Tag: 1996

1996 Volkswagen Passat GLS TDi Variant

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So here’s part one in a trio of strange, yet desirable in their own right, Volkswagens. There are plenty of popular Volkswagens that demand premiums, sometimes inexplicably. These special models have a draw and demand money that makes people laugh. Sure, in the car world, it’s become accepted that vehicles like the 21 window Samba are now $100,000 plus fully restored; however, tell that to my father-in-law, who grew up driving them, and you’ll get nothing but boisterous laughs. Other Volkswagens exhibit charm or were class leaders; the GTi, the Vanagon Westy, the Corrado – stylish in their own ways, with charm to match. Then there’s the Passat. Despite the serious popularity of the B5 and B5.5 chassis, I still feel like I need to explain to people that they’re really quite nice cars. Do you know why?

Mostly it’s because of the reputation of the B3 and B4 Passats. The B4 Passat will certainly not go down in history as the best made, fastest or even prettiest mid-sized Volkswagen. Poor build quality coupled with an unerring tendency of early 90s Volkswagens to rust heavily meant they’re an odd choice for the Volkswagen fan. And when I consider the B4 Passat, all I can think is that it’s arguably the most vanilla Volkswagen ever produced. I praised Volkswagen when they launched the B3; smooth, aerodynamic with a distinctive wedge shape, it looked very different than any other sedan on sale at the time. Most of that distinction came down to the grill-less front end, but regardless it was cool. It was so cool, in fact, that no one got it. Of course, it didn’t help that it was pretty expensive and not particularly reliable in the best trend of early 90s VWs. So it probably came as no surprise when the revised B4 Passat in 1995 went more mainstream. New wheels, mostly new body panels and some minor interior changes signaled its introduction, but that’s not what people sought. No, the big news was under the hood; Volkswagen moved the 1Z 1.9 TDi into the Passat – and behind the headlines of the Vans, Corrados and GTIs, it’s probably the most sought 1990s Volkswagen – especially in 5-speed Variant form:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Volkswagen Passat GLS TDi Variant on eBay

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1996 Mercedes-Benz S600 with 243,059 miles

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Last week I checked out a 2015 Mercedes-Benz S550 with a little under 112,000 miles and while that number isn’t super high, when broken down by year, it is well above average.  The price of the car reflected the above average mileage, as it should, but it probably wasn’t a great enough deal to be really temping since it still was almost $33,000. Today, I have another S-Class with a bunch of miles and a really attractive price that will probably make anyone consider it just to see what happens. This 1996 S600 with the M120 V12, checks in with a little over 243,000 miles and honestly doesn’t look all that bad considering its age and use. Again, it is all about price when it comes to rolling the dice on this car, but honestly, how can you go wrong?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Mercedes-Benz S600 on Hemmings

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1996 Mercedes-Benz CL420

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The Mercedes-Benz W140 Coupe, or C140, is one of those cars that you might have forgotten about until you see one in the wild or stumble across one for sale. There is good reason for that seeing that Mercedes made a little over 400,000 W140 sedans while only producing 26,000 coupes. You can see that is quite a difference in production numbers and now that the youngest W140 is almost 20 years-old, they are only are getting more rare. Today, I wanted to check out the rarest W140 ever produced, the CL420. Just 2,500 CL420/S420 Coupes were produced from 1994 to 1998 and exactly zero ever made it to America. These Coupes used the 4.2 liter M119 V8 borrowed from the sedan and was the smallest engine choice available in the C140. This 1996 up for sale in Spain is probably one of the most well-preserved CL420s out there despite its 112,000 miles. I just wish I could bring it to America.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Mercedes-Benz CL420 at Classic Driver

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1996 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe

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This is a Turquoise Green Metallic 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in Florida, with Cashmere Beige interior and 50,324 miles on it. It also has the factory Aerokit. The paint code is 25D, which I mention because there are a few colors that went with some version of Turquoise during the ’90s and in some cases they can be dramatically different colors while in others very similar. Turquoise Blue (code 3AR/3AS) is a phenomenal non-metallic blue and one of my favorites from the period. It has some of the brightness of Riviera Blue, though in a darker hue. It’s great. I believe there also was an earlier version of Turquoise that was non-metallic and much closer to the blue of Turquoise Blue than the color we see here. Similar to this 993 is Turquoise Metallic (code 25C), which is a slight variation of this Turquoise Green. The German helps differentiate the two: Tuerkis Metallic vs Tuerkis Perlcolor. Add in the even more green Wimbledon Green Metallic and then we have nearly the whole spectrum for this one type of greenish blue exterior. Porsche certainly knows how to provide options. All you have to do is figure out which one you like best.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe on eBay

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1996 Mercedes-Benz S600 Coupe

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People are usually pretty hot or cold on the Mercedes-Benz W140 Coupe. They followed up the massively successful and popular W126 Coupe and it’s not that these are bad cars at all, but it’s tough to follow-up something that was so great. I think lots of times people even forget about these cars because you don’t see them all that often. Mercedes made just over 8,500 of the V12-powered 600SEC/S600 Coupe/CL600 for worldwide sale over an eight-year production period so they are relatively rare compared to the V12 sedan that was produced to the tune of 36,000. Today’s car, a 1996 up for sale outside of Detroit, is one of the finest S600 Coupes I’ve seen come up for sale. The price? Well worth the asking in my eyes.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Mercedes-Benz S600 Coupe on Detroit Craigslist

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Iris Blue 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo

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I’ve mentioned a few times that Iris Blue is one of my favorite Porsche colors on the 3.2 Carrera. This, however, is not that Iris Blue. When the color returned for the 993 it had changed. A lot! I believe for the 993 it was fully referred to as Iris Blue Pearl, while for the 3.2 Carrera it was Iris Blue Metallic. The pearl is much darker and has hints of purple in it. Metallic is a lovely light blue. Both are very pretty – as evidenced by the example we see here – but in very different ways. Iris Blue Metallic pretty much requires sunlight to look its best. Like many lighter shades of blue its full effect can’t be felt in the shade or when not clean. Iris Blue Pearl, on the other hand, appears to show very well in the shade. I would suspect the purple hues would show most pronounced in the sun, while in the shade it simply appears as a deep, rich, blue.

Here where we see it on the curvy, wide, winged lines of this 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo and it really looks phenomenal.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: Iris Blue 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo on Rennlist

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1996 Audi A4 2.8 quattro

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Back in March I took a look at two Audi A4s, comparing an early FronTrak example to a late loaded Avant. Though it looked to be in good shape, the running condition of the ’96 was in question. More problematic, it was a front driver, and hooked to the Tiptronic 5-speed automatic. As a result, despite the low entry price point, it was really hard to get excited about it.

Today’s A4 remedies many of the ailments afflicting that particular A4. It’s still in an Audi signature color combination from the 90s; in this case, Emerald Green Mica over Ecru leatherette. But the highlight here is the drivetrain, with the much more desirable 5-speed manual driving all four wheels through the combination of a Torsen center differential and an electronic rear differential “lock”. Best of all? It’s in great condition and the auction is no reserve!

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Audi A4 2.8 quattro on eBay

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1996 Mercedes-Benz SL320

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Spring has sprung and convertible season is here. I type this as I look at my window to still see snow, but the calendar tells me it is officially spring so I’ll just go with that. What better way to start the warm seasons by picking up a relatively inexpensive roadster that won’t kill you in repairs/maintenance and maybe even make you a couple of dollars if you hold on to it long enough. If that is your goal, the R129 Mercedes-Benz SL320 might just be the perfect car. Fortunately, this 1996 up for sale in Maryland checks in with just under 94,000 miles and is a really good deal. How good?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Mercedes-Benz SL320 on eBay

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1996 Volkswagen Golf Harlequin

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The Golf Harlequin is the model that answers the question no one asked. It’s the model that proves Germans have a sense of humor. It’s also a model which defies logic. If you told your automotive-inclined friend you bought a 22 year old 2.0 automatic 4-door Golf with mis-matched body panel colors, he’d probably offer you the couch in his living room to sleep on for the next month. Things must be that hard for you, after all.

Now, tell him you paid a premium for that car. “How much?”, he’d most certain quip.

“$10,500”

The stunned silence which would undoubtedly be followed by the most boisterous of laughter would be punctuated only by the whipping out of a phone and a call to the local insane asylum for an admit, or at the very least a consult. But who’s the joke on here?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Volkswagen Golf Harlequin on eBay

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1996 Volkswagen GTI with 19,000 Miles

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In 1996, Volkswagen returned to its roots in the Golf lineup. While the GTI VR6 still grabbed the headlines and enthusiast’s dreams, they re-introduced the 4-cylinder GTI utilizing the 2.0 ABA shared with…well, every other A3 chassis car. Quickly nicknamed the “2.slow”, the 115 horsepower on tap wasn’t anywhere near the VR6 performance. 0-60 was 9.8 seconds versus 7.2, and the smaller engine never had the upper hand as soon as the key was turned unless you were measuring fuel burned. Consequently, the base GTI was really more of an appearance package, and in that regard it was pretty good looking.

The GTI set itself apart from the regular Golf and the Golf Sport it replaced with a new 2-bar grill with GTI badges, twin-chamber headlights and integrated bumper-mounted fog lights shared with the VR6. The signature roof-mounted Fuba antenna also appeared, along with smoked rear lights, 14″ “Flyer” alloy wheels and special interior items. At $16,000, it was hardly cheap at the time. For a few grand less, you could get yourself the class-leading Sentra SE-R which had better tech, better handling and more power. So the GTI made due by living on its reputation, and that meant it felt and looked water-down. Still, today it’s neat to see a clean example pop up, and they don’t come much more clean than this 1996 with only 19,000 miles. Of course, even though there’s no reserve on the auction, there’s still a price to pay.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Volkswagen GTI on eBay

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