This past Saturday a customer, and long time Mercedes Benz Club member, came in to Sears Imports and traded in these two cars on a Mercedes-Benz S class. These are two of the more rare modern Mercedes-Benz models and both are in excellent condition. I looked them over closely and drove both cars today. They both run and drive very well, I took a bunch of photos of each car in preparation for eBay auctions later in the week. These two cars need to be presented to a national audience. I took the photos here as these cars were traded in. They have not been cleaned, washed, nothing, just parked behind the dealership after being traded in on Saturday afternoon.
Let’s look at each car individually…
1987 Mercedes Benz 190E 2.3-16
This is a very rare car, originally built to compete directly with the first BMW M3s of the 1980s. The 2.3 liter, 16 valve engine (2.3-16) was developed by Cosworth engineering for Mercedes-Benz. These cars were only offered in two different colors, Pearl Black and Smoke Silver, this car is the Pearl Black color. It is fitted with the original Recaro Sport seats. The car does appear to have been repainted in its original color at one point after my close inspection. It currently shows 187,064 miles.
This car has clearly been well cared for, but also driven. The suspension has been lowered making it an extremely good handling car. It drives straight and true, it accelerates and stops easily. The 5 speed manual transmission has the race layout you see in some high performance cars… 1st gear is down and to the left, leaving a simple “H” pattern for the other 4 gears. Call me for more info, or if you’d like to set up an appointment to come and see it.
1993 Mercedes Benz 500 E
Only 1,596 500 E models were built in 1993, they boasted 322 Horsepower and a top speed of 161 mph. This was the ultimate ‘Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing’ according to the motoring press of the period. The 500 E was created in close cooperation with Porsche. Each 500 E was hand built by Porsche, being transported back and forth between the Mercedes plant and Porsche’s Rossle-Bau plant in Zuffenhausen, Germany during assembly. Each example of the 500 E took a full 18 days to complete.
This particular example is silver with a black interior, both of which are in original and very clean condition. This car runs and drives perfectly, the transmission shifts smoothly, no clunking of any kind. The suspension is tight yet comfortable. Acceleration is brisk. It’s a great driving car, as nice today, with 118,169 original miles as it was when new. Huge fender flares all the way around, AMG wheels and a Lorinser spoiler, anyone in the know will understand what you’ve got when you pull up in this ‘Young Classic’ Mercedes Benz muscle car.