Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 we featured over the weekend garnered its fair share of attention, in no small part due to its unusual transmission, a 4-speed manual. While most would expect a large Mercedes coupe to feature an automatic, the opposite is true for BMWs of the period, specifically the E9 Coupe. This 3.0 CS for sale in Southern California is equipped with an automatic gearbox, ideal for those looking to cruise versus carving up the back roads.
If you want a grand coupe, room for 4 in a pinch, looks to melt hearts and minds and a race car soundtrack, the E24 M6 and M635CSi are one of the few options for you. A supreme autobahn blitzer capable of hanging with sports cars on back roads, the M6 has a pretty unique skill set hidden beneath that flowing exterior. Right now, there are five great condition Ms up on Ebay, so I thought it was time to do a roundup of what was available and take a look at the options. The first is probably the best one money can buy, and not a stranger to these pages. We saw this ultra-low mile museum piece as part of the 1980s BMW M “Holy Trinity” post I did last fall, and while the location and seller has changed, the condition hasn’t:
If you wanted a fast, executive super saloon in 1995, your options were dwindling. 1995 was the last year of the Audi S6, and one year after both the V8 Quattro and 500E were taken away. 1995 would also be the last year of the iconic M5, and hints were that it might be a long time before we’d see another. Why? Well, the reality was that with the 6 speed 540i the performance gap between the “super” M5 and the “normal” V8 engined 540 was so close it just didn’t make a lot of sense to have the premium model anymore. The S38 was by now a quite old motor and was getting harder to pass increasingly strict emissions standards; indeed, shrinking sales and high price had resulted in the M5 being pulled from the U.S. in 1993. As a result, BMW offered a hint at what it could do with the V8 in the form of the M540i in Canada and the 540i M-Sport in the U.S. market. The Canadian model was quite close in spec to the European M5, except that in place of the venerable S38 it ran the M60 V8 out of the normal 540i. If that sounds like a letdown, it wasn’t – mated to the Getrag 6-speed transmission it was a great driver, and with the M5 suspension, brakes and cosmetic details it was 95% plus of the M5 for most drivers. The 540i M-Sport that the U.S. got differed a bit in not having the trick floating rotors of the M540i, but with nearly everything else out of the M5 bag of tricks these are cool cars, great drivers, and even more rare than the M5:
The mid 1990s would bring about a new flagship for BMW, one that would take on a more evolutionary than revolutionary styling change. The E38 7 series would go on to become one of the most revered large BMWs in history, as the 7 series that followed was not as well received due to its radical styling. Available in V8 and V12 form throughout its stint in the US, this 1995 740i represents the more “basic” short wheelbase form that was on offer to American customers. The earlier E38 had the 4.0 liter V8 that we see here, supplanted by a revised 4.4 liter unit from 1996 onwards. It’s uncommon to spot an early E38 with low mileage, as these would be tasked to devour highway miles at a rapid clip. This 740i has escaped the ravages of time and is closing in on a mere 40,000 miles.
Having your cake and eating it too. Few cars in the automotive spectrum come closer to this than a 3 series Touring with a manual gearbox. While you can buy a brand new 3 series Touring in the United States with either a diesel or petrol engine, you can no longer specify the three pedal option. So, barring a change in BMW sales policy towards US customers, this 2011 328i Touring with a 6-speed manual represents the end of the road for manual transmission estate cars on these shores. Following on to the E30 Touring and A6 Avant we featured earlier today, here’s some more five-door goodness in the form of this 328i Touring on offer in Colorado.