Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Just when you think you hit are ready to swing for a home run, here comes a curve ball in the dirt. Today’s car, a 1986 Mercedes-Benz 300SL up for sale in Italy, is one of those curve balls in the dirt. Maybe more than one.
This car had all the ingredients on the surface to be ideal for me. A Euro-spec car in a rare green color, a brown leather interior, and a five-speed manual transmission paired with the M103 inline-six. Then everything fell apart once I looked a little closer at it.
Even though Porsche produced almost 200,000 G-Series cars from 1973 to 1989, that doesn’t mean they are getting any less expensive. Looking back ten years ago, you could grab a regular Carrera coupe in the $25,000 – 30,000 range be totally content with your purchase. Today? Double that. This is the reality of buying cool old sports cars in the year 2022 and it seems like there are plenty of buyers out there for them. Today’s car, a 1986 Carrera coupe in White Gold Metallic surely has all the looks, but the price? Well, it’s tough to swallow.
There is certainly something about a G-Body Porsche 911 in a shade of green. The G-Body is arguably the most iconic shape of the 911 and certainly one of the most recognizable, so when you pair it with today’s color, Moss Green Metallic, it is a home run for me. Normally green makes up just 1% to 3% of total car production, and that is for both the car industry as a whole and for Porsche specifically. So if you feel like you don’t see a lot of green cars out there, you aren’t wrong. This 1986 up for sale in Italy is well into the “driver” category with over 100,000 miles, but that doesn’t mean it is going to come cheap. Nope, not at all.
Oh boy. Everyone loves a good project, right?
This poor 1986 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 needs some help. Well, a lot help. Looking at the photos, I don’t know if it is worth saving. To make it short, the paint is totally gone, the suspension is sagging, there is rust in the trunk, and the interior is one step short of fire damage. But hey, at least it runs. Right? (Checks notes to see if it does actually run)
The E28 is a firm favorite among fans of 80s BMWs, but it’s the M5 and 535iS variants that get most of the attention. It’s not hard to see why. The M5 based on this platform was one of the first super sedans, laying down the classic formula for all modern Q-ships: supreme performance packaged in a stealthy, unassuming exterior. Meanwhile the 535iS appealed to those who wanted a bit of flash but couldn’t quite afford the full cream M-car, and was really just a 535i with firmer suspension, body kit, and sport seats. That isn’t a bad thing. The underlying car, introduced as a range-topper in 1984, was a winner, marrying the bulletproof M30 3.4 liter straight six engine (good for about 182 hp, in US emissions restricted form) with a tractable and responsive chassis. A regular 535i with a manual gearbox therefore offers a fun and relatively affordable alternative to the more expensive E28s out there, and this ’86 is a perfect example of that.
