Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I love a good story, and I love even more when those good stories involve Porsche 911 Turbo S cars. This wonderful 1997 Turbo S for sale in Munich, Germany is the reportedly press car for all of the 993 Turbo S literature and events thus built with some very special parts. Boy, do I love these cars.
I don’t want to say I told you so, but literally three years ago I told everyone to buy 996 Porsche 911 GT3s and they’ll thank me. Now, almost every 996 GT3 is pushing six-figures and the really low mile ones sell as much as the 991 GT3. I don’t think they are going to keep climbing like crazy forever given it is a really tough ride and not a great street car, but it seems just saying you own a GT car now is enough and everything else comes second. Today’s example, a 2004 up for sale in Arizona, is not for anyone looking for a deal on this and is probably priced way at the top of the market.
I’m all for wild interiors. Give them to me all. If it is between beige or turquoise, I’ll take the turquoise any day of the week. Although the caveat here is that it has to make sense. I don’t want any Ronald McDonald-looking interior or some creation from “Crazy Rick’z House of Leather” that the fourth owner decided to go with. Today’s car, a very rare 1997 911 Turbo S, has one of those wild interiors. Although different, it misses wildly on one thing.
The first BMW to arrive in our family was an Arctic Silver E36. My dad bought the 318iS coupe from the British telecom giant he worked for, some time toward the end of the 90s. It was a manager’s company car and after three years serving on the fleet it was to be sold off. Ever since then, I’ve always enjoyed seeing arctic silver paint on this generation 3-series. Despite articles proclaiming that silver is the new beige, I think the color really suits the clean, crisp lines of the “dolphin” body shape. But the paintwork isn’t the only thing to admire about this particular car – an M3/4/5 (a four door, five speed M3). The sedan version of the E36 M3 is as fast and finely balanced as the coupe, but adds the practicality of two rear doors. A pocket rocket for those with a family to cart around, these cars are fun and practical, even if they are notably down on power in comparison with their Euro-spec counterparts.
Towards the end of the E34 run, the 540i was offered in the US with an M-Sport package. This added sport seats, an M-tech body kit and mirrors plus suspension and steering components borrowed from the M5. Only 200 units were produced, and of those only 139 came equipped with the 6-speed manual gearbox. So equipped, the 540i is an attractive and cheaper alternative to the M5, whose values we’ve seen creep up lately as the M-enthusiast crowd has rediscovered their love for the E34. This clean, low-mileage example is one of those manual cars.
