Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Prior to the R107 generation Mercedes-Benz SL-Class, your thirst for a V8 couldn’t be quenched. Your only options in prior generations 300SL and W113 Pagoda were inline-six powerplants in various guise. Don’t get me wrong, they were very sweet engines, especially that in the Gullwing, but V8s they were not. However, it looks like there was someone who wasn’t going to accept that. Leave it to the sneaky Germans to pull this one off.
I can walk down to any dealership just like anyone else, and provided I have a pulse, probably walk out with financing for most mid-range cars regardless of whether or not I could actually afford them. Indeed, easy credit has led to the proliferation of many of our favorite brands and cars to the point where most don’t feel all that special anymore. A $2,500 1990 Jetta, for example, is much more rare to see today in that condition – or, at all, truthfully – compared to a new M car.
So all modern cars aren’t really all that exciting? That’s far from the truth, too, as there are many special examples that float by our feed. So while the F10 M5 isn’t a model often featured, it’s probably our loss for not doing so. It’s also easy to forget that even though it feels pretty new, the F10 has been out of production for almost 4 years and the earliest examples are now nearly 12 years old. Plus, as most M5s do, the entry price point on the antiquated models has dropped considerably compared to their original MSRP, while their performance is still contemporaneous to today’s cars.
The S63B44T0 found under the hood of this particular example was good for 550 plus horsepower; not much more than the model it replaced with that wicked V10. But torque? That’s another matter. While the S85 cranked out an impressive 380 lb.ft at 6,100 rpms, the two turbos tacked onto the S63 V8 produced 500 lb.ft of torque with a curve as flat as the Salt Lake from 1,500 rpms through over 5,000. That massive power could be channeled through a manual gearbox, to boot!
But it’s really the color combination of Amazonitsilber Metallic (X07) from BMW Individual that has us looking at today’s example:
Last week I took at a look at a Mercedes-Benz E350 in a very interesting color that drew an above average reaction in the comment section. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the shade, but some enjoyed it and at the end of the day, I’m just glad they still offer some crazy colors. Today, I wanted to take a look at another Mercedes-Benz in a maybe not so popular color, but a lot easier to sallow.
This 1987 560SL is finished in Ivory, and that name pretty much nails it. It is an off-white, eggshell, beige, kind of color. Exciting? No. Understandable on a luxury convertible in 1987? Very much so.
I did not expect to see this. In a world where all the 1990s Mercedes-Benz AMG cars were painted in some sort of black/white/silver/grey, seeing the rare one in red was a treat. However, I was not expecting a bright blue.
This is a 1999 Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG is Lapis Blue. Looking at the build sheet, this one was a Mercedes version of “paint to sample” judging by the ‘Z98 Painting outside the sample card’ entry on the decoder. This color is not to be confused with Porsche’s Lapis Blue which is clearly a much darker blue. Needless to say, a rare example. You know what that means.
I think the days of V8s in mid-size sedans are numbered. With emissions regulations and fuel economy standards becoming more stringent as the years go on, you’ll be seeing smaller and smaller displacement engines along with hybrid systems becoming the norm in almost every car except the ultra-high performance models. Look right now, the current Mercedes-Benz E-Class lineup lacks a V8 until you get to the top of the range E63 AMG, which starts at $110,000. Even ten years ago, you could get your E500 with a 5.0 V8 and call it a day. Not anymore, two 2.0L inline-fours and an 3.0L inline-six are what awaits your down payment. Buyers don’t really care, as long as the car looks good and the lease numbers and performance are good, sign ’em up.
So rewind 20 years and head back to the new Millennium where the E-Class lineup was simple. There was the 3.2L V6 E320, 4.3L V8 E430, and 5.4L V8 E55 AMG. Done. The buyers for E320s and E55s were very different people, as the E320 was $47,000, while the E55 was a significant amount more at $72,000. Turns out its not cheap to pay a bunch of Germans in a small town to hand-assemble a car. So what about the E430? $53,000. Suddenly that extra six grand seems like a worthwhile upgrade over the E320. You had more than respectable numbers at the time with 275 horsepower and 295 lb.-ft of torque. Still, every time you saw an E55, which lets be honest probably never because of the extremely low production numbers, you wanted those 18″ Monoblocks and special body kit. Now that is 20 years later, does it still make sense to buy an E430? I think so, especially this one.
