All Entries Tagged With: "EBAY"
Another Day In Diesel Paradise: 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300CD
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300CD
ANOTHER SoCal gem. Californians do love their 80s Teutons. There’s an implausible 68K miles on this C123 generation Benz 300CD Turbodiesel. To think: somewhere else in the world a hard scrabbled taxi driver is flogging his dusty 300D with 450,000 km past a military checkpoint; eight passengers playing phonebooth in the backseat and a trunk sagging full with God-knows-what. This princess, virtually still off the showroom floor a quarter century on, has been spared such an ignoble fate. That all C/W123 Benzes should age with as much grace and be treated with such dignity.
[eBay]
eBay Watch: 300CD Mercedes, Brilliantly Preserved
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300CD For Sale
IT goes almost without saying that examples of C123 generation 300CD Benz coupes of this aesthetic caliber do not exist on the eastern seaboard. On the right coast, we like to whip our diesel Benzes all the way to the junkyard where they are left to rust back into the Earth. Forgotten. Unloved. Here’s a brilliant exception from Cali.
eBay Watch! 1989 Mercedes-Benz 560SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1989 Mercedes 560SL For Sale
THE ULTIMATE boulevardier, the automotive experience doesn’t get much better than cruising, top-down, behind the helm of an R107 generation Benz. M.Y. 1989 being the last year for the 560SL and R107, you’d have the benefit of that generation SL’s most powerful V8 (though, sadly, not quite tuned to the same degree as the “identical” 5.6 liter in the 560SEL or 560SEC), driver’s side airbag, ABS, and the smaller variant of the regulation-third-brake lamp. That said, you will miss the 70s cat-eared headrests.
[eBay]
Post Christmas Glut: 2007 Ferrari F430 F1
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay Motors ::: 2007 Ferrari F430
TOO much of a good thing can be wonderful. And after all the holiday cheer, food, wine, and song, well, a guy’s got a blow off a little steam somehow… One way is provided for in this Rosso Corsa Ferrari F430 with F1 flappy paddle transmission. The sting of the original price is removed by buying previously enjoyed and take heart that the Ferrari’s been driven but a scant 4,000 miles in three years. Avanti!
[eBay]
eBay Watch! Toy for Christmas: BMW Z3 2.8
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay Motors ::: 2000 BMW Z3 2.8
KNOWING that more than a few of you likely won’t cotton to this day’s eBay pick, I list the 2000 BMW Z3 2.8 anyway, wary though I am of the probable scorn that awaits. Those who are unaware of the Z3 might ask why the tentative prose?
eBay Watch! 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL for sale
PERUSING eBay listings, you can always tell which cars come from California.
Californian cars listings are the ones where the posted pictures are taken with a quality camera, precisely framed, and shot on a location that provides a lovely, complimentary backdrop to the subject – in this instance a flawless, 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 “Pagoda” SL with just 44K on the odometer.
Achingly beautiful, this deep forest green over horse-saddle brown Benz represents the consummate Teutonic – or should we say Californian – boulevardier. Bid is up to $31K with one day to go.
[eBay]
eBay Watch! 2005 Porsche Carrera GT
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Naples Motorsports ::: 2005 Porsche Carrera GT
SWEET lord. Porsche’s former 605 hp V10 flagship – the Carrera GT – just radiates Teutonic cool -down to its high placed wood knobbed shifter. And: the Carrera GT is rare. Rarer still when finished in “Guards Red.” It’s like the white tiger. Or one of Malcolm Forbes’ Victor Vekselberg’s fabergé eggs.
Zuffenhausen produced 1,270 Carrera GTs between 2004 and 2006 and priced the mid-engined supercars at $448K each. Five years on, Carrera GT No. 689 with 4,254 miles, a Floridian resident, is for sale with a buy-it-now tag of $360K.
Perhaps deflation isn’t such a bad thing after all. [eBay]
eBay Watch: 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230SL
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via eBay ::: Mercedes-Benz 230SL
PARTIAL though I am to the R107 generation SL (1972-1989), there are plenty of Benz aficionados who favor the svelte simplicity of the earlier W113 “Pagoda” SL (1963-1971).
Truth is both generation Mercedes roadsters make for classic weekend tourers. Pagoda fans (the SL got its nickname from Paul Bracq’s slightly concave detachable hardtop) might wish to gaze on this seemingly perfect Californian 230SL with Euro headlamps.
Signal red over black MB-tex (vinyl) interior with black Pagoda roof, this 1967 230SL underwent a bumper-to-bumper restoration 800 miles ago. No word on how many miles the SL traveled beforehand.
Buy-it-now price is on the high side @ $38,900. But for a beautiful topless Teuton from the 60s, as classically beautiful as Anne Margaret, what price perfection? Caveat emptor!
[eBay Watch: Rolls-Royce Corniche
By Gunnar Heinrich :: IMG :: eBay Motors
STRAIGHTLINE motors is, I have it on good word, an exotic epicenter of Texan magnitude.
Based in greater Dallas, their inventory extends from Bentley and Rolls-Royce through to Mercedes-Benz and Porsche of all vintages. So, it’s not surprising that the auto group should include a mint 2001 Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible with a mere 18,000 miles on the pampered clock.
Fitted with chrome Bentley rims (original to the Continentals), this Roller is, like the drink, in black on tan. The last of the Crewe built Royce convertibles, at more than 6,000 pounds the Corniche is an exquisite barge and, by virtue of its graceful stature, a truly elegant car.
[Linked: eBay]
eBay Christmas Find: 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL
- 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL with 37K miles
- Black over grey + W126 gen = handsome saloon
- New York market car appears to be in great shape but buyer beware
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG eBay
NEW YORK is really hard on cars.
Generally, the city’s washboard street grid system acts as an automotive meat grinder; churning its way through rims, shocks, and tyres while the city’s fair tempered drivers bash their way through impossibly tight spaces in a constant furious flow; taking with them the purity of bumpers, fenders, mirrors, prides…
And those are mere flesh wounds.
Yet, down on the lower westside – a wayward hubcap’s travel from the Javitz (NYIAS’ home) sits a sterling 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL that’s survived the metro area for some 19 years.
That is appears on eBay in such showroom fresh shape, makes it one bid well worth considering. To date, the big Benz has 37K miles to its title. This is in large measure likely why its glorious three-box form appears in such fine fettle.
Black on grey being one of the best color combos for any W126 – those hues trump the once popular tan on beige any day – the S-Class appears to be in original form: the cryptic Becker radio and lack of adhoc aftermarket electronica circa 1999 is a real plus.
Interesting to note, it appears that the Benz is also fitted with the (rare) early version of ASR traction control, which was standard only on the R129 500SL in 1990.
But with such low mileage, we have to wonder how long the car was made to sit. Gaskets, hoses, and the melee of hydropneumatic devices (door locks, rear self-leveling suspension, etc.) all can bust if neglected in some garage – to say nothing of the odd water pump or a litany of sensors.
That the seller – Mercedes-Benz Manhattan, Inc. – hasn’t listed the 560SEL on its own site is suspect. Dealers tend to post risky vehicles online rather than include them as part of their own inventory.
So, caveat emptor.
That said, a cared for 560SEL remains one of the grandest cars on the road.
560SELs provide most everything a luxury car driver should care to own: superlative ride, surefooted handling, quiet interior, torque rich, big-bloc V8, superior engineering, safety and classically eye catching style.
To add that such quality is available at a bargain – $8,600 – and is popular (12 bids) proves all the more enticing.
Linked: eBay Motors 1990 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL from Mercedes-Benz Manhattan
