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Earlier this week I checked out a great 2000 Mercedes-Benz SL500 with some Designo touches that hit all the right buttons for me. Today, we have another Mercedes-Benz convertible with some Designo treatment, but this one is a little bit different. What we are looking at is a 2003 CLK430 finished in Designo Mocca Black paint with Designo light brown leather interior. I think the thing about the W208 is that it wasn’t really great at anything. It had the enormous task of replacing the W124 Cabriolet that was and still is an outstanding car in more ways than one, but the first-generation CLK Cabriolet was strange mash-up of W202 and W210 parts. Yes, it looked fresh at the time and had a lot of modern updates for its era, but at the end of the day you could really feel that the quality just wasn’t there like the W124. That doesn’t mean it is a bad car, but rather one that you knew from the beginning what you going to get out of it: an average experience.
Last week I presented a 930 Slantnose that I thought was about as ’80s as a Porsche could get. While I don’t think this one pushes beyond it, it certainly brings with it its own ’80s appeal and includes elements that 930 Coupe lacked.
Here we have a Cassis Red Metallic 1987 Porsche 930 Slantnose Cabriolet with just 45,400 miles on it. The very fact that it’s a Cabriolet, rather than a Coupe, garners it an extra dose of excess in appearance. The Slantnose, side strakes, and massive spoiler when paired with a top-down environment really bring a peculiarity to the design that we don’t often see. The chrome wheels take it over the top. The full wood dash too strikes me as very much an ’80s sort of feature. Not that a wood dash itself dates the car, but when fitted to a Slantnose 911 Turbo it creates a disjunction combining luxury and aggression that feels very at home in the time period. It’s all quite fascinating, really.
I’m kind of mesmerized by this shade of blue. The color is Tahoe Blue Metallic and here it adorns a 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet for sale in Florida with 63,755 miles on it. We’ve featured Tahoe Blue Metallic before, but don’t see it often. It’s a rare color and wasn’t available for very many years. What really has me awed is the way it possesses so much color even while being photographed in the shade. It really pops and as someone who has always been a big fan of blue in general it’s a great version of the color. It won’t snap your head around the way Riviera Blue might, but it won’t blind you either. It reminds me of a richer version of Iris Blue from the ’80s and is just really pretty.
It has been awhile since I’ve featured a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen Cabriolet because frankly, they don’t come up for sale all that often. People that know what they are usually want them pretty badly and when they get their hands on one, they keep it for a while. The last one I checked out was a 1999 G500 Cabriolet that was nearly perfect and came with a price tag to match at $150,000. Today’s G, a 1990 300GE for sale in Las Vegas, is still a W463 but obviously a little older. This one however is a little cheaper and thanks to a bunch of custom touches, even a little bit cooler in my eyes. Although I want to be clear here. The word ”cheaper” is a relative term when talking about these trucks. They are still really expensive in the grand scheme of things. How expensive?
It appears my attempt to stay within the realm of good value has only lasted a day. We’ll try again tomorrow. In the meantime here’s something very unique: a paint-to-sample Orange 1965 Porsche 356C 1600 C Reutter Cabriolet. It is said to be the only one produced in this color for the 1965 model year. I can’t confirm that myself, but it is one of only two 356 of any model that I’ve seen painted Orange. The other, while also a Cabriolet, was from 1955 so it certainly doesn’t impact the 1-of-1 status of this 356. It has been fully restored and that eye-popping orange looks stunning on the 356’s curves. There were a good many bright colors available during 356 production, but I don’t think any would be as head turning as this.
