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When I look back through all of the cars I’ve owned, one car stands out. My 1998 Mercedes-Benz C230. Offered for two model years in the US lineup, this was the entry level Mercedes of its time, powered by a naturally aspirated, 2.3 liter inline-4 producing 148 horsepower. Not an earth shattering figure, but this car wasn’t about horsepower. For me, it represented the last of the old guard for Mercedes, a time when engineering took precedence over budgets. I miss that car to this day, but on a recent trip to Lisbon, Portugal, it was comforting to see a bunch of these W202 C classes pressed into service as taxis. These are cars with staying power. Those in search for a good one should take a look at this 1998 C230 with under 50,000 miles on the clock.
The Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG carried on the tradition of jamming a big engine into a modest package to produce big time performance. The more I delve into AMG history, however, I am intrigued by the C43’s predecessor, the C36 AMG. This was AMG’s first in-house collaboration with Mercedes-Benz. While it may be down on horsepower, it’s a rarer find than the V8 variants that succeeded it. We featured a final year C36 AMG earlier this month, but here is a low mileage black example for sale in Wisconsin.
Whenever I spot a Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG with low miles, they inevitably get snapped up in short order. Just witness the one we featured last week if you need evidence. If you don’t need the power and persona of an AMG variety Benz, then a C280 like this one for sale in New York could be just the ticket. This car is barely broken in with just over 20,000 miles on the clock and represents the last year of the inline-6 in the W202.
Want to go fast but be stealth about it? Mercedes-Benz AMG models have always been a great way to have practicality mixed with insane amounts of power, but today’s models are a bit more telling on their outward appearance with regards to their mission. Their forebears were a bit more conservative, though. Witness this 1997 Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG for sale in Florida with less than 60k miles on the clock. This year was the rarest for what was the first AMG collaboration after the tuner was brought in-house by Mercedes, with only 236 units produced.
There’s always some debate when an E36 BMW M3 equipped with an automatic gearbox appears on GCFSB. Seems like an out of place option, but I’ve become more accepting of it as I age. A sign that I’m going soft? Perhaps. A bit further north of BMWs home turf, Mercedes-Benz was busy with AMG in the mid-1990s creating their first official in-house collaboration after the company absorbed the tuning firm a few years earlier. Available only with a 4-speed automatic gearbox, the C36 AMG was not what you would call a direct successor to the famous Cosworth tuned 190Es, but it took that prior concept in a more luxury oriented direction per the 500E/E500 formula. This C36 for sale in Arizona has a reasonable 77,000 miles on the clock and is a good way to enjoy your speed discreetly.