Mercedes Benz has never made a poor looking coupe. Choose a year – any year, you won’t find a poorly styled, nor poorly designed, coupe. 1953 – 300S coupe – beautiful. 1962 220 SEB – stunning – 2003 CL 500 – masterful.
Consider the renewed 2007 CL550 Coupe. Absolute artwork. There is no post = as with all Mercedes coupes – between the A and C pillar. No B pillar is the key.
Our example has travelled only 27,000 miles. She is silver with a black interior – and being a CL 550 – the top of the line coupe, is FULLY loaded. Here is a sampling of the amenities;
Massaging seats, heated and cooled
Night time driving assist
Rear camera
self leveling and dynamic (moving) lights - they lead you around a corner
Self leveling suspension
Sirius Radio
Rear back glass shade
and, of course, massive style, plus…
Dynamic seats – they hug and love you
The silver color has a tinge of blue in it and looks far better in person than in pictures. Initially, I was inclined to object - recalling that I had previously owned a higher mileage CL 550 in black with a tan interior. So I was biased. Until she arrived, gleaming in the morning sun – I was smitten.
She is as new- with the low mileage previously mentioned. Everything works – perfectly.
We added new tires to the front – which were probably rotated from the rear. They are top of the line Michelins and cost $360 EACH. Ouch. But – no further additions were required.
It’s still hard for me to believe that a car of this caliber (clearly a six figure car today) can be acquired for only $45,000. That’s the cost of a new Mustang for crying out loud. Which would you rather drive?
There was a day, not long ago, when being seen in a station wagon was, well – uncool, odd – even queer. Which isn’t to say – gay, just “not cool”. However, so few of us have a memory that ISNT full of rides in the back of the family “wagon”. Many of us recall, oddly but fondly, facing oncoming traffic in the “way back” seat – waving blissfully at the motorists – and feeling relatively safe doing so. Never mind that a rear end collision would have catapulted us into oncoming traffic lick a human cannonball. Our parents didn’t seem to mind either – our grandparents were ever so happy to not have us squirming next to them, and we – well – we fought for the privilege of being in the “death seat”.
I’m reminded of those good ole days – now, with our recent purchase of a beautiful 1959 Nash Rambler Greenbriar Super Wagon. An economy wagon in the truest sense, it has no third seat and, in fact, no carpet in the “cargo” area at all. None the less, there I was bouncing around this claustrophobic metal coffin hitting the roof with every pothole, manhole cover or railroad track. And while driving, my father, seems to enjoy finding all of these road impediments. Imagine watching your child, in mid air, from your rear view mirror – bouncing down the diver laden road. Now you get the sense of why these wagons were so popular to our parents.
I couldn’t resist adding her to our collection. Her colors, light and dark green, remind us of how colorful and bold the late 50′s cars were. I normally would not take a liking to a green car but looking at the pictures, you might agree, she is very attractive.
The Nash Rambler design has roots by Pinin Farina – and is very art deco. Of course, at first glance, you ask yourself - how did you change a tire when flat? We still are not sure – having no need to do so yet. But no matter, she is sexy in a Kirstie Alley sort of way. Plump but sexy – from certain angles and elegant in an evening dress – of light and dark green.
OK, it’s not just like the island – but I now have your attention.
Our avid readers will remember that, a week ago, we hosted a Porsche Club meet here at The Burt Collection. It turned out to be a great event with many cars in attendance. While there one of the members asked if we could sell his beautiful 2009 Porsche Cayman. He ordered the car new – drove her only 10,300 miles and truly coveted her. She repeatedly won first place honors at all of the Porsche events she participated in. More interestingly he ordered her with the, new for 2009, PDK transmission. Having never driven a Porsche with the PDK (remember – I’m old school) – I was amazed at how smoothly and quickly this new transmission shifter.
Our new friend was also a fireman – now retired. Naturally the car is red – red – red. A very complimentary tan leather interior sets this little hot rod off nicely. And is she clean – my lord, I’ve not seen new cars this clean. Truly – she is detailed to a level that new vehicles don’t enjoy. Perfection really.
She has NAV, PDK, floor mats, and other desirable options. In 2009 she was a nearly $60,000 car. Yikes.
She drives perfectly, of course. WIth only 10,300 miles on the odometer, you would expect that. The paint is perfect – the interior, you guessed it – perfect.
We are selling the car for him and are accepting offers north of $40,000. She will undoubtedly sell quickly. So please call Peter or myself and schedule a test drive.
After these many years and myriad cars – a transport issue was bound to surface. A no minor issues this.
It all started at Manheim in Baltimore, Maryland.. A few weeks ago we bought a 1980 Corvette. Most of our blog followers now know that I love these anemic pseudo sportscars. It’s the shape that draws me in every time. The integrated front and rear spoilers changed the already pleasing shape (1978 and 1979) to a point where I had to – one day, acquire one. Now we have 7 or 8. Ok, Ok – I’ve gone overboard. But this lonely Corvette sitting amongst the nearly new Hondas, Chevys and Pickups at Manheim begged me to rescue her. And I did. And for not much money – all told.
So we sent transport company there to pick up our new, but very old, Corvette – and off she went, heading for Lake Forest, Illinois. But she never made it.
The driver fell asleep somewhere on route 80 in Ohio and flipped the car hauler. Of course, all of the eight cars on board had fuel in the tank. One of them burt into flames – and poof – no more 1980 Corvette. She lay there at 5:45 am smoldering and melting on Route 80 – sadly. Another one bites the dust.
I thought our readers would like to see the video of the accident shot by a casual passerby on a cell phone. Here it is -
Today was a good day, no – strike that, Sunday the 23rd of October was a great day. The sun was out – the breezes were present and a gaggle of great looking Porsches found their way to The Burt Collection.
It was all for a good cause. As is in Porsche Club fashion, an event that attracts a wide variety of Porsche’s best is usually there to support a worthy charity. Today was no different. John Affourtit was on hand to honor his deceased wife through the Christine Neuman-Affourtit Foundation. Christine died of cancer in March of 2009 and John has been a tiresless promoter of cancer awareness through her charity. We were only too happy to support this great cause by opening our doors to the Porsche Club.
Although we have a number of Porsches in the collection, the interest from the members seemed to be mostly every other make. Which proves that, despite their love of Porsche – car guys (and gals) don’t discriminate!
But the focus is on Porsches today. I took the liberty of photographing a number of the attendee’s cars and share them with you below.
Perfect weather for a Cabriolet
A “Viper Green” 2001 RUF Boxster 3400 – now that’s rare
A “Pre A” Coupe – Stunning
A very tidy Cabriolet basking in the sun
Ruf brakes prominently displayed
The windy city prevails – and it was a warm October breeze
The front of that lovely Pre A – wonderfully preserved
How about a “paint to sample” Carrera 4 – love that color!
