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Tag: 1986

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1986 BMW 535i

1986 BMW 535i

Published March 19, 2015 by Andrew

There’s so much to like about this E28 5 Series that it’s hard to know where to start. The car itself is an absolute gem, the manner in which the seller has photographed boarders on editorial quality and the bidding sits at at very reasonable $5,200 (though we don’t know the reserve is) with 4 days left to go. However, as with so many things in life, there’s a catch. This bronze Bavarian beauty only has two pedals, which for many people is a deal breaker but not for me. Would I rather have a 5 spd manual in this car? Absolutely but given the pristine condition this vehicle appears to be in, I don’t think I could pass up a chance to be its caretaker for a little while, even though it suffers from PRND syndrome.

The E28 is considered by many to be the original Q-Ship and for those of you out there that would harp on the automatic transmission found on this example, let me remind you what a Q-Ship is all about, stealth. Now I know it would be more fun to row your own in this car but what better way to fly under the radar when having fun than to have an automatic transmission keeping you in check. I honestly believe that just taking away the option to quickly downshift and take off around a corner completely changes the personality of the 535. Where most folks would envision themselves tearing up windy roads in this car I see myself cruising around town with friends or road tripping around the Pacific Northwest. That may seem oddly specific but I’ll attribute it to the Bronze Metallic over Nutria leather color-way and the car being from Vancouver.

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1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet

1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet

Published March 14, 2015 by Rob

We are entering convertible season and probably the time of year when many crave open-top motoring the most. There is probably not a shade of color I enjoy more on a Cabriolet than the various blues that are out there. These shades provide the sort of lightness and brightness that goes hand in hand with sunny motoring and combine to create an excellent atmosphere to match the sky above. Here we have the rare triple blue: an Iris Blue Metallic 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, located in Arizona, with matching blue leather interior and dark blue wheels that is on auction with no reserve. This is not a perfect car by any means as I think there are a few questions to be answered, but as a driver it looks in very good shape with very reasonable mileage.

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1986 BMW 535i

1986 BMW 535i

Published March 7, 2015 by Nate

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Clean, low-mileage E28s are always a treat, and there have been some nicely preserved examples of the 535i here on GCFSB before. This one has the standard fog-lighted 535i bumper with an “is” rear spoiler, looking pretty sharp on Style 5s but more cruiser than the M5/is package. You can’t get much more 80s than baby blue over blue leather – I love it. 82k miles with no real defects means this is could be a special daily driver or fun entry into the E28 world for an enthusiast.

Click for details: 1986 BMW 535i on Craigslist Los Angeles

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1986 Porsche 944 Turbo

1986 Porsche 944 Turbo

Published March 7, 2015 by Carter

Why hasn’t the enthusiast community for classic German cars jumped all over the Porsche 944 Turbo? While this question doesn’t keep me awake at night, I still find it baffling. Take the E36 M3, for example – not only was the U.S. press ablaze when it was launched with a staggering 240 horsepower back in the day, but the enthusiastic base that supports the M models still finds them an awesome deal in the teens. Yet the Porsche 944 Turbo offered all of the performance and handling of the M3 a generation prior, and with some simple tuning they can easily outpace the Munich missiles. Is there a comparable from Audi? Sure, if you could find one of the ’85 Quattros around – or the lone ’86 that was imported – they’re similar in many ways, but you can’t touch them for the price of the 944 Turbo and frankly in terms of performance they’re not a match. Even the unappreciated Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16V seems to have stronger support, and drive one back to back with a sorted 944 Turbo and you’ll wonder why people are willing to pay the same amount for them. Why, then, does most of the world pass them by? Because they’re not a 911? Seems silly to me:

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1986 Audi 80 Sport

Published February 26, 2015 by Carter

It’s easy to get lost in the world of cars that didn’t come to the United States. Enthusiasts in the U.S. swoon over supermodels that never came here; the M5 Touring(s), the Rallye Golf and Audi RS2 name just a few of the many high performance headliners that seem to pop up nearly daily as examples of the arbitrary rules that dictate what comes in to the U.S. market. However, what always tickles me is seeing the lesser known models, and amongst Audi and Volkswagen products there are a plethora of models that are relatively unknown to U.S. enthusiasts. In part, that’s because the U.S. model range did not always mimic what was for sale in Europe – not only in name, but at some points in chassis as well. The Audi B2 is an excellent example of this – to U.S. fans, for example, say “Coupe Quattro” when referring to the B2 chassis and immediately lesser versed individuals will assert that it never existed without a turbo and flares. Of course, they’re wrong – but there were many other models that we didn’t get from the small Audi lineup as well.

In Europe, 1986 was the last year of the B2 Audi 80 sedan – in 1987, it was replaced by the all-new B3 which wouldn’t be seen in the U.S. until 1988. As with U.S. models, the B2 was refreshed in late 1984 with new and more aerodynamic body bits such as headlights and bumpers. Visually, the differences between U.S. and European bumpers – for most of the lineup – was gone at that point. True, underneath there were differences; European cars received integrated fog lights where U.S. cars had blinkers (and the blinkers moved to the reflector blank area for U.S. cars). Now, I say “for most of the lineup” because there was a model which was really part Type 81 and part Type 85 available to Europeans – the Audi 80 Sport:

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