The term “Q-ship” is an antiquated phrase dating from the WWII era. Originally used to refer to merchant ships carrying concealed weaponry, among car enthusiasts it’s…
6 CommentsTag: 1993
With a bit of nostalgia, it’s sad to reminisce about a market segment which has all but eroded from the automotive landscape. In the 1970s and 1980s, small coupes were the rage; they offered sporty looks and a bit of driving fun for the commute, while still being effectively economy cars underneath. But through the 1980s and into the early 1990s, those economy roots were altered in an ever increasing amount of brinkmanship to the point where the lines between a true “sports car” and the “sports coupe” evaporated. Yet the market was still ripe with plenty of options at the beginning of Bill Clinton’s Presidency; the Mazda MX-6 and Ford Probe GT continued to share underpinnings with slightly different style, while the Diamond Star Eagle Talon/Plymouth Lazer/Mitsubishi Eclipse offered technological and performance prowess that really lifted the segment. There was also the Nissan 240SX – not as sporty as the others, but still a popular option. Honda wasn’t left out with its popular Prelude and screaming VTEC motor. There were others, too – even the aging Dodge Daytona IROC R/T offered some 224 horsepower – impressive for the period.
All of them are long gone.
Gone, too, is the Volkswagen Corrado. It didn’t have all-wheel drive or the popular for the period “Turbo” badge stuck everywhere. It was refined, smooth and clean looking. The styling wasn’t exotic or futuristic, and the recipe was simple – especially when it came to the VR6. Quite simply, Volkswagen built the best Mk.2 Volkswagen they could, but compared to the competition in period, that wasn’t quite good enough. Nearly all of the competition had new-for-the-90s styling and chassis, and the VW felt decidedly 80s in comparison. And it was expensive, clearing $23,000 before options in 1993. So even though it was really as good as the 80s VW got, it was a soft seller (as most VWs were). Fast forward to the first of these cars about to be antiques, and suddenly a new light is cast upon the model; it doesn’t look as dated, gimmicky or used up as any of the others, and unsurprisingly has become one of the market stars as a result:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Volkswagen Corrado SLC on eBay
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The rare, high-performance Porsche-Mercedes 500E continues to garner increasing recognition on the collector’s market, pushing prices for nice examples toward $40k. But if you have champagne tastes on a beer budget and want a V8 in your W124, you’d do well to consider a 400E instead. Produced between 1992 and 1996 (it would be rebadged as the E420 and lightly facelifted in 1994), Mercedes intended for the 400E to sit underneath the 500E in the model range. They created it by dropping the 4.2 liter, 32v version of the M119 block into the W124 chassis, beefing up the brakes and suspension while leaving the exterior identical to the more humble 300E. Power output was a healthy 275 hp. While the car was not in the same league as the 500E, this proved more than adequate for high-speed autobahn cruising, which is what these cars do best.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 400E on Atlanta, GA Craigslist
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Limousine conversions can go either way. The way I enjoy them are the factory conversions which Mercedes-Benz calls the “Pullman”, a term carried over from railroad cars that were built to be relaxed in. Their fit and finish is totally perfect, which makes sense because these cars were usually built for heads of state like Boris Yeltsin Vladimir Putin to be the ultimate in chauffeured transport. On the other end, companies have taken the standard production car, sliced them in half, lengthened them, stitched them back together then added their own interiors in the passenger compartment. These cars were mostly used as shuttles for kids to puke up their Jägermeister on the way to the prom. Today’s 500SEL for sale outside of Boston is one of those types of limousines. Yea?
CLICK FOR DETAILS:Â 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SEL Limousine on Boston Craigslist
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The internet has again been ablaze with indignant enthusiasts frustrated with VWoA’s decision to cease importation of the 2-door GTI. Of course, the GTI is still available in more practical (and some would say better looking) 4-door configuration, and the decision wasn’t without basis as that model outsold the dual portal example many times over. Nevertheless, there’s always a big conglomerate of fandom that actively shouts about all of the things they can no longer or were never able to have.
Why this is somewhat surprising to me is because if you go back a few decades, we lost something even cooler. The Corrado represented the end of a 20 year reign of really cool 2-door coupe Volkswagens. Go back even farther, and another two decades of Karmann Ghia represented great looks and a sportier platform (in theory) with affordable underpinnings. While there are a few fans who call for the current Scirocco to be imported, nearly as many seem to say “Why?”, when the GTI is available alongside. Perhaps now that the 2-door GTI has been killed off to the U.S. market, more attention will be levied on these slinky coupes? Every Corrado, then, gives us pause to consider an entire market segment that was effectively eliminated in the mid-1990s after being some of the most appealing options in the catalog. They sure went out with a bang, though: