Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: 1988

This site contains Ebay partner affiliate links, which may earn us a commission at no additional cost to you.

1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet

Published July 1, 2014 by Rob

It’s summertime and even though here in the Mid-Atlantic our weather isn’t always ideal for top-down motoring there are still many parts of the country where such joys can most easily be experienced this time of year. In that vein, here we have a very nice Guards Red 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, located in California, with 138,589 miles on it. Coming in the second-to-last year of classic 911 production this Cabriolet will show the peak refinement these cars achieved including possessing the highly-desirable G50 transmission (a fact this seller seems almost too aware of given how often it is mentioned in the ad).

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet on eBay

Read Our Post1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet
Comments closed

Motorsport Mondays: Unconventional Updates – V8 E30 M3 and 944 3.0 16V

Published June 23, 2014 by Carter

The Porsche 944 and BMW E30 are two of the most popular chassis to use in drivers events and club racing. Cheap, plentiful and effective, they’re usually turned up with race suspension, cages, and once you’ve run out of gusto, it’s not uncommon to see them get greater motivation. Generally for the 944, this means looking towards the turbocharged variant of the 2.5 liter inline-4 that was available from Porsche themselves; similarly, E30s receive a great swath of later Munich-based motors including the S50, S52 and even S54 if you’re really racey. But today there are two lesser-used mills powering this pair of perennial favorites. Which is the one for your sporting needs? Let’s start with the 944:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Porsche 944 on eBay

Read Our PostMotorsport Mondays: Unconventional Updates – V8 E30 M3 and 944 3.0 16V
Comments closed

1988 BMW 635CSi 5-speed manual

Published June 17, 2014 by Carter

By 1988, BMW’s lineup consisted of a few dinosaurs from the 1970s which remarkably still were considered reasonably fresh and competitive in the market. First was the E28 5 series; a refresh itself of the earlier E12 design, most of the technology and the layout seemed fairly dated by 1988; if nothing else, certainly the bumpers hinted at a less than harmonious relationship between Paul Bracq and the United States DOT. The same could be said of the E24 6 series, now entering its 12th year of production. Granted, like the E28 it had received a host of updates in the early 1980s that kept in on top of the heap; for both platforms, the screaming S38 powerplant uttered the last roar in the U.S. for both legendary chassis. But unlike the E28, the E24 was granted one last stay of execution before the launch of the 8 series. With some light facial work, a nip and a tuck it suddenly looked like a much more modern car and in my mind the prettiest of the E24s outside of the original and unspoiled 630CS. Most of these last of the run 6’s seemed to be automatic, but a precious few were imported with a 5-speed manual – giving a sporty and less expensive alternative to those not needing the motivation of the M6. Today there is one such 635CSi for sale on Hemmings:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 BMW 635CSi on Hemmings Motor News

Read Our Post1988 BMW 635CSi 5-speed manual
3 Comments

Motorsport Mondays: 1988 BMW M3 Evo2

Published June 16, 2014 by Carter

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I generally try to stay away from the E30 crowd, mostly because I really don’t think the current values on the M3 are justified. For under $10,000, it was a great track car. For under $20,000, it was a great occasional driver and memory of fun times in the DTM. At $30,000, it starts to become a show car that you’re not willing to drive to the store. Past that, it’s pure speculation and there seems to be no end in sight. Likely, that won’t be the case but if the Hemi bubble taught us anything it is that there will always be something new for people to latch on to. Of course, I watched a Mecum auction this past weekend and saw a Hemi Barracuda hammer for a few million dollars, so I guess the market on those cars still hasn’t returned to anything resembling normal.

Will the E30 M3 drop back down? Well, it can’t stay on this trajectory for long, that’s for sure. Cars have tripled in value in the past two years, a trend which is simply unsustainable. They’re no longer values – they’ve become the absolute top of the 1980s BMW market outside of the ultra-exclusive M1. And why? Don’t get me wrong, the E30 M3 is a cool car. But exclusive? They made 16,000 of them, for goodness sake. Compare that to some other notable BMWs – 450-odd M1s, about the same amount of pre-war 328s, or 250 507s. To put that even into more perspective, BMW made only about 6,000 E24 M6s and a scant 2200 E28 M5s. Rarity isn’t on the side of the M3, but few have ever accused the automobile market or enthusiasts with any sense of sanity, so the climb continues. Now, in my mind there are some E30 M3s that deserve the attention and loftier prices, and the Evolution models have to be one of the most deserving. With a touch more power and a little less weight, the M3 Evolution was closer to it’s track-winning relatives than the standard production M3. As they only made 500 of each run, they’re rare to see – but the market is such that for some who got in at the right time, they’ve reached their stop on the crazy train:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 BMW M3 Evo2 on eBay

Read Our PostMotorsport Mondays: 1988 BMW M3 Evo2
11 Comments

BMW M5 Double Take: “New” v. “Old” – 2001 or 1988?

Published June 3, 2014 by Carter

Well, this one has been brewing for a bit in my head. As I’ve watched E28 and E34 M5 prices climbing and the plateau after falling of E39 prices, the two are in general available for about the same amount of money. One is a well-acknowledged classic – the original super sedan, a well balanced combination of 4-door versatility with a race-bred high-revving inline-6. The second nearly never happened, and seemingly was an afterthought compared to the earlier examples – but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t well thought out. The E39 is one of the best performance bargains going not only amongst BMWs, but in cars in general – with 400 horsepower from a thundering V8, it took the M5 to a new level of performance and demanded the same of its competitors. So, here we have M5 v. M5; a generation gap, a performance gap, but both as performance icons of their respective times and generally accepted as collectable going forward. Which is the one you’d choose? Let’s start with the original:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 BMW M5 on eBay

Read Our PostBMW M5 Double Take: “New” v. “Old” – 2001 or 1988?
8 Comments