Tag: 1993

1993 Mercedes-Benz 190D with 2,200 miles

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Last week I looked at one of my favorite and oddest Mercedes-Benz ever: the 190E Avantgarde Azzurro. It was an incredibly expensive car for its time at $40,500 ($72,000 in 2018 money), especially when you considered it was marketed towards younger buyers. As expensive as that car was, Mercedes offered a much more inexpensive option if you still wanted a new W201. How inexpensive? Nearly half the price at just $21,000. Of course you might have noticed I am talking about the 190D. This 190D up for sale in Poland has just 2,200 miles and in addition to being a time capsule, is probably the most bare bones and basic Mercedes I’ve looked at in a long time, if ever. The data card lists just six different build codes compared to the 20 for the Avantgarde Azzurro. Seriously, my manual-everything 1983 240D has more luxuries than this car. I hope the buyer for this car has lots of money and likes the sound of total silence, but that is what is going to take to own this car. Let me explain.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 190D at Classic-Trader

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1993 Mercedes-Benz E36 AMG Cabriolet

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Here is something I don’t see all that often. This is a 1993 Mercedes-Benz E36 AMG Cabriolet. If you are asking yourself why you never see these cars, it is because they are incredibly rare. The W124 E36 is exactly what it sounds like, a W124 with a 3.6 liter M104 from AMG with some cool bumpers and wheels. For as German as Mercedes-Benz is, they are dreadful for publishing production records on cars that aren’t worth a million dollars. Although maybe they just aren’t very open with sharing their information either. From what I understand, under 200 W124 E36 AMG cars were produced during the last few years of the W124 production run in the sedan, coupe, cabriolet and estate bodies. Of the less than 200, 57 officially went to the UK as right hand drive models and the rest were scattered around the rest of the world. Much to no ones surprise, none made it to the North America. Today, we have an E36 AMG Cabriolet up for bid in Illinois. Except this car isn’t one of those 200 cars. Please stay with me here.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz E36 AMG Cabriolet on eBay

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1993 Mercedes-Benz 220CE

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Last week I looked at a 1994 Mercedes-Benz E320 Coupe that had a ton of potential, but I just couldn’t commit given its long list of aftermarket parts that weren’t very flattering in my eyes. From the looks of it, the readers felt the same way judging by the comments that echoed my points. Today, I found another W124 Coupe that not only is stock (outside of a Blaupunkt headunit), but is actually one of the nicest C124s I’ve ever come across. This 1993 220CE up for sale in the Netherlands is a model that was never sold in North America and is quite unique thanks to a few options. This 220CE is powered by the M111 inline-four that is also found in the W202 C220, a car we do have in North America, and makes a surprising 150 horsepower for being as basic as it is. All this is nice, but the real reason I am here is because of the beautiful Malachite Green, both inside and out.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 220CE at Auto Leitner

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1993 Mercedes-Benz 600SL

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Fall is officially here, so that means in roughly 11 days, we’ll be looking at about four feet of snow. (Florida and California residents excluded.) While there are still some sunny days left, why not enjoy them in none other than a V12 convertible from Mercedes-Benz. Truth be told, if you forced me to go buy a V12 Mercedes-Benz convertible, it wouldn’t take me any time at all the settle on the R129 with the M120 because that is the V12 that wouldn’t have me sleeping inside it because of how unreliable and costly it is. Granted, the M120 still isn’t an inexpensive engine to live with in the grand scheme of things, but compared to the M275 or god-forsaken M137, it is a far easier pill to swallow. Today, I wanted to check out a really tidy 1993 600SL up for sale in New York that has all the little goodies that makes it stand out from what you usually see from these early R129s.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 600SL on eBay

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1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Coupe

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I never really know if I should post cars like these. The car itself I like a lot. It’s an Amethyst Metallic 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Coupe with matching interior and 40,500 miles on it. A low mileage, rare color, rear drive 964 is something I’m always on the lookout for. It’s got a few modifications – center exit exhaust from a 997 GT3, new headers, bronze/gold painted Cup wheels, upgraded suspension, and a couple other minor items – though the seller says most of the original parts come with the car. Overall it looks great. Not everyone will care for the choice in wheel color, but I think they contrast nicely with the Amethyst exterior. Regardless, wheels are easily changed.

That said, unless I’m missing something the price seems so out of line with the market that I’m not sure any serious buyer really will give it much consideration. Maybe the market changed while I wasn’t looking or maybe the seller has seen a few RoW cars with similar asking prices and figured this one should garner similar attention. I don’t know. Obviously, we can see where I landed on the decision of whether to post. I like this 911 enough and see them rarely enough that I thought it worth a closer look. But I’m not sure where we go after that.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Coupe on eBay

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1993 Mercedes-Benz 500E with 350,000 miles

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Update 12/30/18: This car is now on Bring a Trailer.

I’ve proclaimed my love before of ultra-high mileage Mercedes-Benz by fawning over a 2003 G500 with 318,000 miles and a 1980 300D with 585,000 miles, but today’s car is something I didn’t expect to see with a ‘3’ as the first digit on the odometer. I shouldn’t be all that surprised since it is a W124 and there is a probably one right now being used as a taxi somewhere in Africa with somewhere over 600,000 miles on it. You think I’m kidding? What did surprise me is that this particular W124 with over 350,000 miles is none other than the legendary 500E. This is the highest mileage .036 I’ve run across in as many years as I can remember because since the day this car rolled off the production line in Zuffenhausen, they’ve always been expensive and collectible cars. The nearly $82,000 window sticker in 1993 and the current market prices for these cars have kept them in the hands of loving owners who often have more cars than they have pairs of shoes. This of course keeps miles off these in general because of how special they are and also the fact that some 500E specific parts are rather pricey and not the easiest to source thanks to a lot of little pieces being no longer available. From afar, this DB702 Smoke Silver over Parchment 500E up for sale in Portland, Oregon doesn’t show one-bit of its mega miles and I’m quite impressed with its condition even for being in California for almost its entire life:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500E on Portland Craigslist

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1993 Mercedes-Benz 400E

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About two weeks ago I looked at a really nice Mercedes-Benz 400SEL up for sale in Canada that I felt was just a sublime car. Nothing was crazy or ostentatious, it was just a beautifully built car. Today, I wanted to look at another 1993 V8 Mercedes up for sale in Canada but this time it is the slightly smaller 400E. I’ve gone on before about how the W124 400E/420E is often lost in the crowd thanks to the legendary 500E and always in-demand E320 Cabriolet, but it seems like the really nice examples of these cars are starting to pop up more often. This one painted in Dark Grey Metallic with black leather interior is not a perfect car by any means, but is just as functional and probably a lot more fun than the 400SEL from a few weeks ago. My advice? Snag one of these now if you want one because they aren’t getting any cheaper.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 400E on eBay

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1993 Mercedes-Benz 400SEL

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There is something to be said about understated cars. Look at the current offerings around the automotive world and it seems like every single car has to be edgy and aggressive just to move the needle a little. Hell, look at the new Toyota Camry. This was a car that was the almost the literal definition of conservative and blending in, but now it has so many hard edges and design quirks that you’d think the designers at Toyota have gone crazy. It isn’t just the Camry, it is almost every other new car out there as well. A new Honda Accord? Random lines and curves going everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything really incorrect or bad about these cars, they are actually quite good cars, but subdued they are not. Sign of the times, I suppose.

That brings me to today’s car: the Mercedes-Benz W140 and this specific 400SEL up for sale in Canada. I’ve looked at more W140s that I can remember right now but this one has me looking at it a little differently for some reason. Maybe it is the Smoke Silver Metallic paint with the contrasting lower molding, but everything on the exterior of this car (outside of the hood star) just functions without any drama. The way that Mercedes shaped the end of the hood to cover up the wipers for less drag and a cleaner look. Even the taillights are molded the way they are because Mercedes studied how this specific design was easier to see as opposed to just a flat surface. All this is just the tip of the iceberg with the W140. I guess they didn’t spend a billion dollars to develop this car for nothing.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Mercedes-Benz 400SEL on eBay

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1993 Porsche 928 GTS

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If you’re interested in how the 928 market has changed over the last few years this example might offer some useful insight. But let’s get to that later.

This is a Horizon Blue Metallic 1993 Porsche 928 GTS, located in Florida, with Blue Topaz leather interior, the automatic transmission, and 56,995 miles on it. This is a very attractive shade of light blue that shows well on the 928 and certainly stands apart from the many silver and black examples we’ve seen. The interior makes the car a little monochrome overall, but it’s a bright blue that stands out even more than the exterior. I’m not sure I’d consider this the ideal color combination, but it certainly is an interesting one. In a sea of uninteresting cars, this 928 definitely will attract notice. It also looks to be in really nice shape. And, of course, it’s a GTS!

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Porsche 928 GTS on eBay

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1993 Volkswagen Corrado SLC

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When it launched in the late 1980s as a replacement to the ancient Scirocco, the Corrado was Volkswagen’s attempt to appeal to the Porsche crowd. With the supercharged G60 motor that may have been somewhat farcical, but when VW dropped the narrow-angle 2.8 liter VR6 into the nose of their 2-door Coupe it became more of a reality. Though on paper it didn’t have much more power, the VR6 was better suited to the design and weight of the Corrado. Zero to 60 plummeted nearly a second and top speed went up to a then-impressive 137 mph. But it was the all-around flexibility of the motor that proved the winner; torquey at low revs yet happy to head towards the redline, the Corrado finally fulfilled the promise of being a budget P-car.

Unfortunately, there was a price to pay. The base price for a Corrado in 1992 was nearly $22,000. Add a few options in and you were paying more than you did for a Porsche 924S four years earlier. To put it into even more stark perspective, the base price of a much quicker, nicer, more efficient, better cornering, better braking, more technologically impressive and significantly safer GTI today is only $26,415 some 26 years later. As a result, Corrados and especially the SLC have always held a cult status and higher residual value than the rest of the lineup. Today, as they head into collector status, many have been priced out of the market – a trend I’ve looked at several times, with asks of $20,000 and occasionally even more. So it’s refreshing to encounter a reasonable condition driver-quality example that’s priced within the reach of the group these cars appeal to:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Volkswagen Corrado SLC on eBay

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