those who might want a slice of the good life but who are ill prepared for the cost of their upkeep. Occasionally, you’ll find a one or two owner example that has been cared for the right way, such as this example for sale in Vancouver. A 26-year-old, twelve cylinder BMW with over six figures in mileage is still a scary proposition to some. However, if you must have one, this wouldn’t be a bad starting point.
I constantly find myself waffling back and forth between preferring the BMW E34 to the E39, or the other way round. Both cars so well thought out and as time goes on I suspect that proclaiming on better than the other will only get more difficult. The older a car is, the more consideration it gets for classic status. The E39 5 Series has already achieved that to some degree and final models only rolled out 12 years ago. Does the E34 have the edge right now simply because it is older? Personally, I don’t think it’s the time that has passed that makes the E34 a classic, so much as the era that ended with it. I look at the E34 as the last holdout of the old guard. The round headlights, the forward tilting hood, the exterior lines, all true classic BMW. At this point both the 3 Series and 7 Series had a more modern, squared off look. Perhaps most importantly, the headlights were now enclosed, gone was the iconic side by side design. If there is one little detail that I can point to that makes a BMW a classic, that would be the one. It also happens to be the reason that the E34 typically comes out on top when I’m thinking about which body style I would rather own. I love a lot of things about the E39 5 Series, the headlights are not one of them.
