The E23, produced between 1977 and 1987, was the first iteration of the 7-series. It set the standard that BMW has followed, more or less, with each subsequent version of its luxury flagship. Large, comfortable, conservatively styled and packed with the latest technology for the time (ABS brakes, an onboard computer, electric seats and climate control, for example), these autobahn cruisers were for those who had arrived but couldn’t quite afford a Mercedes, or preferred the driving dynamics of a BMW. Sadly, very few have survived the ravishes of time and they’re quite a rare sight on today’s roads. And that’s a shame, because these are truly very handsome and classy cars, sharing a lot of styling cues with the gorgeous E24 6-series, including a sharply raked, shark-nosed front end. So it’s refreshing to come across a low-mileage, nicely kept example like this one.
Tag: 1985
Last week I wondered what kind of W126 S-class you could buy if you had an unlimited budget and wanted one in practically brand new condition. That search yielded a gorgeous, pearl black on black, ultra-low mileage ’89 560SEL, which ultimately sold for a very respectable $21k. I thought I’d play the same game this week, only this time I went on the hunt for a coupe. The SEC (or “C126”), designed by legendary Bruno Sacco, was based on a slightly shortened version of the sedan chassis. While the car retains many of the same graceful and elegant lines of its four door sibling, the coupe sports a sexy, pillarless profile that changes the character of the car. If the 80s stock broker was chauffeured to Wall Street in the SEL during the week, he drove the SEC to wild parties in the Hamptons on the weekends.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC on eBay
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Not too surprisingly, the German car market has quite a lot of Porsches running around. Looking through the listings shows us all kinds of rare models or interesting colors and option packages. In some of the best cases, I’ll come across configurations that I’m completely unfamiliar with and this will lead down a long rabbit-hole of reading and history. Those are a lot of fun and generally involve cars that never made it Stateside. However, most searches just show us cool versions of cars we’re used to seeing. Here, I’ve stuck with that theme as this is a standard 3.2 Carrera, but I was really taken by the color combination and the condition does look quite good. I’m not sure this asking price would make sense for anyone in the U.S. given the additional costs of bringing it here, but who knows. Here we have a Meteor Gray Metallic 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe with Burgundy leather interior and around 39K kilometers on it.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe on Classic Driver
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The other day, Carter wrote up a gray-market, Signal Red 280SE. The Euro options and unusual color made for an attractive proposition, but that particular car had some mechanical needs making it a light project. This car, on the other hand, appears to be in need of no such work. Available in Europe but not sold in the US, the 280SE paired the 2.8 liter, six cylinder M110 gasoline engine with the short wheelbase version of the W126 chassis. While that might seem a small motor for such a large car, it made about 185 hp in Euro guise, a perfectly adequate, though certainly not blistering, amount of power. Like the US-spec 300SE/SEL, it might need a bit of shove at the low end, but once up to highway speeds it should cruise around capably.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Mercedes-Benz 280SE on eBay
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This 911 will take some work to get our heads around. There are a whole host of interesting details to this car, but also plenty of questions. Let’s start with the basics of what we’ve got and then we can get to the questions. This is a 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet with a paint-to-sample exterior and interior to sample. Those points on their own are of some significance, though we must admit that while these colors may be special order there isn’t really a lot that is special about them. Don’t get me wrong, the burgundy interior is great and the exterior is a nice shade of metallic paint, but if you didn’t tell me they were special order I wouldn’t have immediately thought that. But we don’t end there. It also has sport seats, which are a nice addition, and more importantly comes with the M491 Turbo-look package. As if all of that is not enough, attentive readers will also notice that it’s a Turbo-look package with the spoiler delete. That last point is perhaps the most important aspect of all as the Turbo-look with spoiler delete is very rare. We almost never see them and on the Cabriolet especially it makes for a really attractive change. Combining all of these options creates a very rare 911 and one that should attract a lot of attention. If it can all be verified….