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Like many other industries, technology has affected the cars we drive over the last 20 years in an impressive fashion. From digital music to adaptive cruise control, vehicles offer a large helping of convenience to motorists, but it comes with a price. After a few years, technology of course becomes outdated and as these complex systems age, problems ensue. This translates directly into increased depreciation, especially for high end luxury cars, like we see with this 2002 Mercedes-Benz CL600 for sale by our friends at Sun Valley Auto Club. While it might be attractive to purchase an über-luxury machine at a discount, the reality is it could turn out to be one massive headache. However, this CL600 isn’t any ordinary coupe, as we’ve come to expect from this seller. Looking very much the V12 flagship part in black on black, this example has just over 11,000 miles on the clock.
After posting what I considered to be an over priced 911 yesterday, I thought I’d go the opposite direction and post a vehicle that I believe is not only fairly priced but may even be, dare I say it, a deal. To be perfectly honest I’ve been sitting on this listing for some time because I had hoped to have sold my S4 Avant and shot out to Palm Springs to take ownership of this thing, pending an inspection and test drive of course. It is a vastly different vehicle than the S4 but that’s kind of the point of me selling the car, I’m just ready for something different. A two door luxury coupe from the 80’s is about as different as I care to get with my next vehicle and man, what a candidate this car is.
The brown over tan interior oozes California country club cool, I like to think that the majority of the miles on this car are from making trips between Torrey Pines and PGA West. Comfortable and relaxing are perhaps the two most appropriate adjectives to associate with this car as the 5.0L V8 only cranked out 184hp. That’s not a whole lot for a 3,549lb car but this wasn’t a machine built for flat out speed or impressive lap times. This car is all about enjoying the ride, not getting to the destination in the shortest amount of time possible. If you’re looking for a luxury coupe that is as happy chasing apexes as it is eating up long stretches of highway then you’ll want to look for an E24. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite between the two legendary 80’s two doors because I haven’t an allegiance to either brand. I tend to like more of BMW’s cars overall but sometimes I want that little bit of extra luxury that I’ve always felt a Mercedes Benz offers. While the 635CSI remains on my shortlist of vehicles I’d want to own at some point, surprisingly the W126 500 SEC currently sits above it.
Even though it is over 40 years old now, the 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet was a throwback to the past, even in the early 1970s. This is a chassis that had it’s roots in the late 1950s and was assembled largely by hand in small numbers. By 1970s, the W111 coupe and cabriolet would get a shot of adrenaline by way of Mercedes’ new 3.5 liter V8 engine. While a few coupes were offered with a 4-speed manual, all cabriolets would be equipped with a 4-speed automatic. Want to look posh? Fewer cars embody that word better than this white over blue leather 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet for sale in Mississippi.
The W140 Mercedes-Benz S-class was a victim of its own times, debuting at the Geneva Motor Show in 1991 under the cloud of an economic downturn. Such a big and brash luxury sedan seemed out of step with the times and if that wasn’t bad enough, this car had to follow in the footsteps of the beloved W126 S-class. You still see a good number of W126 models roaming the roads but the W140s are few and far between these days. The W140 chassis would live on in the form of the recently discontinued Maybach 57 and 62, which would help to recoup some of the $1 billion USD spent on development. This 1993 500SEL for sale in Illinois is not the flagship model, but many would no doubt prefer the lower running costs of the V8 versus its V12 sibling.
The eighties would be an end of an era for people wanting to privately import their own example of a vehicle not officially offered for US sale. Mounting legislation would make it impossible to import a vehicle under 25 years of age unless it met federal safety and emissions standards or if it was granted an exception under show and display status. Truth be told, the number of folks willing to go to the expense and trouble of private vehicle importation is rather small, but now the door was closed to bringing over cars such as this 1986 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC, with its higher output V8 and slimmer bumpers that connoisseurs of the marque love. The C126 coupe was a masterfully graceful design, sandwiched between the somewhat awkwardly proportioned C107 SLC coupe and the large and in charge C140 coupe.