As cool as I think the sharknose E24 M6 is, it never quite grabbed ahold of me the way the E28 M5 does (hence my purchase of the latter). Despite sharing the heavenly S38B35, something about the way most E24s sit comes across just a little too soft, more Lexus SC400 than Ferrari 550. Well, today’s beautiful red M6 changes all that with a lower stance and beautiful – if very 80s – gold BBS 3-piece wheels. Something about the red, chrome, and black bits seem to all come together perfectly on this car, pulling me in like no E24 before it.
Tag: S38
We get a lot of submissions from readers – something we greatly appreciate! But the reality is that we don’t get the chance to write up all of these cars, and some deserving examples slip through the cracks. For some time I’ve wanted to do a roundup of all the examples we missed out on, so today I’m doing just that. Here’s a group of neat cars that we didn’t get a chance to look at in more depth. Thanks again to all of our devoted readers who have sent in some of these suggestions – we really do love getting your suggestions, so keep sending them and tell us if this “Honorable Mention Roundup is a good idea!
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC on eBay
4 Comments
We’re all fans of fast wagons here at GCFSB; Andrew’s owned a S4 Avant 6-speed and I’m on my third sporty 5 door. There’s something wonderful about these versatile vehicles; they’re the automotive equivalent of having your cake and eating it too. You can literally throw everything including the kitchen sink at them, go blasting down back roads with lurid 4-wheel drifts, or simply tote the family along in smart style. It’s not that having a wagon makes you smug, in my mind, it’s that those who have opted for that route simply are a higher evolution of thought. It’s the difference between the Australopithecus SUV market and the Homo Sapiens; sure, “Sport Utilities” may be the rage now, but the reality is many are just heavily disguised wagons or are doomed to extinction in the near future. But for right now, it seems the other way around in the U.S.; though some are on the horizon, fast wagons are currently hard to come by and that makes us look towards the past for some evolutionary inspiration. Since we love looking at older cars anyway, that’s not a bad thing – so let’s consider these two utility vehicles that are actually sporty:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 BMW “M5” Touring on eBay
3 Comments
Typically, there’s no reason to list a car as Canadian as its more of an importation detail than a real differentiating factor for the model. Perhaps the most notable exception is the legendary E28 M5, with a known history of BMW rushing to churn out 1340 examples for North America and standardizing them with most of the options list and exclusively black paint and (mostly) tan “Natur” leather interiors. 101 examples were sent over with full black interiors – 30 of the US allocation and all 71 M5s for the Canadian market. This creates something akin to a small herd of albino unicorns, and every once in a while they pop up and reignite the forum discussions as to whether a black interior inherently creates more value. The jury is still out on that last point, though I’d suspect that the rising tide for E28 M5s will help them gain some steam purely based on their rarity.
This M5 is one of the 71 Canadian black-on-blacks and is the nicest example I’ve seen. 124k miles and excellent condition make it a high-dollar M5 to start, right in line with the other $30k+ sales we’ve seen.
Click for details: 1988 BMW M5 on eBay
3 Comments
One could argue, pretty convincingly, that the E36 M3 is the best value if you want an M car right now. Good examples can still be found under $10,000, parts are plentiful, and there’s a huge selection of examples to choose from. But for me, the best value has to be the E34 M5. First off, if you’ve never seen a used advertisement for a second-generation M5, you might have missed that these supreme sedans were the last of the handbuilt M models. If you hate movies, you might have missed that a M5 was also an unsung hero in the cult classic Ronin, even if it couldn’t get away from a Citroen and the S8 was more memorable. If you’ve been living under a rock, you might not know that it’s father – the original M5 – is currently on a fairly steep appreciation curve. Yet the second generation M5, while considered a bit softer than the E28, was a potent sleeper nonetheless. And for me, it’s the ultimate M car; not because it’s the fastest, prettiest or most valuable; but because it expresses the ethos of what made BMW great. A Spartan warrior wolf in taxi-cab clothes, the M5 combined literal race-bred technology into an easily digestible package; it was a pleasure to drive fast or slow, it was reasonably reliable (and especially so considering the performance envelope), and yet unlike Porsche Turbos, Lotus Esprits, Chevrolet Corvettes or any other “sports” car that offered similar performance, it was a stealthy package – it was the adult choice. In 1991 if the M5 was graduating high school, it would have been Valedictorian and voted “most likely to succeed”, but it would have gotten my vote for “most athletic” and “prom king” as well – it’s that good. Despite these superlative qualities, a reputation second to none in terms of quality and driving experience, the E34 M5 still hasn’t caught on as a market darling: