When it comes to 1980s Porsche tuners, the immediate name that pops into enthusiasts’ minds is Ruf. And for road cars, certainly the Yellowbird set the tone for performance tuned cars and remains legendary today. In the shadows of Ruf’s imposing figure, though, were smaller firms such as Andial. Andial worked in tandem with Porsche Motorsports to run many of the customer racing program cars such as the 935, 956 and 962. This gave them some serious credentials and notoriety for building impressive cars. Some of those Andial-built motors ended up in road-going Porsches, such as this 3.5 liter converted 930:
Tag: 1985
As an automotive blog, we receive our fair share of emails suggesting we feature specific cars. Often they’re popular versions of cars that everyone likes to see; M3s, S6s, M5s, 190E 2.3 16Vs – the usual suspects. But probably once every other week or so someone spots something legitimately rare to see; this past week, we were sent two such gems. One was a rare Mercedes-Benz L319 delivery van – it was in rough shape but all there, and they’re very cool to see, with perhaps only single digit numbers in the United States – thanks to our reader Kurt for sending that one through, it had us dreaming! The other was an equally rare sight these days, but this car represented the opposite end of the spectrum from the Mercedes. Clearly loved and well cared for by the seller, this 1985 Bitter SC features the later, 207 horsepower 3.9 inline-6 and is presented in pleasing Anthracite Grey:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Bitter SC 3.9 on eBay
7 CommentsThere’s a saying that goes something along the lines of “To make a small fortune in racing, you have to start with a large one”. While it’s true that any track-related activities are generally a one-way flow of cash – out – from your bank account, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to be a millionaire to go have a lot of fun. One of the more affordable platforms that budget weekend racers took to in the early 1980s was the then-new Volkswagen GTi; with solid aftermarket support, a light and nimble chassis and and crash it, walk away ability, the inexpensive Volkswagen was a natural track candidate. It’s become rare to see either of the first two generations showing up at the track these days, no surprise as many are 30 years old at this point. But once in a while, one that has undergone development and is a tidy package pops up, and today’s 1985 GTi is just one such example:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Volkswagen GTi on eBay
Comments closedWhile we usually don’t like to show cars that are not at least good examples of the respective marques that they represent, occasionally some oddballs pop up that are just too good to pass up. Today is such a case, with two unique vehicles popping up on Ebay that rarely get seen at all. Unfortunately, both are in need of a fair amount of work, so depending on your comfort level I wouldn’t really consider either of these cars a turn key, collector vehicle as they stand. However, with the right about know-how, determination and a fair amount of work I think both of these cars could be resurrected to their former glory; certainly, both would bring smiles at shows wherever they went. Let’s look first at the rare duck of the two, the Bitter SC:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Bitter SC on eBay
1 CommentThe search for the perfect Providence commuter continues, and I’m constantly drawn back to these 1980s Geländewagens. Part of that is the inherent appeal of the G-wagen, with chunky good looks, rugged utilitarianism and honed-from-granite build quality. Sure, it’s about as fluid a design as what my 2-year old would draw and didn’t take much imagination; Draw one rectangle with two circles underneath, and on top place a slightly smaller rectangle. Job done! But the proportions are just right and with the right tires and alloys, the stance is perfect. Another reason that the G is on the list of cars that are acceptable in this household? My wife likes them and thinks they’re cool – rare for Mercedes-Benz products in her mind: