Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Kick back and relax now that the work week is over because I need some time to unpack everything that this 1972 Mercedes-Benz 250C is bringing today. At first glance I was excited to see a W114 coupe in awesome 860 green and to my surprise it was a four-speed manual as well. Then I started reading the description and looking at the photos to realize this car had much more than what I saw on the surface. So let’s dive into this 1972 250C located in Washington.
I’ve said a few times that the prettiest 6-series in my mind are the earliest examples and the very last, mid-88 refreshed cars. But in terms of pure beauty, my vote still goes to the early, uncluttered Bracq design. Certainly the E24 looked much heavier and not quite as elegant as the E9 it replaced, but it has its own character and was a quite handsome design in its own right. The sweeping roof line carries perfectly into the falling trunk, and in front the chiseled headlight panel echoed images of the creatures that would become the namesake of this model – the “Shark”:
Earlier in the week I wrote up a pristine, lower mile E12 528i that was a very pretty color combination and rare to see. The early generation cars of the 1980s – the E12, early E24 and E21 – are still in collector no man’s land; they’re in general not sought after enough to justify expensive restorations, and they’re not valuable enough for people to keep in pristine condition. They’re also not the best performers that BMW has produced; but in spite of that they’re all pretty cars and when well presented it’s a reminder of how clean and desirable some of these early BMW designs were. Few are as pretty as the original Paul Bracq designed E24 with it’s low, lean and long stance. Bespoilered later in life the design become increasingly cluttered and more aggressive, and while that has a certain appeal the early cars really do express the original design better. Today there are two examples, surprisingly, of the early run 630CSi – in your choice of original or modified “extra-spicy”. Which would you prefer? Let’s start with the modified version:
The BMW E9 chassis was a tough act to follow; gorgeous simplicity, solid performance in street trim and a world contender and winner in the…
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