'The car that invented the Mercedes-Benz hot rod’
One of the biggest hypes on the global collector car market in the last two years have been pre-merger AMG cars in mint condition. The reason for their success is simple: Nothing says 80s extravaganza like a black, wide-bodied, shoulder-padded Mercedes coupe with a massive 6-litre engine under the hood. And not many have survived until this day. Luckily, some of these artefacts have been kept away from the red light district streets where most cars ended up during the 1990s. And this low-mileage 1986 Mercedes AMG 560 SEC 6.0 ticks all boxes. With only 26,978 original miles and preserved by its original owner, it might be exactly the car you have been looking for. ‘This is more than just a Mercedes-Benz hot rod’, says John Temerian, Jr. of Curated in Miami. ‘It is the car that invented the Mercedes-Benz hot rod.’ We have nothing to add.
Gordon-Keeble Hero Turtle
You just need to love the British: While other automotive brands chose prancing horses and raging bulls to symbolize the power of the vital forces of their sports cars, John Gordon and Jim Keeble put a tortoise on the badge of their grand tourer. But don’t let the irony fool you: Designed by Giorgetto Giuriaro for Bertone, featuring a sleek and lightweight fiberglas body with aggressive slanted headlights, and powered by a Chevy V8, the Gordon-Keeble GT was a take on the Lagonda Rapide and the Lancia Flaminia. Only 100 cars were produced between 1964 and 1967. This well-kept example has spent most of its life in Scotland and is now for sale with Graeme Hunt in London.
Mon dieu, those yellow headlights!
Our house photographer and friend Mathieu Bonnevie has just listed his beautiful BMW 323i E30 for sale on Classic Driver. Here’s what Mathieu has to say about the car: „It’s a 1st series coupé equipped with the mythical M20 straight-six, here with the 2.3L 150 hp version. It was born with a Cosmosblau Metallic paint, blue interior, manual gearbox and sold new in November 1984 in Gap, South of France. It‘s unique owner was the father of a childhood friend, he kept and preserved it until 2019. The car is in a very good preservation condition, drives as on the first day and shows 99 300 km on the clock today.“ If you want to have the pleasure of making that a round 100k, Mathieu would be pleased to show you the car in Reims, Champagne, France.
L'evoluzione dell'eleganza
We have a feeling that since we covered Maserati Fuoriserie’s plans to build the ultimate 1990s Maserati restomod, search request for the trident cars that inspired Project Rekall have spiked in the Classic Driver Market. And it was the Maserati Shamal, Ghibli and BiTurbi that might best represent the zeitgeist of pre-millennium car culture, we think it is the sleek, Marcello Gandini-designed Quattroporte IV that has aged most favourable. This anglophile ‘Verde Brooklands’ over beige leather 1999 Maserati Quattroporte is one of only 340 Evoluzione V8 models built towards the end of production – and one of the most elegant contemporary four-door sportscars on the market.
That Roma State of Mind
“I'm young enough to know the right car to buy, yet grown enough not to put rims on it”, a rather precocious Jay Z rapped in 2006 in his coming-of-age song “30 Something”. And most of the time, we would agree – there’s really nothing wrong with a set of original wheels. But this time is different: The new Ferrari Roma is so popular that clients would camp in front of their local Ferrari dealership just to secure an early delivery, accepting any colour configuration just to get the keys. So putting a Novitec suspension and black wheels on your early-delivery car seems like a pretty bold move that even Mister Sean Carter, now rather 50 something, would approve.
