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Tag: Tuner Tuesday

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2000Tuesday: 1972 BMW 2002 “M2” Targa

2000Tuesday: 1972 BMW 2002 “M2” Targa

Published November 27, 2018 by Carter

It seems somewhat fortuitous to stumble upon today’s creation, which manages to build upon a few prior posts. Last week I look a look at a beefed-up 1976 2002 with a S14 swap. Then, yesterday, I took a look at the crazy 4-door convertible 316i Baur TC4. Combining those two unique creations is today’s 1972 BMW 2002.

Like last week, this one is pretty far from original. It’s also got tacked-on flares, super-wide wheels, a non-original interior and is painted a non-original color – in this case, Sunflower Yellow borrowed from the contemporaneous Porsche. But the big news here is again the S14 and 5-speed swap, giving more muscle to match the macho looks. On top of that, or rather topless perhaps, this one appears to be a Baur Targa conversion. It was certainly worth a closer look:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1972 BMW 2002 “M2” Targa on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 1999 Mercedes-Benz G500

Tuner Tuesday: 1999 Mercedes-Benz G500

Published November 6, 2018 by Andrew

Have your eye on that G63 AMG 6X6 Brabus B700 but can’t swing the $1,895,000 price tag? I might have a solution for you. You are probably looking at the title and seeing 1999 G500 and looking at the photo not seeing a 1999 G500. I have an answer to that question as well. This W463 started life as your regular G500 and was transformed into a faux Brabus B700 6X6 by master craftsmen in Eastern Europe. You are probably chuckling when I say ”master craftsmen” and ”Eastern Europe” in the same sentence, but hear me out on this one.

As you might have noticed this G is not in Miami like the listing says, but is actually in the city of Lutsk in Western Ukraine parked outside of a khrushchyovka and a store that sells fertilizer. Mercedes made less than 100 6x6s in total and Brabus converted a handful to their B700-spec so it’s not you can just go grab a 6×6 body from the local parts department. Being a former resident of Ukraine, I reached out to this seller to ask a laundry list of questions as to how this 6×6 came to be. The seller said the entire body was custom fabricated by his team and all the carbon fiber pieces, including the giant fenders, were made custom by his factory that molds carbon fiber pieces. How he got all the specs and dimensions, he wouldn’t tell me. Simply ”its secret”. When I asked if Mercedes or Brabus contacted him, seeing as he somehow replicated one of their most exclusives vehicles ever that sold over $700,000, he replied that they had not, but he hopes to sell the 6×6 before they do. As for the mechanicals, it is a 6×6 system that fully functions and mentioned that while it is fun to drive, actually parking this monster is less than ideal. Oh yeah, we haven’t even talked about the interior yet.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1999 Mercedes-Benz G500 on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 2004 Alpina B3S Cabrio

Tuner Tuesday: 2004 Alpina B3S Cabrio

Published September 18, 2018 by Carter

The prospect sounded promising, but I was left feeling lackluster at best about the 750 mile 2001 BMW 330Ci I wrote up a few weeks ago. Sure, it was nice and that interior certainly was to die for; so, too, was the basically as-new condition. But the 5-speed automatic transmission, coupled with the outrageous $32,000 asking price, had me thinking there were better options out there. So if I was in the $30K range for an E46, what are my options?

Well, obviously there are plenty of M3s to check out any day of the week, and I’ll be looking at one soon enough. But when our reader John sent through this seriously impressive Alpina, I couldn’t help but take a look. The B3 isn’t a model we often look at; in fact, I’ve only reviewed on prior, and it was a E36 chassis. The E46 took an unusual route for Alpinas; rather than a blank-slate motor, the Buchloe company selected the S52B32 from the U.S. spec E36 M3 for their basis. It was bored and stroked to 3.3 liters, netting 280 horsepower. In 2002, the “S” version of the B3 was released, with a bit more bore and a revised engine management and exhaust system. This brought the power to 305, 0-60 plummeted to 5 seconds and with a 6-speed manual you could come close to hanging with the M3. Why buy one, then? Well, the looks were a bit more discrete overall, and you could buy not only a sedan and Touring version, but an all-wheel drive one as well. Today, though, we have a lovely Cabrio with the 6-speed manual to check out:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2004 Alpina B3S Cabrio on Autoscout24

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Tuner Tuesday: 1985 Volkswagen GTI Callaway Turbo with 34,000 Miles

Tuner Tuesday: 1985 Volkswagen GTI Callaway Turbo with 34,000 Miles

Published August 28, 2018 by Carter

It’s always a bit of a surprise when something unique and special from the mid-80s VW catalog comes along. Pre-16V GTIs are pretty hard to find in decent shape. But Callaway Turbo models with period BBS body kit and low miles? When I came across this listing you could say it wasn’t the only forced induction. Callaway was the American tuner of the 80s, building supercar-slaying twin turbo Corvettes that generated almost as much press for their acceleration as their propensity to melt down faster than Chernobyl. But on the less exotic end of the spectrum, Callaway’s turbo kits made VWs pretty potent machines. They switched from K-Jetronic to KE-Jetronic and dropped compression to 7.8:1 by adding a thick head gasket. Then on was bolted a turbocharger generating 10 lbs. of boost, pushing the GTI’s power from 105 to 150 in an instant. This resulted in low 7-second 0-60 times and a higher top speed. Callaway generally outfit his cars well with BBS body kits and wheels, and for good measure a Nissan 300ZX Turbo hood scoop for the intercooler on top of the motor too. They cost a pretty penny; a base GTI was only around $9,000 in 1985, but the turbo system in stage II configuration cost $4,000 and the BBS body kit another $1,000. Pop for some BBS wheels and tires and you were another $2,000 lighter, and some owners went farther with steering wheels, seat and radio upgrades. The result could be over $18,000 and few were sold, but then this GTI would give a more expensive Porsche a run for its money.

Amazingly, we’ve gotten to see a few of these rare GTI Turbos for sale over the past few years. Most recent was the all-white ’87 Neuspeed , but back a bit further we saw a nearly identical ’85 hit over $20,000. This lower mile example is on offer currently for only about half that amount:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Volkswagen GTI Callaway Turbo on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: RUF Auction Roundup

Tuner Tuesday: RUF Auction Roundup

Published August 21, 2018 by Rob

It’s August and that means it’s car auction time. Much of the car-collecting world will be out in California this weekend either at Monterey or Pebble Beach – maybe even Carmel. A lot of cars will change hands and some of those will help set the market over the next six months. I always like to highlight a few that seem particularly fun.

As usual, there are a lot of Porsches on auction, though truthfully there is less this year that really grabbed my attention than in years past. But there is always good stuff even if there are fewer of them. For instance, if you’re a very esoteric Porsche fan, Gooding & Company will be auctioning this 1 of 1 1966 Porsche 911 Spyder. This post will not be about that car, in part because I don’t even know where to begin with that car, and, in fact, this post will be slightly tangential to Porsche. We’re going to look at RUF because there are a few very cool RUFs being auctioned. These are the real deal; these aren’t conversions carried about by shops here in the US nor even are they conversions carried out in Pfaffenhausen at the RUF factory. All three of these have a RUF VIN. They are all insanely rare and like all RUFs insanely fast and focused.

We’ve seen a lot of RUF 911s come up for sale over the years, but the three we have here are some of the best examples available. They all come from the 911’s air-cooled days and are a mix of almost unknown and iconic. Let’s begin with the icon: a 1989 RUF CTR, the model famously tested as the ‘Yellowbird’ and which put the rest of the tuning world on notice:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 RUF CTR at RM Sotheby’s Monterey Auctions

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