Tag: 1985

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1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa

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I’m going to say from the outset that I really like this Guards Red 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa. I wouldn’t say there is much that’s terribly special about it, but its overall look is really grabbing me. A bright red 3.2 Carrera Targa that is presented well simply falls right into my wheelhouse for everything I love about the 911. I love the classic 911 design, I’ve always liked the versatility and appearance of the Targa, and the ’85 fits into a nice window with regard to value. And it is that last point that brings me to the one thing I don’t like about it: the price. It is possible that given the condition and low mileage that this Targa isn’t priced too badly, but I’m not so sure about that. Though even if it is too highly priced it still foretells a movement of these early Carreras into pricing that simply seems beyond what I’d want to spend for one. Oh well. Let’s take a look at it though because as I said I love the car itself.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa on eBay

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1985 Audi Coupe GT

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Update 11/16/18: This GT sold again for $3,474.

Update 11/2/18: After selling over the summer for $3,000, this fairly clean driver-quality 1985 Audi Coupe GT is back on the market. The no reserve auction is so far below $2,000, and the seller gives a very honest breakdown of the current status of the car and notes more problems with the car than the listing over the summer. Despite that, it’s still fairly hard to find a clean GT, so this one might be worth grabbing!

Update 6/28/18: The best part of a year after originally being listed, this reasonably clean 1985 Audi Coupe GT is back in a reserve auction format. Since the Buy It Now was $4,950 last September, we can guess the reserve is probably at or over $4,000. The Coupe GT market has moved forward since last year, so will it sell this time?

The 1985 Audi Coupe GT debuted the aerodynamic B2 refinements in the 2-door version of the Type 85. Just like the 4000CS quattro I looked at the other day, smooth bumper covers front and rear were met with wide molding and new rocker covers. DOT-required 9004 halogen lights replaced the upright quad-rectangle arrangement on 1984 models, and the new grill sloped to meet stainless trim which surrounded the car. Inside was met with a revised dashboard with new softer-touch plastics, a leather covered steering wheel and few other changes. Mechanically, just as with the 84-85 4000 quattro, there were very few alterations between pre-facelift GT and the ’85. The same KX 110 horsepower inline-5 and 5-speed manual (3-speed automatic available) drove the car, but the ’85 up wore the same 4×108 hubs and brakes (in front, at least) as the quattro.

As with the 4000 line, most of the manual bits available in early B2s disappeared, and in you bought a late model it probably came standard with power locks, mirrors and windows. Most GTs also came equipped with a sunroof (manual and pop-out) and the rear wiper. Today’s example follows that convention minus the rear wiper. The package proved to generally be considered more than the sum of its parts, and in 1985 Car and Driver tested eight GT cars and proclaimed the Audi Coupe GT the best package available, beating ‘sports cars’ like the Supra, Mustang, and Camaro. One of the 3,586 sold in 1985, this Alpine White example reminds of a more simple time when you could drive a car at 10/10ths and still remain (mostly) at legal speeds:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Audi Coupe GT on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC

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A few weeks ago I looked at an absolutely pristine 1986 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC with just a little over 10,000 miles. As you might expect, the car was nearly perfect and carried a hefty price tag of $65,000. If you still want it, the car is still for sale and the price has been lowered to $59,000. Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of the car simply because I think the Champagne gold isn’t very attractive at all, but other than that, the car looks like a real winner.

If you are like me and hated the gold but still want a SEC with 10,000 miles, you are in luck with today’s car. This 1985 500SEC up for sale in Miami comes in with 10,726 miles and if you might have noticed by the photos, has some extra little goodies attached to it. What kind of goodies? None other than a nice helping of AMG parts, of course. The price? Well, you won’t be saving any money by picking this car over the 1986, that is for sure.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC on eBay

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Unloved Hero: 1985 Audi 5000S

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Update 11/11/18: This 5000S was relisted and is listed as sold again at $1,525.

Update 10/3/18: This 5000S sold at $1,325.

Back in May I took a look at a 1985 Audi 5000S. As I said at the time, the 5000S was just about as undesirable as an Audi got from that period for me. Most were boring color combinations with a boring 3-speed automatic and boring performance as a result. But, importantly, they existed. And without them, Audi probably wouldn’t have for our market.

Sure it would be exciting to look at a 1985 Quattro. But they only sold 73 of those. The 4000 quattro? 4,897 left dealerships. The GT? 3,586 were sold. In fact, if you combine all other Audis sold in 1985, you still come up short to the number of non-Turbo 5000s that left dealers. At nearly 40,000 spoken for, this car here represents the bulk of Audi sales and the bread-and-butter of the company’s appeal in the 80s. In fact, 1985 Type 44 sales were the most prolific of any Audi chassis from 1970 through 2000 in the U.S.. That was why the 60 Minutes sham had such impact on the company. By 1988, the number of Type 44s sold here was down to 10,000 from nearly 50,000 high point of 1985.

But in 1985 the “unintended acceleration” wasn’t yet a new item and these were still selling like the proverbial hotcake. So let’s take a look at this claimed low-mileage example and see if we can see some appeal today:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Audi 5000S on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 1985 Volkswagen GTI Callaway Turbo with 34,000 Miles

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It’s always a bit of a surprise when something unique and special from the mid-80s VW catalog comes along. Pre-16V GTIs are pretty hard to find in decent shape. But Callaway Turbo models with period BBS body kit and low miles? When I came across this listing you could say it wasn’t the only forced induction. Callaway was the American tuner of the 80s, building supercar-slaying twin turbo Corvettes that generated almost as much press for their acceleration as their propensity to melt down faster than Chernobyl. But on the less exotic end of the spectrum, Callaway’s turbo kits made VWs pretty potent machines. They switched from K-Jetronic to KE-Jetronic and dropped compression to 7.8:1 by adding a thick head gasket. Then on was bolted a turbocharger generating 10 lbs. of boost, pushing the GTI’s power from 105 to 150 in an instant. This resulted in low 7-second 0-60 times and a higher top speed. Callaway generally outfit his cars well with BBS body kits and wheels, and for good measure a Nissan 300ZX Turbo hood scoop for the intercooler on top of the motor too. They cost a pretty penny; a base GTI was only around $9,000 in 1985, but the turbo system in stage II configuration cost $4,000 and the BBS body kit another $1,000. Pop for some BBS wheels and tires and you were another $2,000 lighter, and some owners went farther with steering wheels, seat and radio upgrades. The result could be over $18,000 and few were sold, but then this GTI would give a more expensive Porsche a run for its money.

Amazingly, we’ve gotten to see a few of these rare GTI Turbos for sale over the past few years. Most recent was the all-white ’87 Neuspeed , but back a bit further we saw a nearly identical ’85 hit over $20,000. This lower mile example is on offer currently for only about half that amount:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Volkswagen GTI Callaway Turbo on eBay

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1985 Mercedes-Benz 300CD

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One of the more interesting things about the legendary Mercedes-Benz W123 chassis is the difference between the production numbers for the sedan, estate and coupe bodies. As you might have guessed, the sedan was the most plentiful at just over 75,000 units made from 1981-1985 as the 300D with the OM617 turbo diesel engine. Next up was the 300TD station wagon with a little over 28,000 units. Bringing up the rear is the 300CD with just 7,502 cars. The easy math here says that from every 10 300Ds, there is only one 300CD. That explains why you can go on your local Craigslist and find a handful of 300Ds, but the coupes? No where to be found. As a result, the demand and values for coupes have always been much higher than the sedan not only because of the rarity, but because they are cool cars and a pillar-less coupe is always classic. Today, I managed to find a really nice 1985 300CD up for sale in Florida and luckily, this one is a wonderful example.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300CD on eBay

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Roll the Dice: 1985 Porsche 928S

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We’ve been running with the “Roll the Dice” posts for a little while now, but this will be the first time I have taken a foray into that segment. While all of the marques featured in such posts pose inherent financial risk, Porsche may represent the riskiest of all since the price of entry is in many cases already rather high. This is especially the case with my most favored car, the 911. But I really want to like this car and given its current state, a roll of the dice may be just want you’re looking at.

This is a 1985 Porsche 928S in the very rare combination of Prussian Blue Metallic over a Can-can Red interior. It’s a very striking combination and one that I absolutely love. Prussian Blue makes for a very pretty exterior color, but without being flashy. Can-can Red is…well it’s all flash. The juxtaposition of the two colors works great and you’re certain to attract plenty of attention. It’s also not something we see on the 928 too often. And that’s why I like this 928 quite a bit. It helps that both the exterior and interior look in nice shape. It’s mechanical condition…that’s where the roll of the dice comes in because the seller seems to have a decent sense of what the problems are, but not necessarily the cause of those problems.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Porsche 928S on eBay

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1985 Mercedes-Benz 380SL with 1,500 miles

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Last week I looked at a 2008 Mercedes-Benz S550 with little over 2,700 miles on it and quite honestly, wasn’t all that impressed. Maybe because it was a modern car that was only 10 years old, but the low miles didn’t really blow me away all that much. Today, we have a 1985 380SL that has just 1,500 miles on it. That’s it, exactly 1,500. I don’t know why or how this car only managed 1,500 miles, but that’s what I’m seeing. The problem is, like the S550 from last week, this car just isn’t doing it for me.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 380SL with 1,500 miles on eBay

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Qualified Quattro: 1985 Audi Quattro 20V

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Audi landmark Quattro has finally moved beyond cult status and into the greater automotive consciousness as a desirable model. That creates many problems, though. The first of these problems is that there just aren’t many Quattros out there. Audi only imported 664 examples of the original, meaning you’re statistically a little better than twice as likely to see an E28 M5 cruising around than you are a Quattro.

But in actuality, you aren’t. The chance is probably more akin to three or four times as likely, if not more. That’s because of the second problem – though the Quattro existed as a cult car since new, the fact is that for a long time they were pretty cheap. Pretty cheap cars generally don’t make collector cars, or at the very least receive collector treatment. You can see that in the M5; cheap for a long time, plenty have high miles and are basket cases though from the start they were touted as collectable. But the Quattro? This was a car intended to live in harsh conditions. Oh, and they didn’t apply any undercoating, or even fender liners. Problem three creeps into every seam on the car.

And then there’s an unpleasant truth: in its original U.S. form, the Quattro wasn’t a stellar performer. Toting around 2,900-odd pounds of early 80s tech, the lag-prone engine developed only 160 horsepower. The result was a car that could be caught off-guard by most economy hatches: 0-60 in 7.9 seconds, the quarter mile in 16.1 at 85. Forget the typical Camry or Accord joke; this is the kind of performance you get today from a Hyundai Accent.

Of course, the Quattro wasn’t about straight-line speed, and cars from the 80s all fall short compared to modern technology. This car, then, is more a time-warp to another dimension. A personal expression of devotion to rock-flinging rally monsters and television stars that liked to do things a bit differently. And those that have survived have been loved by their owners. Often, they’ve been upgraded, too, with later parts that solve the performance gap to their original European form. The result? Wow:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Audi Quattro on eBay

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1985 Volkswagen GTI

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In a recent post about a 1986 Volkswagen GTI, I covered the changes and what made the early 8V GTIs unique from the Golf lineup. But I made a mistake, and I’m happy to admit it. In my defense, so did Volkswagen, though. I stated in that post that early GTIs were limited to Mars Red LA3A, Black L041, and Diamond Silver Metallic L97A. That information is backed up by Volkswagen’s official GTI brochure.

Here’s a white one.

The 1990 up GTI 16V had Alpine White as an option, but I struggle to remember seeing one earlier than that, and all the catalogs don’t list it as an option. Yet here it is and it seems to be original:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Volkswagen GTI on eBay

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