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Tag: 1988

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Roll the dice? 1988 BMW M5

Published November 30, 2014 by Carter

There is something inherently appealing about buying an older car. If you’re willing to forgo the glam and glitz – and importantly, the warranty – of a new car it’s amazing the deals that you can get. A Volkswagen Phaeton is basically a Bentley underneath, and you can get a decent example for only $8,000 today, for example. Of course, in doing so you’re taking some risks – older cars are a great deal up front, but you’re buying something that has been used – so of course, there will be some issues. Or, in the case of really complicated cars, a lot of issues. For example, I can’t imagine what the used car market on the brand new S-Class cars is going to be in a few decades. They are going to be close to throw away cars because no one is going to be stupid enough to want to fix all of the massively complicated electronics on them as an independent and no one will be able to afford having the dealer fix them up. Back up a few decades, of course, and cars weren’t nearly as complicated so it’s at least easier on the surface to contemplate what was a cutting edge car with a lot of miles; in 1988, it didn’t get much more cutting edge or appealing than the BMW M5:

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#FailFriday: 1988 Mercedes-Benz 240GD

Published November 28, 2014 by Nate

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While it looks very similar to the models that have been rolling out of Germany since 1979, most of the G-classes we see in the US are of the W463 variety, an update that ushered in the 1990s. While the 11-year run of the W460/461 chassis probably seemed long at the time, I don’t think anyone could have guessed that the W463 would still be produced 25 years later. While the actual aesthetic differences are few, I much prefer the older W460/1 models as they very rarely look like soft-roaders and usually carry a little more patina, history, and toughness.

Today’s flat-black with green canvas top looks pretty mean and would likely be unstoppable off-road, but the devil is in the details. While the owner claims it has covered just 8,000km or 5,000 miles, the close-up pictures show some rust hidden under the too-easy black respray. Combined with a weak description, its potential is overwhelmed by more questions than answers and a terribly optimistic price.

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1988 BMW 325ix Touring

Published November 27, 2014 by Nate

$_57 (1)

The E30 Touring influx is reaching critical mass, and where they used to come up once every few months, they are available in various levels of trim on eBay and craigslist around the country. The black on black one we recently featured was very tempting, but pretty spendy. Today’s receives negative points for the automatic transmission, but overall is looking outstanding in Royal Blue and some shiny BBS wheels. 167k miles is nothing to sneeze at, but the bids are starting much lower than the black edition’s $12,500 asking price. If you’re third pedal-averse but live in an area with actual seasons, this is the E30 touring for you!

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Tuner Tuesday: 1988 BMW 535is Turbo

Published November 25, 2014 by Carter

When did the BMW tuning crowd become the new Volkswagen tuning crowd? I must have missed the memo, but it appears that it certainly went out. In my search for modified cars, I come across quite a few; it seems that for every well modified car, though, there are a few examples that leave you wanting for more. More attention to detail, more refined taste, and in some cases more money spent. That money doesn’t have to be spent poorly – we’ve seen, for example, cars which aren’t the best examples but have great photographs somehow be more desirable than good examples with bad photos. Heck, in one Volkswagen post I even pointed out how the seller was at a car wash (and photographed the car there being washed – a new, and also completely pointless, Volkswagen tuning crowd trend) but then failed to vacuum the car out. Well, it would seem that some of the hallmarks of the Volkswagen crowd are spilling out into the all-too-popular 1980s BMW bandwagon. List out loud the details of this E28 and you’ll have the enthusiasts drooling; Zinnoberrot 535is with black leather, Brembo brakes, M-System II throwing stars, Bilstein and Racing Dynamics suspension, Alpina cam and cluster, and a custom 400 horsepower M30 under the hood. But in this case, I don’t think the result is greater than the sum of the parts:

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1988 Mercedes-Benz 560SEC

Published November 22, 2014 by Carter

While I’m sold that it’s worthwhile in most cases to buy a top condition car from a careful one owner home with a spotless record and no miles on the clock, there’s something that’s at least romantic about the idea of restoring a lesser example back to driving quality. In the case of some older German metal, this is certainly possible; it’s not necessarily the least frustrating way to do things, but one can take a certain amount of pride in resurrecting a car from neglected status back to the road. Today’s example is a great case in point; a W126 Mercedes-Benz is a well build, solidly engineered thing of beauty. Add the pillar-less SEC coupe to the mix and the end of the run 5.6 V8 and it’s a great combination, only heightened by the right sprinkling of AMG and Euro bits. And with a low “Buy It Now” price, this 1988 has me dreaming of a winter project:

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