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Do you want to stand out in the vintage German crowd? There are plenty of expensive ways; drop a couple of million on a barn find 300SL Gullwing and everyone will be talking about you. But, say you don’t have a few million? Well, even for the modest budgeted enthusiast, many of the classics are heading out of reach. In the world of BMWs, vintage 3.0s are heading towards six figures for the best examples and even the 2002 – the car that started the craze of BMW’s sport sedan heritage – can be an expensive proposition for an average enthusiast. If you want a really nice example, you’ll be spending between $25,000 and $30,000 for a good carburetor example. Tiis are even more highly sought, pushing $50,000 for the best examples. Even a top condition lowly Isetta can run over $40,000. That doesn’t mean you’re pushed out of the classic BMW market if you’re not made of money; witness the BMW 2000, the semi-forgotten sports sedan that shared much of its architecture with the 2002 but offers 4-door sports sedan practicality:
I’ve dreamt about the Mercedes-Benz O309D as an RV before, and today’s underwent a full conversion from a postal van to camper van in the ’70s. It has some distinct pros and cons: On the plus side, it looks amazing in baby blue, is way cooler than a normal RV, and has the venerable Benz OM617 diesel found in the 300D, so parts are aplenty. On the other hand, it’s almost 50 years old with a 40 year-old RV conversion – meaning there’s plenty of work ahead – and the non-turbo diesel inline-5 has to use its ~80hp to haul a massive van up to its 50mph common-sense limit. My calculus adds it up to an overall positive because it runs, has a ton of potential, and putting in a fraction of what some people spend on RVs would make this a killer home away from home.
For a car manufacturer with a history spanning over 100 years, it’s fairly impressive that historians and enthusiasts still regard the 600 as one of the most notable models from Mercedes-Benz. This was a landmark vehicle not just for the company but the whole automotive scene. It was one of the most expensive and complex vehicles of its day and as such, anyone who was anyone seemed to own one, from movie stars to dictators. These cars are highly valued today and many that come up for sale have been treated to lavish restorations costing thousands of dollars. This 600 SWB for sale in Illinois, however, is a driver quality car, showing the wrinkles of age as it closes in on 200,000 miles. But it wears its patina in a dignified manner in which only a Grosser Mercedes can.
By now, we are all familiar with discussion of the somewhat atypical handling traits of the 911. As a rear-engined rear-wheel drive sports car it remains a peculiar design, though one that has been enormously successful. Early in its life those traits were magnified by the 911’s shorter wheelbase. In 1969 the entire 911 range (along with the 912) received a 57mm increase in its wheelbase. The overall length of the cars was carried over from previous years, but the rear wheels were moved further towards the rear of the car, providing better handling balance and mitigating some of the 911’s skittish, tail-happy nature. This would be of particular importance to Porsche’s highest performing model, the 911S. With its lighter weight and increased power the S gave Porsche customers the ultimate expression of these rear-engined cars, but further increased the need for attentiveness while piloting them. Of course, their short-lived nature makes the short-wheelbase models somewhat of an anomaly among the range and therefore quite valuable. The example here is a restored Light Ivory 1967 Porsche 911S Coupe, located in Houston.
If you like the classic BMW E9 coupe, odds are that you also think the earlier New Class Coupe is pretty awesome too. Granted, some don’t appreciate the more delicate look of the 4-cylinder big pillarless coupe, but most of the design features that Wilhelm Hofmeister penned into the 2000C and 2000CS were directly translated into the E9 coupe. That means, of course, that the design language was effectively the same for over twenty years until the last of the similar designs – the E24 – finally left production in 1989. Even then, the “Hofmeister Kink” remained a styling cue that was incorporated into the new designs from Munich. The 2000CS, though, held some unique details such as the front end which looked distinctly different than the models that followed. Shared with some of the New Class sedans, the dual beam lights hid behind a glass cover – something that wouldn’t occur again until the 1990s. But the profile was classic BMW coupe; a long hood and delicate A and C pillars with plenty of glass along with a sharply cut tail. Squint, and you can still see some details that are incorporated even into modern BMWs:
