What Is Wrong – 1983 Mercedes 500 SEL

October 2, 2014

If you’re an old car nut who spends a significant amount of time scouring the various online listing sites for deals, interesting cars, and some combination of those, you probably think you have a good general grasp on the values of, say, an R107 Mercedes SL versus a Renault LeCar. But occasionally, a car pops up to shake your confidence – where apparent condition and price do not add up. Mostly this is on the high-price/poor-condition end of the scale, but in some cases the price is lower than the condition. One example of this is this 1983 Mercedes 500 SEL for sale for $1200 in San Francisco, CA.

1983 Mercedes 500 SEL left front

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Generic Car Name – 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster

October 1, 2014

As with most car manufacturers, Chevrolet brought back largely the same cars after World War 2, since little money had been spent on development of new models. And the American public was happily gobbling up everything they could produce, even paying huge mark-ups for the privilege of having a new set of wheels after 4 years’ production embargo. And while the wood-bodied Fleetmaster wagons are most popular, and the top Fleetline trim level being more luxurious, the mid-range Fleetmaster gets you most of the experience. And it’s not like you’re foregoing air conditioning and GPS, as you couldn’t get either back then. Check out this 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster for sale for $2995 in Happy Valley, OR.

1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster left front

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Different Strokes – 1972 Saab 96

September 30, 2014

Quick! How many cars can you think of that you could purchase with either a 2- or 4-stroke engine? Anybody? DKW had a 3=6, which became the Auto Union 1000, but that stuck with the two-stroke formula. Citroen’s 2CV looks like it should have a two-stroke, and various Soviet-bloc cars did have two-strokes. In the late 1980s, Trabant and Wartburg started installing VW 4-cylinder engines in their cars, but Saab pioneered the approach of putting a 4-stroke in the home of a 2-stroke in 1967, with candidates vying for a place behind the airplane badge including the Volvo B18 (sacrilege!), the Ford V4 (meh), Triumph 1300 (foreshadowing!), Lancia V4 (philosophically closest), Hillman/Climax, as well as engines from Volkswagen and Opel. The final winner was the Taunus V4 engine, so if you don’t mind an ordinary powerplant in an extraordinary car, try out this 1972 Saab 96, for sale for $3950 in Hobe Sound, FL.

1972 Saab 96 right front

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