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There are many legends from the 1980s tuning scene, and probably if you were to single out one single car as the most famous it would be the Ruf CTR “Yellowbird” that stunned magazines with its 200+ m.p.h. top speed and created one of the first internet sensations with its slithering sideways lap of the ‘Ring. But near equal to the yellow 911 is the widebody bad boys from Affalterbach. With their four cam V8s churning supercar power levels and their widened flanks, they were a favorite poster subjects and still draw adoring crowds today. A steady stream of AMGs from Japan have been making their way across the ocean to the U.S., and this one is reported to be one of the original 6 widebody 560SECs made for the Japanese market:
Let’s turn back to the 964 to look at a model I’m not sure I have ever featured before. Sure, I’ve written about a few 964 Cabriolets and especially a few examples of the Carrera 4, which was the model Porsche chose to use for its 964 debut. However, I don’t think I have ever written about the combination of those two: the 964 Carrera 4 Cabriolet. That might be a pedantic distinction to point out, but these do remain somewhat of a curiosity and I don’t recall seeing them all that often. I also imagine a Carrera 4 Cabriolet, especially from the 964 model, will be a tougher sell than many of its peers. We are combining two typically audience-limiting models into one. Many 911 fans have little interest in a Cabriolet. Similarly, many have little interest in all-wheel drive. That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people who would have no problem with either, but when you put them together the audience certainly shrinks as we begin to move away from the sporting roots of the 911 in general. With all of that in mind, as we’ve been keeping a close eye on the 964 market it is always worthwhile to take in a few of the lesser-seen models to see just where they’re falling on the value spectrum. This Guards Red 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet, located in St. Louis, should provide us with a glimpse into where driver-quality examples are being valued.
When it comes of tuned BMWs, there’s no shortage of examples. Indeed, there are far more tuners of the popular Munich brand than all the others combined. From ABC Exclusive to Zender, everyone had their hand at modifying some series car into something a bit more. Sometimes more was tasteful, and othertimes it was garish – but all the way along, no firm has been consistently more effective at producing a quality product than Alpina. From their roots as a semi-factory race effort in the 1970s right through the dealer-offered cars of today, Alpina’s results have always been top-notch redefinition of the basic car. And while they have subsequently built faster cars, for me the best examples of the ethos of Alpina and its relation to BMW has always been the B10 BiTurbo. BMW built the screaming S38 powered M5, but Alpina provided its clients a private jet for the road:
While on a business trip to The Netherlands last month, I happened upon a very clean Mercedes-Benz 560SEL parked on the edge of one of the famous canals of Amsterdam. This car, like much of the older metal tooling around this capitol city, was in quite mint condition. The dedication of the Dutch to classic vehicles is quite impressive and warms my heart, as I find little out there on the new car market these days that I’m interested in. The W126 is one of those cars I wished they still produced to this day, as it just has a timeless air about it. I highly doubt that years from now, the last three generations of S-classes will age quite as graceful as this car has. It was one of Bruno Sacco’s best designs, in my opinion. If you missed your chance at a new 560SEL, this example for sale in New Jersey has covered just over 14,000 miles, making it one of the lowest mileage examples on the marque. It comes, however, with a stiff price tag.
The strong market for Westfalias should surprise no one by now. What is surprising, however, is finding two ridiculously low-mileage Westies for sale at the same time, in nearly the exact same spec. They’re both late-model, white on grey Vanagons that are looking for high-$30ks. That’s starting to get into decent Syncro Westy territory – are they worth it?
