Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I’ve looked at some cheap Porsche 911s over the years, but never a “rebuilt title US-spec car exported to Eastern Europe” cheap Porsche 911. The 1999 Porsche 911 is generally the cheapest 911 you can buy, with prices in the high-teens for a decent one, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen one this cheap that is being offered up in Georgia. The other Georgia, that is.
Sometimes just for fun I go back and look at concept cars for production models just to see how much had to be changed for whatever reason. The first-generation Porsche Boxster is an interesting example of what started as a really progressive design with some homages to years past, only to be changed significantly because of production requirements and cost control. Go look at the working 1993 concept, and the exterior had shades of 550 Spyder while the interior had some really wild features such as little three-fan blades as blower fans. I totally get why something like that didn’t make production as it would have been extremely expensive to produce, and even more expensive to fix after they broke twenty minutes after leaving the dealer lot from someone sticking something in them. What ended up in production is a design that was still fresh for the mid-1990s, but an interior that was watered-down considerably. Still, it is tough for more to argue about this Boxster as this car literally saved Porsche from dire financial straits, along with the Cayenne.
Now that we are nearly almost 25 years from the launch of the Boxster in 1996, are these becoming classics that will be looked at the same way we now look at the 914? Tough to say.
Not to be the guy who says “I told you so”, but I’ve been singing the praises of the W210 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG for years now. Biased? Of course. I bought two of these cars, one gifted to my father, and one for me, and both remain today. Mine stays tucked under the cover in the garage and maybe sees the light of day once a month while my father, although a retiree, daily drives his and just crossed 205,000 miles on it. Both of them were purchased when they were probably at their lowest point in worth, and as luck would have it, prime examples are starting to pull really strong money. I know that is a little bit of an outlier, but the rising tide lifts all boats unless you are talking about an example that is ready for the junkyard. Are there deals still out there for these cars? Yes, I think so. Higher mileage examples and ones that need a little love can still be had under $10,000, but I think as the years go on, those examples will be put out to pasture and only the strongest will survive. This 1999 up for sale in California sure is a strong example with just 54,000 miles, but are you willing to pay the price now hoping the prices will continue to creep upwards?
A few weeks ago I took a look at a 1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC that needed some help to say the least. Thankfully it looks like it sold a few days ago for a low sum of $4,600 and maybe is on its way to a new life. Honestly, I wouldn’t bet on it given how expensive it would be to refurbish the car. Today, I’d thought I’d look at another C140 that looks like it doesn’t need much, if anything at all. This CL500 up for sale in the Los Angeles area is a rare 1999 model, the last year the C140 was in production. Mercedes really cut back on the C140 for the 1999 model year – production was just under 1,500 for the entire world. Word is, only around 125 of them made it to the U.S. in both CL500 and CL600 guise. Needless to say, a rare bird. The good news is this example has just over 100,000 miles on it and looks like it has about half of that. The better news, it isn’t as expensive as you might of thought.
Three door SUVs are an interesting proposition. You have all the utility a 4×4 has to offer, but with less cargo space and sometimes less seats. It clearly works as we’ve had multiple versions of them running around for decades like the Jeep Wrangler, Land Rover Defender 90, and even stuff like the Ford Bronco. Lest we forget Germany’s entry into this market, the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. These have also been around for decades but as the years went on, demand for five door models has been so great that it is rare to see a W463 G-Wagen. However, today I ran across a 1999 three door in Germany and it isn’t just your normal W463, this one is one of the very few G55s made in the short body.
