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Tag: 1997

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1997 BMW M3 Sedan

It’s nice to back away from some of the more exotically priced cars from time to time and look at a more reasonably priced enthusiast car like the E36 M3. For under $10,000, you can still find some pretty good examples of the breed and they offer a lot of bang for the proverbial buck with plenty of aftermarket support and an enthusiastic community full of model-specific hacks. Let’s take a look at another wildly colored example that caught my eye this week – one of the claimed 88 Byzanz Metallic Sedans imported:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 BMW M3 Sedan on eBay

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1997 Porsche 911 Targa

I don’t feature Porsche’s 993 Targa all that frequently. In part, there simply aren’t a lot of them in total given that we are talking about a single model. But it’s more than that. I’ve always enjoyed the original Targa design and while there are merits to the redesign we saw on the 993 overall I’m less of a fan of them. The most obvious point in the 993 Targa’s favor is that the basic profile of the 911 is less altered relative to what we find with earlier Targas. Viewed from the side, many may not even realize there is any distinguishing characteristic. For some, that point alone is enough to bring them into the 993’s camp. For me, there was always an allure to that brushed roll-hoop and the contrast it created with the rest of the car. Let’s not let these things detract from this particular 911 though because it looks to be an exceptional example in a pretty and rare color. Here we have a Pastel Yellow 1997 Porsche 911 Targa with Black interior and around 33,000 miles on it.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Porsche 911 Targa on Classic Driver

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1997 BMW 318ti with S52 swap

I never understood why, but hatchback seems to be a dirty word in the US. So many of my friends eschew these vehicles, whether in three or five door form. Curiously, SUVs are popular here in the Land of the Free. So it seems Americans might not be all that averse to practicality, just as long as it is jacked up and classified as something more butch than your average passenger car. BMW dabbled with the idea of a hatchback 3 series for a number of years across two generations, however, only the E36 318ti, or Compact as it was known as, was sold stateside. While there were a number of different options you could spec a 318ti with, you had one choice of engine, the 1.9 liter inline-4. Customers in other markets, however, had access to the 2.5 liter inline-6 in the form of the 323ti. Enthusiasts took note of this and we’ve seen a number of six-cylinder ti swaps appear over time. This example for sale in Miami has an S52 from a 1999 M3 under the bonnet. It looks to be a rather tidy swap, with its look enhanced by the BBS RK alloys.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 BMW 318ti on eBay

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1997 Mercedes-Benz C280 Sport

Of all the cars I’ve ever owned, the 1998 Mercedes-Benz C230 was perhaps the most honest. It wasn’t overly flashy, was rather basic as compared to other US market Mercedes at the time and went about its business with 148 horsepower on tap in a steady but dignified manner. While there were hotter AMG versions on offer, Mercedes did offer a Sport package for the W202 throughout its life which gave the standard models a bit more zest. This 1997 C280 Sport for sale in Illinois has covered just over 60,000 miles and represents the last year the M104 inline-6 appeared under the hood of the W202, to be replaced by the M112 2.8 liter V6 in 1998. These Sport models had came equipped with a tighter suspension, 15″ AMG wheels, blacked out exterior trim, carbon fiber look trim inside and a smaller diameter steering wheel.

Click for details: 1997 Mercedes-Benz C280 Sport on eBay

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1997 Audi A4 2.8 quattro

We look at a lot of infrequently seen cars on these pages, but sometimes one really stands out to me, and that was the case with this 1997 Audi A4. Now, rarity is not on the side of the Audi A4, even in its least sold configuration. In its launch year of 1996, Audi shifted more A4s than it sold cars in total in each model year of 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994. In fact, the only reason the company didn’t sell more 1996 A4s than 1995 total cars was because a few 1996 models were sold at the end of 1995, upping the overall sales for that year. It was a wildly popular model though underneath there were overall few changes to what you could buy in the 1995 90 quattro. Even the look was a scaled down version of the 1993/4 ASF (A8) concept. But that didn’t matter – it was great looking, sporty and compact with a quality feel and still held the trump card for all-wheel drive in the small market. Unlike earlier models where the front-drive version of the chassis outsold the quattro versions, the A4 was also the first to really sell with a majority of all-wheel drive; about 80% (16,333 out of 20,671) of those that were sold in 1997 were so equipped. That would make a FrontTrak model much more rare than what we’re seeing here, so why claim this car isn’t often seen? Well, it’s just not. Think about the last time you saw a really clean pre-facelift A4. I’ll wait. Sure, there are a handful out there, but as with earlier Audis the residuals dropped and most were neglected. The A4, in addition to being a sales success, also brought Audi fully into the disposable luxury class. People that had previously bought Audis generally treasured them, especially so of the quattros. But with the A4, in many ways the small executive just became a German Camry. It was a nice Camry and that name has such a negative connotation it’s not fair to associate with, but moving into a more mainstream sales bracket also diluted the enthusiastic ownership of the brand.

On top of that, 1997 launched a new direction for the A4 which was the introduction of the 1.8T turbocharged power plant. While not a potent mill out of the box, enthusiasts (especially those downstream of initial purchase) welcomed the return of turbos to Audi and the ensuing modifications began. The result of all of this was that while the A4 was popular, it was no longer the heirloom quality automobile that models like the 4000 had been. It became, in many ways, just another car, and ultimately these factors contribute to the result of a model which isn’t often seen in the wild any more:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Audi A4 2.8 quattro on eBay

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