Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I love the fact that the only way to get 4MATIC all-wheel-drive on the W210 Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG was to buy it in wagon form. Not just any wagon, as some were still rear-wheel drive, but rather you had to option one with 4MATIC. Naturally, this is a huge deal for traction given the massive amount of torque these and also for usability given this is a wagon after all. This 2000 up for sale outside of Zürich seemed to take advantage of that usability judging by the number of miles it racked up.
If you know, you know. That was the general consensus if you owned a Mercedes-Benz G-Class in the United States prior to 2002. You couldn’t just ride on down to the local dealer to cut a check for a G-Wagen, you had to actually call up Europa International to cut an even bigger check. However, even knowing what Europa International was in the infancy of the internet was a big accomplishment, let alone actually buying a G from them.
Today, we have one of the pre-2002 G-Wagens that reportedly is still with its original owners. That counts for something, right?
I’ve been harping about the W210 Mercedes-Benz E320 wagon the past few weeks and all, but don’t forget the sedan was the real mover when it came to this generation E-Class. It was a stark departure from the W124 and it’s “old school” Mercedes feel and blocky design. But by the facelift models starting in the 2000 model year, they started to really come into their stride. That was of course if it didn’t rust away, which was a major problem. Today, we have a seemingly innocent looking E320, which is why I quickly dismissed it. However, I saw it pop up again and figure something had to be up for it to be priced at $12,000 for having 110,000 miles. Then I saw inside.
It boggles my mind that the Z8 design is now on the verge of 27 years old. First penned in 1995 and shown at the Japanese Motorshow in 1997, the Z8 looked outrageous and the recipe sounded perfect, with internal components borrowed from the E39 M5. That meant the S62 quad-cam double-VANOS 4.9 liter V8 cranking out 394 horsepower and routed exclusively through a Getrag 6-speed manual transmission driving only the back wheels. Coupled with Henrik Fisker’s sumptuous lines, the Z8 managed to both channel the history of BMW’s landmark 507 and be a cutting-edge design at the same time. It was the halo car that helped to lead BMW into a new millennium. Sold for sometimes upwards of $160,000 when new, they were instantly collector fodder – but these cars also caught headlines almost immediately due to problems with their aluminum space frames deforming in the shock tower area.
Between collectability, the up-front expense and fear of destroying the chassis, a fair amount of these cars appear today with very low mileage. So why look at this one? Well, it is well below average mileage, but mainly – the color. Only 5,703 Z8s were produced, putting it roughly on level footing with the E24 M6 in terms of scarcity. Red Z8s are particularly rare birds, though, with just 291 made. This particular example is one of 137 with black leather upholstery, and for good measure it’s got just 16k miles.
I’m not exactly breaking any news here, but if you want an R129 Mercedes-Benz 600SL/SL600 at somewhat of a reasonable price, don’t sit around too much longer. The cream of the crop is already selling for a ton of money, and the very nice examples have quickly risen to a level where you really have to love these cars to spend the amount of money they are demanding. Thankfully there still are some not-so expensive ones out there on the market, but I think it is very clearly becoming a “you get what you pay” situation on them. Today’s example, a 2000 SL600 up for sale outside of Boston, sure seems to be one of those cases.
