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I’m always curious as to what the right-hand drive “discount” is. The reality is that unless you live in one of the 75 countries (I bet that is more than you thought) that utilizes right-hand drive vehicles, owning one is a real value killer. I know this first hand as I have a right-hand drive vehicle in my small collection and while it is fun driving it, I know that compared to an identical left-hand drive example, the value is less. I think that even holds true on some of the more desirable models and that seems to be the case with today’s car.
This 2001 Audi RS4 Avant up for sale in London is one of the 500 or so produced in right-hand drive specification. To be honest, unless you live in the UK, Japan, South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand, owning this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. (Those 70 or so countries are not places you’d want to own an RS4 Avant.) However, this is a right-hand-drive car in a right-hand-drive country. Why is it so much less expensive?
Time for another edition of “Very niche knowledge of German car facts that almost no one will know.” We of course all know about the 2002 Volkswagen GTI 337 Edition that was sold in the US to celebrate 25 years of the GTI, only for it to be one-upped by the GTI 20th Anniversary edition literally a year later to celebrate 20 years of the GTI in the US. The interesting thing about the 337 Edition was all 1,500 in the US and all 250 examples in Canada were only offered in a single color: Reflex Silver Metallic.
However, the 337 was itself a reaction to a special model in Europe called the 25th Anniversary Edition, because while that was true for Europe and not true for the US. In addition, Europe had two more color choices in addition to Reflex Silver with Tornado Red (clear coat peeling was no extra charge) and today’s color – Diamond Black. To go even a step further, the right-hand drive UK cars all had a special plaque on them that individually numbered each car but for some reason, they put the plaque on the fuse box cover that can only be seen when the door is open. I wish I was making that up.
You know what, maybe the weather in England isn’t so bad after all. Of course I am saying that solely because of today’s car, a 1987 Mercedes-Benz 300SL up for sale in Southern England. It is finished in the rare Willow Green with a brown soft top over tan MB-Tex. What I would give if this one was left-hand drive.
For many, the 997.2 Porsche 911 GT3 RS is the one to get if you want the best of the best in the GT3 RS family. It was the last GT3 RS with a manual gearbox, if you don’t count whatever family the 991 911 R falls in, and some say feels like the perfect size. Don’t get me wrong, I love the 991 GT3 RS and I’m probably going to love the not-yet-released 992 GT3 RS, but if you want a manual transmission, the buck stops here. Just 541 examples came to the US, but today’s car as you might have noticed by which side the steering wheel is located, isn’t one of those 541 cars. Also, it is Cobalt Blue Metallic.
Project cars are a very slippery slope. I’d say for every 100 projects that someone buys, maybe only a handful actually see the end of the line as “completed.” People love to get in over their heads in terms of what it will cost or the amount of skill it requires, with most of the time being a solid combination of both. Most of the time it is cheaper, easier, and much less painful just to buy the example you want totally original or already finished, then leave the projects for the professionals and retired folks with unlimited money.
However, there is one car that will bring anyone to it’s knees if you aren’t totally flush with cash and have a very specific set of knowledge: the Mercedes-Benz 600. I don’t need to go over the reasons why, but rather what it would take to get this 1965 up for sale in California back to its glory days. Also, this one has another little surprise.
