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In terms of performance, the heavy 600 was no slouch, it reached a maximum speed of around 205 kph, and did the 0-100 kph sprint in less than 10 seconds (for comparison: the 1964 model Porsche 911 did it in 8 seconds…). The first Pullman I ever drove, however, was much slower than that. It happened on a gloomy day in Germany. I came to Fellbach by taxicab to pick up my ride. When I walked in I was shown a stripped out W100, ready for restoration work, and a refurbished M100 engine, so I could understand better what I was dealing with. Then I was handed a key. A single, well-worn and battered key with a piece of cardboard attached to it with a piece of string. On the cardboard I found a note: “Mr. Frankowski, the air suspension on the car is broken, please don’t drive it sideways.”

Indeed the air suspension was not functional (normally it provided three positions, low, high and lock for changing a wheel or for transport), and I was lucky they had let me have the car at all. It was THE single W100 Sonderschutz prototype from 1965, aka The Werkspanzer, which had been leased to the West German government for several decades but remained in Mercedes-Benz ownership throughout. During its 30 years of service, it had covered around 50,000 km, carrying such Chancellors as Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, and reputedly also such visiting dignitaries as the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev. The car, which weighed in at 5.5 tons empty, had additional torsion bars fitted in the suspension to carry the armored body with its full B7-grade protection. Its specially designed Fulda tires (their size for nerds: 9.00 H 15 8/10 PR) could not handle speeds higher than around 100 kph, but it had spent most of its life between Bonn, the then capital of West Germany, and the government residence in Petersberg, close to Bonn, where foreign dignitaries stayed overnight, including Brezhnev, who crashed the SL Mercedes given to him as a present on the access road, while completely drunk, against a tree.

I touched the gloss black body with reverence. It wore its scars of service with pride. The multilayer bulletproof windows were splitting at the edges, but luckily I was not going to be shot at, or so I hoped. I had a rendez-vous with Dieter, the intrepid photographer, at Solitude Castle, and was going to drive myself there in the “Factory Tank”, which is a good linguistic approximation of the meaning of “Werkspanzer”. Holding tight onto a paper map, I squeezed myself into the front compartment. Since the bulletproof partition prevents the driver’s seat from sliding back, it is obvious that German chancellors must have been driven by overgrown midgets with huge torsos and very short legs. No matter. Feeling exactly the same as I had felt on my many trips to Asia in Economy Class, I started the engine and drove off. The steering, normally quite light in a Pullman, was heavy, due to the extra mass pushing down on the front wheels.

The ride comfort, however, was incredible, even without the air suspension fully functional. But the best effect of all was the one the massive black car had on other drivers in their small cars in all the villages I had to pass on my way out of Stuttgart: some of them instinctively stopped, even though the light for them was a solid green. It was stunning, I had never before felt so much like an impostor. Not knowing the correct route, I meandered through some wrong turns (the turning circle is huge), until I found the series of tight corners leading uphill to Schloss Solitude, actually a part of the old Solitude Rennen temporary racetrack. The big Merc went around the hairpin with fantastic precision, albeit this was the most intimidating part of my drive. It felt good, however, to push 5.5 tons of German metal up that hill at a brisk pace.

Having arrived and letting Dieter do his magic I had more time to look over the car carefully. The driver had absolutely no comfort to speak of, and he could talk to his passengers via a special interphone. There was also a PA system necessary to talk to people outside the car (lowering windows in an armored car to talk to strangers is really stupid…), with loudspeakers concealed in the engine compartment and microphones in the outside rearview mirrors. Another very neat touch are the twin orange-colored lamps in the back. They were switched on to improve the looks of politicians whose pictures the paparazzi took through the green-tinted bulletproof glass: otherwise they would all look deathly pale. There is, of course, no navigation system. The German government simply employed intelligent people who knew where they were going.

Pity the car couldn’t talk, I am sure it had heard and seen a lot of political maneuvering over its three decades of faithful government service. Or perhaps it would not talk anyway, being a good honest German. The sense of history was pervasive. Sitting in the back I tried to imagine how a German leader, forced to live with the idea of a divided Germany, spied on by Markus Wolf’s Stasi, could feel while being driven to meet his Soviet Bloc counterparts. It must have been unimaginably hard. Driving back into Stuttgart I was in a somber mood. History produced this magnificent automobile, perhaps the best car in the world at the time, but it also produced pain and suffering. The sole Werkspanzer was a witness to much of it. And no, I did not try to drift it. I had too much respect for this amazing piece of history.

At the beginning of the 1950’s a “Big Mercedes” could not mean only a huge body and stellar performance, society expected more of the Mercedes brand. The engineering teams at Untertürkheim and Sindelfingen wanted to build a car able to do all that other cars could do, but much better, and also able to do things no other car could dream of. The wanted to build a luxury automobile able to pamper the passengers and simultaneously able to perform like a sports car when the need arose. They wanted to build a car that was easy to drive, and extremely safe as well as reliable (crash testing was performed at an old USAF airfield). They also wanted a never before attained level of operating comfort, but this proved to be a daunting task.

The electric motors available at the time to assist the occupants in, for instance, raising or lowering windows, were deemed completely unsuitable by Uhlenhaut’s wizards. What the pedantic Rudolf did was that he ordered his people to run a competition. Werner Breitschwerdt designed a complete electric assistance system, and Ernst Fiala a hydraulic one. Finally, the latter won, and here’s how Breitschwerdt explained why this was the case: “Numerous functions which we wanted to have on the car could not be done at the time with electrics. It was a problem of space and weight, as among other things we would need to have a second battery in the car. The high-pressure hydraulic system we developed had the advantage of having small parts that were sufficient for operation with its high pressure. The hydraulics were simply smaller, quieter and lighter than the electric systems available at the time.” Some parts were developed at Sindelfingen, as aviation components used originally were too heavy. What the “Komforthydraulik” system did or helped with makes very impressive reading: it could close doors (door closing aid like on modern Mercedes cars), operate the sunroof, operate windows and the partition on so equipped cars, it could operate the trunk lid, open and close the 20 flap valves inside the heating and ventilation system, adjust front and rear seats, adjust the damper settings and unlock the parking brake.

Uhlenhaut paid special attention to the unity of two opposites: ride comfort and sporty handling. Air suspension, combined with the front parallel wishbones and the rear swing axle with brake dive compensation (a mechanical device, so-called “Koppelachse”, also used on the W126), gave the car the handling prowess so enthusiastically described by the first journalists who drove it. Reinhard Seiffert described in 1965 in the „Motor Revue“ magazine his feelings about the ride comfort of the Big Mercedes: “The abused cliche of sticking to the road like glue is wholly appropriate here, as the behavior is fully neutral and stays so also while driving in corners at high speed up until the stage when the lateral adhesion in the rear is a bit less than in the front, but all that is needed to retain control of the car is to unwind the wonderfully light and sensitive steering a bit. That is well outside the norm for production cars. One can drive the 600 over mountain passes as if it were a sports car, and a well-driven sports car will find it difficult to follow.”

The braking system was also the focus of much attention from the engineers. The Big Merc had a dual circuit braking system with disc brakes front and rear, the front ones measuring 291 mm in diameter and gripped by twin calipers per wheel. The braking system was supposed to be really low-effort for the driver, and thus the air from the air suspension compressor (10 bar pressure) was used for brake assistance. A conventional vacuum booster would be too bulky, and it would only boost by a factor of 4, whilst the air booster gave a boost factor of 17. Special cross-ply 9.00 x 15 tires were developed for the Mercedes 600 by Fulda and Continental to match the suspension setup perfectly. Think the Pullman was an aerodynamic nightmare with the Cd of a barn door? Wrong. The angular 600 has a drag coefficient of only 0.458. In comparison, the 230 SL of the same era (with hardtop) comes in at 0.515, and the seemingly sleek 190 SL at 0.461. Surprised? The famous M100 engine was also installed in the contemporary S-Class, at first in the Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 (W 108), with unaltered power output. In 1975 the 450 SEL 6.9 (W 116) was launched with an engine enlarged to 6.9 liters and equipped with dry-sump lubrication, developing 286 horsepower. This engine evolution was also tested in the Mercedes 600, a test vehicle is known to have existed, but it was decided to continue with the 6.3 liter unit until the end of production.

Two wheelbases were used throughout the production run, 3200 mm (Normal) and 3900 mm (Pullman), both cars featuring four doors. Later came the Landaulet and the 6-door Pullman. Two very special order Landaulets were built, one, already mentioned above, for Graf Berckheim, in SWB form, and for the Pope, full of special features, on the longer wheelbase. Two stunning coupes were also built and are now in private hands. 2,677 examples of all types of the Mercedes 600 were officially made, of which 2,190 were four-door saloons, 428 were Pullman limousines and 59 were landaulets. 44 armored units were made and one very special prototype “Pullman Werskpanzer” (or “W100 Sonderschutz Prototyp”), of which later.

Celebrity owners of the Big Benz include Elvis Presley, John Lennon, George Harrison, Jack Nicholson, Coco Chanel, Hugh Hefner, Ronnie Wood, Aristotle Onassis and Rowan Atkinson (Nicholson also famously drove a 600 in the amusing movie “The Witches of Eastwick”. The list of dictator owners is also impressive and includes Nicolae Ceauşescu of Romania, Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia, Fidel Castro, Pol Pot, Enver Hoxha, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The Shah of Iran owned several and leaders of many democratic countries also ordered 600’s as their conveyances of choice.

Peter Schellhammer, who I had the pleasure of meeting a decade ago in Germany, was one of the 4 “Flying Doctors”, employed to keep Mercedes 600’s running around the world, including the Shah’s. He showed up at our meeting with his private handwritten notes from his time helping with 600 engineering, and then solving problems in different countries. Peter, whose English was careful and unaccented, was responsible for English-speaking customers, the other “Doctors” divided their responsibility according to the languages they spoke. Schellhammer and his colleagues taught service personnel in various countries when the first car was delivered, and customers were happy that this happened at the same time as the delivery. He remembers the hydraulic comfort system very fondly. The high-pressure system, running at 180 bar, used small valves and connectors. Bosch made the hydraulic precision switches. Screw-on connections were employed for the main hydraulic lines and plug-in connections for small volume lines. A drawback was the fact that when the hydraulics failed, they failed completely, therefore the “Flying Doctor” service was often needed at short notice. Peter told me that at the beginning the system used the Castrol Aero Hydraulic Oil, and if he arrived at some remote location he immediately would look for an aerodrome where he could source some hydraulic fluid to replace whatever had leaked out (the system capacity was around 2 liters only). The aviation fluid was safe to use, as its viscosity remained constant or nearly so in all temperatures.

Peter Schellhammer not only fixed cars, but he also demonstrated them to potential customers around the globe. Typically one would drive the customer over a bumpy railroad crossing at high speed to demonstrate the air suspension (chosen over hydropneumatic mostly for its low-speed ride comfort). The Shah of Iran was impressed, but he still told Peter: “The Rolls-Royce is the car for kings”. And Schellhammer, laughingly, commented, „You can’t argue with that”. Still, the Shah owned cars built by both brands. Safe is better than sorry.

The final word on how good these cars were in period should come from a very special luxury car test, run by the American magazine “Car and Driver” in 1965: “The Mercedes-Benz 600 proved to our complete satisfaction, that it is the best car in the world. A top executive at Cadillac paid it a light-hearted compliment when he said, “It’s probably the ultimate Cadillac,” and in many ways, he was dead right. The Mercedes is a complete luxury car, and it is far more American in concept than any previous European effort in this field. It has and will do, virtually everything one could ask of it. Its performance is superior to any other car in its class. Only the Cadillac can out-accelerate it. Only the Jaguar can go around a corner with it. Only the Rolls was able to approach its enormous stopping power. The Mercedes would probably have been able to win our six-way competition on the strength of its luxury alone, but it has married that luxury to a mechanical package of tremendous sophistication in the grand Mercedes tradition. Imagine if you can, a car with every luxury appointment known, a car that Stirling Moss can load with six full-grown adults and hurl around Brands Hatch within five seconds of the lap record for sedans, and you’ll be getting an idea of what we mean.” The comparison featured a 600 Mercedes, a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, a Lincoln Continental, a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, a Chrysler Imperial Le Baron and a Jaguar Mark X.

The story of the long black Mercedes which served dictators, tyrants, presidents and celebrities with equal efficiency for many decades started in 1955 when the design and engineering work began. The Sindelfingen team were told to do their best, cost no object, and to produce an automobile of unparalleled quality.

„Der Große Mercedes“ was the title of the sales catalog published at the launch of the car, and despite what some uneducated Internet savants might tell you, it simply means “The Big Mercedes”. The car was supposed to continue the prewar tradition of majestic state limousines. Short-term profit was not the objective, but rather the association of the Mercedes brand with heads of state and top-level politics. The W100, as it came to be called internally, did not replace any existing model, nor was it directly replaced when its production ceased in 1981. IT not only commanded respect from the common man, but it also facilitated East-West detente and helped people like Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, to establish a cohesive coexistence policy with the Soviet Bloc.

Heinz-Ulrich Wieselmann, the editor-in-chief of the German “Auto Motor und Sport” magazine, a born Berliner known for his critical eye and his acerbic wit, chose to describe the car using the following words, “One approaches the big black automobile with apprehension. No question, a Mercedes-Benz commands respect. Well-fed, heavy and perfect in every detail it stands on its huge 9.00 x 15 tires. Its elegance forces one to pull one’s hands out of one’s pockets when it arrives. Quite simply, it is the most interesting, the most advanced and the best car ever produced.” Such expressions of euphoria were not often seen in Wieselmann’s writing, but the experienced high-speed driver did not stop there, “Talking about the driving behavior of the big Mercedes, with a decidedly sporting driving style applied to it, we can only describe it, emphatically, as excellent. Most sports car manufacturers would like their little squirts to handle curves so fast, with such safety and composure as this three-ton vehicle. The driving comfort is unparalleled.” Strong words from a man not given to undue praise.

The passenger car development department at Daimler was run at that time by none other but Rudolf Uhlenhaut. He set three targets for his team while working on the new top-class vehicle: the highest possible ride comfort for passengers, the highest possible safety and excellent performance. They were the same premises on which its prewar predecessors were built; due to who rode in them prior to WWII and later until 1945, those premises had been, well, conveniently forgotten. Uhlenhaut, however, remembered them well. Times had changed. Before the war, such vehicles were predominantly ordered by individuals who wanted themselves to be seen in public, hence open-top versions constituted 67% of all production. After the war, dictators started to value their personal safety more, and leaders of democratic countries had no desire to be seen as power-hungry, therefore the Landaulet body with its open rear, perfect for parades, was only ordered by 22% of all clients. Landaulets were built on the LWB chassis with the notable exception of one SWB example, built at the request of Graf Berckheim, and full convertibles were never built at all. In general, the SWB cars were to be self-driven, and the LWB ones driven by chauffeurs. The longer chassis was available with four or six doors, and the frame for all variants was so designed that without alterations it had the stiffness sufficient for all types of bodies.

On the 28th of August, ten prominent European car journalists met in Val de Poix in Belgium, invited by Arthur Keser, the head of the Mercedes press department. These were: Robert Braunschweig, Bernard Cahier, Piero Casucci, Paul Frère, Hermann Harster, Jacky Ickx, Harry Mundy, Hans Patleich, Heinz-Ulrich Wieselmann and Gordon Wilkins. Don’t be surprised if you recognize some names… The welcome committee from Daimler consisted of Fritz Nallinger (development boss; the same guy who thought up a Mercedes bomber plane during the war), Rudolf Uhlenhaut, Josef Müller, Karl Wilfert and the aforementioned Arthur Keser. Uhlenhaut, in his perfect British English, told the guests about the main tenets of the new vehicle concept and about its development which had lasted 8 years. The reaction of the small, select group of journalists, some of whom were fantastically talented racing drivers, was overwhelmingly positive. The Swiss Robert Braunschweig commented that he had never expected Mercedes-Benz to come up with just such a vehicle. And Harry Mundy, the Brit, reported that he had nagged at Rolls-Royce for years, begging them to modernize their cars. His warnings had been ignored and now Rolls-Royce was forced to realize that Mercedes had come up with a car that was far above the standard that Rollses represented at the time.

Halfway through 1955 Nallinger wrote a brief containing the parameters for a car based on the “C-type” chassis, thus explaining his ideas: “This platform will serve the future long-distance touring car and state limousine. It has a standard automatic gearbox, power-assisted steering, and power-assisted brakes. Normally it is a 6-seater. The design of the body frame is such that it can be lengthened to produce a vehicle with 3 rows of seats.” In February 1956 Nallinger voiced his visionary idea of an aluminum V8 engine with a capacity of 6 liters, but at the beginning of the R&D work on the new M100 engine, the capacity was actually 5 liters. The first fully functioning prototype of the new V8 motor ran on a dyno at the close of 1959. During the course of testing the capacity was enlarged in two stages, first to 5.8 and later to 6 liters, to be finally established at 6.33 liters and a power output of a relatively modest 250 horsepower. The increases in capacity and power output were necessitated by the parallel development of the frame and bodywork, where a constantly growing level of equipment meant more weight and the need for more thrust. The first three-engine prototype generations were made of aluminum with cast iron cylinder liners, but the block had to be made in cast iron too for the final iterations, as bore could not be increased in aluminum without sacrificing reliability. The planetary gear set of the 4-speed automatic transmission grew from 3 to 6 planetary gears due to the massive increase in torque. Interestingly, Nallinger was looking at another engine option back in 1956, namely a 7.5-liter V12. Technical drawings by Adolf Wente from 1957 prove that this was not just a pipe dream, but a sound concept which was being assessed. Nallinger used the 6.4 and 6.7 Cadillac and Chrysler engines as benchmarks.

The standard engine was incredibly smooth and powerful, at 100 kph (62 mph) it was turning over at 2400 rpm, and its rev limit was 4800 rpm. It drove the rear wheels via a newly developed 4-speed automatic, with a hydraulic fluid coupling instead of the expected torque converter (it was later also used on smaller cars). A fluid coupling offered no torque multiplication but with this engine this was not necessary, given over 500 Nm of torque available. The driveline efficiency was better with no-slip (98%) than with a converter. The engine had some unusual devices fitted to it which facilitated using the car in the circumstances for which it had been created. One was the hot starting aid, necessary as principals do not like to wait embarrassing minutes while their car refuses to start. Another was the high-speed idle switch (increasing it to 1200 rpm) for increased aircon efficiency when stationary; at normal idle, there was not enough coolant pressure at low rpm to operate the air conditioning unit at peak efficiency, and there were additional electric blowers on the condenser as well (the aircon unit was so good that the one in the Maybach 62 was benchmarked against it several decades later). The high speed idle would activate only with the gear selector lever in the P position, and the gearshift remained locked when the high-speed idle function was engaged. Even with the car at a standstill, the engine had to cope with a heavy load: it drove 7 auxiliaries via 7 belts. It took a whole day to replace all the belts.

Overview

This must be the least loved of all 911 generations: purists (who rarely buy cars, but prefer to vent their anger publicly) hated its liquid-cooled engine, its modern pedal layout and the look of its headlights shared with the 986 Boxster. We can now say that they were all wrong. The 996, launched in 1997, was 80 kg lighter than the preceding 993, had a 50% stiffer body and was very successful, selling 175,000 units over ten years. Numerous changes to the driving experience made the car’s performance more accessible to new customers, and sharing the front part of the body structure (forward of the A-pillar) with the 986 Boxster saved the Porsche company from extinction: a great feat by Wendelin Wiedeking. 38% of parts were shared with the Boxster, no mean feat of engineering.

The underrated car is the cheapest way of getting into 911 ownership and is much better than the numerous internet “opinions” suggests. In recognition of that, the values of the facelifted version (2001) have already started to rise. The Turbo and the GT3 are real gems, especially the latter, as it is light and has an uncanny balance. The 996 is more suitable for novice supercar drivers than any of its predecessors due to its longer wheelbase (better high-speed stability) and the inclusion of electronic stability control.

Yes, it does not display the rawness and the scary ferocity of earlier air-cooled 911s, but for many, that is a good thing. There is a lot of negative publicity surrounding the engine’s IMS bearing (intermediate shaft) and a propensity for cracked heads, but the phenomena are not nearly as widespread as the internet would lead you to believe.

Engine

The dreaded Intermediate Shaft bearing discourages many people from buying a 996. The intermediate shaft drives the camshaft from the crankshaft, and inferior bearings were initially used; when starved of oil, the bearing fails, thus causing catastrophic engine failure (pistons hitting valves). A rebuild after such damage may cost as much as 10,000 euros or more, but only 8% of the cars produced were affected; please check for proof that this has been rectified. It is assumed that if the defect (which gives no prior warning!) has not appeared up to a mileage of 80,000 kilometers or more, it is unlikely to appear: but it’s better to be sure the work has been done.

Cracking cylinder heads are less widespread than people think, and a borescope inspection can set your mind at ease. Despite internet rumors, also cars with higher mileages can suffer from this, and the later 3.6-liter engine is not immune either. The engine in the GT3, GT2 and Turbo is based on a different block and is not affected by the head cracking problem.

Cars that have been left standing for long periods of time suffer from all kinds of problems. Exhausts corrode. lambda sensors and air mass sensors are often faulty.

Gearbox

Neither the manual gearbox nor the Tiptronic is known to suffer from any serious problems. Listen for unusual noises during the test drive, and check the maintenance records.

Bodywork

Cars that have driven all year round, including on salt-covered roads in winter, may have corrosion on the floor. Rust may also appear in the front fenders, but this is almost always an indication of unprofessionally repaired collision damage. A car that has not been used regularly can suffer from various corrosion issues related to condensation.

The front-mounted radiators and coolers suffer stone and other debris damage, and they also corrode, usually because leaves are left to rot in the radiator openings. Replacements are necessary, and not very cheap. Driving around with damaged or blocked radiators can cause the engine to overheat, with permanent damage as a result.

Headlamp lenses go cloudy and must be polished or replaced.

Chassis

Unless the car has been crashed and badly repaired, the suspension should be in good shape. Replace all bushes and shock absorbers for peace of mind and for a safe driving experience. If control arms squeak, they may need replacement, but it is not prohibitively expensive. Check that correct parts have been used for brakes etc.

Interior

The company was cash-strapped at the time of the start of 996 productions, so many interior plastics were of inferior quality, and it shows. They display wear and look cheap. Check all switchgear, make sure everything works. The PCM navigation/infotainment system of the first generation was horrible and rarely worked even when new. Thin leather of lower quality was used for seat trim, and it has a tendency to stretch and wear out in a nasty way, especially on the driver’s seat. The interior was facelifted in 2002, and from that time onwards better quality plastics were used.

History

1997: The 996 series launched in Frankfurt in September

1998: Carrera Cabriolet available, followed by the AWD Carrera 4, equipped with the Porsche Stability Management (PSM)

1999: the first GT3 is launched, with a high-revving 360 hp engine

2000: Turbo launched with 420 hp, followed by the GT2 with 462 hp

2001: facelift, new headlights, improved interior. The 320-hp 3.6-liter engine replaces the 300-hp 3.4-liter unit. Carrera 4S and Targa was shown.

2002: factory power hike to 345 hp available, more power for GT3 and GT2

2003: Turbo also available as Cabriolet. GT3 RS homologation model launched

2004: 911 Turbo S with 450 hp launched

2005: end of production in July, replacement by 997

How much to pay

• Project: €20,000 – €25,000
• Good: €29,000 – €100,000
• Special series: €90,000 – €330,000 (GT2,3)

The DRIVERSHALL Verdict

The underrated 996 is a great entry-level Porsche 911, very good to drive on the road every day, and able to acquit itself on a track as well. Maintenance records and an inspection by a specialist are crucial. If the heads show no sign of cracking, and the IMS bearing issue has been addressed, the car can potentially be a source of fun for many years to come. The GT3 is very special, a precision tool for track work, much more rewarding to drive than the frighteningly rapid GT2.

Images: Porsche AG, Newspress, Tom Wood ©2016 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s, Remi Dargegen ©2018 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

This is without a doubt my favorite Ferrari model. It has the classic front-engine, rear-drive proportions, a powerful, sonorous engine, and its shape simply screams “the Sixties”. The later Daytona started another era and ended the period of romanticism at Ferrari. The 275 series was launched in Paris in 1964, with two models, the 275 GTB Berlinetta/coupe and the 275 GTS drop-top. It was high time, as the 250 GT series was already past its prime. The new car had a tubular frame, the gearbox located in the rear for better weight distribution, and independent rear suspension in place of the primitive cart springs of earlier models.

It was the first roadgoing Ferrari with four-wheel independent suspension and the last which was sold with wire wheels (in its earlier iterations, later ones had steel rims). The engine was a final stage of development of the famous Gioacchino Colombo V12engine, with one overhead camshaft, and a capacity of 3286 cc. Pininfarina infused the shape with eternal beauty, and Scaglietti made the bodies. If Brioni made cars and not suits, they would look like this.

The first cars would go very light in the front at high speed (aerodynamic lift), so after a while, the design was updated: the nose was lengthened, and a torque tube was added to ameliorate the stability and durability of the drivetrain. Later another spate of modifications was performed, and it transformed the most beautiful Berlinetta into (almost) a fire-breathing monster, named 275 GTB/4. Another overhead camshaft was added to every cylinder bank, and a slight bulge was added to the hood. Only 330 Four-Cam cars were built, with 20 horsepower more than the previous standard model.

It is widely believed that the Ferrari 275 GTB/4 is a pinnacle of Ferrari performance and handling of the era, a collector’s car which can provide an uncommon level of pleasure for its driver. Today, when regular 275 GTBs start at about 2 million dollars, the slash-four model can be priced at well over 3 million, with the best ones fetching as much as 4,000,000 US dollars. The model was superseded by the 365 GTB/4, usually known as the Daytona (but never called that officially).

In period, a car capable of 258 km/h and weighing only 1100 kilograms was extraordinary, but not very strange: lots of sports cars were light, as the dawn of the passive safety age was still far away. Today it seems featherweight and will surprise a modern driver with the quality of its responses. The Holy Grail of the 275 GTB family is the alloy-bodied car, lighter and more corrosion-resistant than its steel brethren, as only around 80 were built. As with any high-value classic Ferrari, Ferrari Classiche certification is essential, and a full historical record of ownership plus all maintenance records and restoration documentation is an absolute must.

If I had the funds I would buy one today.

To celebrate its landmark centenary year in 2019, Bentley will introduce a special edition model inspired by one of its iconic racing models, at the Geneva International Motor Show (05.03.19). Visit www.bentleymotors.com/CentenaryEdition and register your interest to stay informed.

In 1919 Walter Owen (W.O.) Bentley created a company with a simple objective: to build “a fast car, a good car, the best in its class”. This guiding principle has driven Bentley ever since, pushing the brand forward and making it a leader in automotive luxury around the world today. The 10th of July 2019 marks Bentley’s 100th year and this extraordinary milestone – reached by only a special few companies – will be a cause for celebration of the company’s history, its global success today and its exciting future.

The company’s headquarters in Crewe is home to all of its operations including design, R&D, engineering and production of the company’s four model lines, Bentayga, Continental, Flying Spur and Mulsanne. The combination of fine craftsmanship, using skills that have been handed down through generations, alongside engineering expertise and cutting-edge technology is unique to UK luxury car brands such as Bentley. It is also an example of high-value British manufacturing at its best. Bentley employs around 4,000 people at Crewe.

Find the original post in the blog of Gapless App.

Classic cars are an emerging asset class that has become increasingly reliable over the past ten to twenty years. In other words, it’s a good game to get into. However, for most investors, the classic car market can seem complicated and opaque. So where should curious investors start? One approach is to familiarize oneself with classic car indices, just as one would do with equity markets. One could also find an expert to get advice from, or go to car shows and start asking around, but classic car indices are the most readily accessible entry point to those doing research from home.

Investing in cars, when done well, can not only be lucrative but also an exciting and rewarding hobby. However, be warned that the classic car scene can be more treacherous than traditional asset classes. Lack of transparency and regulation combined with growing hype mean fraud is common, so caution is paramount. This being said, anyone willing to do their research and accept help from trusted experts should have no trouble avoiding any scams they might encounter. 

Buying a used car can come with all kinds of pitfalls, read our guide to learn how to come out on top!

Market cap weighted vs price weighted Indices

Most equity indices are market cap weighted, meaning that the individual components of these indices are weighted according to their market capitalization. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ are examples of such indices. A minority of equity indices are price weighted, notably the DJ Industrial and Nikkei 225. Individual components in these indices are weighted based on their price per share (or in the case of cars, price per car). In the classic car world, this distribution is reversed. Most classic car indices are price weighted, especially if the index in question tracks a small number of cars. This means that when the prices of the car models in a classic car index rise, the index rises with them.

The main classic car indices

The following section will introduce the most prominent classic car indices. The purpose is not to explain the indices’ constructions, but rather to present some background and introductory considerations for each index. Most index providers make some of their data available for free, but charge for more detailed figures. It is important to mention that many of these indices are quite new. Although enthusiasts have traded classic cars for over a century, investors have only been using financial instruments to analyse this market for the past 15 years or so. This doesn’t discount the information one can glean from indices, but it should still be considered.

HAGI Indices

Historic Automobile Group International (HAGI) was the first serious player in classic car indices. It is an independent investment research house and think-tank with specialised expertise in the rare classic motorcar sector. In 2009, HAGI started using rigorous financial methodology usually associated with more traditional investments to track classic cars as an alternative asset. HAGI puts out 6 indices, each pertaining to a specific sector of the market. They are as follows.

1. “Top Index” a general index for rare automobiles that incorporates the top 50 most valuable car models on the market.
2. “Top ex. P&F” excludes all Porsche and Ferrari from its figures. This can give owners (or prospective buyers) of less popular brands a more accurate picture of the section of the market that pertains to them.
3. “F Index” tracks only the Ferrari market.
4. “LPS Index” tracks only the Lamborghini market.
5. “MBC Index” tracks only the market for classic Mercedes-Benz cars from between 1920 and 1980.
6. “P Index” tracks only the Porsche Market.

The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index also has a classic car index, but it uses data from HAGI Indices.

Hagerty Indices

Hagerty is an American company that specializes in insurance for classic in luxury vehicles. This specialization gives Hagerty a uniquely detailed view of the classic car market, and it uses this position to publish various classic car indices that are widely respected. The indices are inflation adjusted and track the global market. Hagerty’s indices are as follows.

1. 1950′ American tracks classic American cars manufactured in the 1950s.
2. Affordable Classics tracks classic cars valued at under $30,000.
3. Blue Chips tracks only the most expensive cars.
4. British Cars
5. Ferrari
6. German Collectibles tracks Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
7. Muscle Cars

The K500 Index

The K500 index is put out by Kidston, a Geneva-based dealer and consultant firm with has its finger firmly on the pulse of the classic car market. The index tracks 500 cars by analyzing data from some 30,000 constantly growing auction results from over two decades of sales. Each car of the K500 has been chosen for its historical and intrinsic value. This insistence on the consideration of intangible value makes the K500 a good indicator for gauging the potency of some of the subjective factors that define a classic car’s value, like it’s racing history. The K500 also provides subscribers with curves tracking the price fluctuation history of each car in the index. Finally, every car in the K500 is given a score between 1-100 to denote how often this model is bought and sold. Cars with high scores are considered particularly desirable. 

The DOX Index

The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) started publishing the Deutscher Oldtimers Index since 2010. This index tracks German classic car market. It is calculated once a year and incorporates 88 cars that are selected to reflect the German market that year. The average price of the cars included in the DOX is less than €50,000, which differentiates this index from most of the others on this list. The constituents of the DOX Index are changed every 3 years.

The DOX is useful for understanding the enthusiast market segment – which accounts for a majority of the market’s sales volume – in isolation from the hyper high price market, which draws much more attention but is largely irrelevant to the average investor.

The OTX Index

The other significant German index for classic cars is the OTX Index by Südwest Bank. Like the DOX, the OTX is released every year and tracks the values of 20 cars by South German manufacturers. the goal of the OTX is to reflect price fluctuations in the German classic car market.

Putting the indices in perspective

By monitoring the main international classic car Indices, you can start to compare the evolution of this relatively new but promising asset class. Since the end of 2015, classic car prices have been trending up or sideways. While the most expensive classic cars are probably out of your price range, the market is still worth getting into.

In conclusion, we could advise you not to look too much at the empirical data derived from classic car indexes as well as the price fluctuations they are capturing, but simply enjoy driving your classic car(s) for the sake of it.

There are few more legendary racing sedans than BMW’s Batmobiles, the bewinged, wide-hipped BMW E9 derivatives which wreaked havoc on race circuits around the world. They won the European Touring Car Championship in 1973 and took a famous class win at Le Mans in the same year, won races in the American IMSA championship in 1975, and did very well in other types of touring car racing all over the world. I once had a little Majorette diecast model of a Batmobile when I was a child, and remember it very fondly. It had purpose and strength visible in its brutal looks, and made other cars of the era look positively effeminate.

And now I am standing next to one, and I am scared. Not of the car, it’s a car, therefore subject to the same laws of physics which I am quite familiar with. Of Dieter Quester, the Austrian driver, a true hero, who has come to Goodwood to drive this car, because I am taking it away from him. Not for long, but he looks at me with a stern unsmiling face, his deeply chiseled features lending credence to the image he projects, perhaps unwillingly. Michael, the BMW Classic mechanic with a Bavarian sense of humor, tells me that over-revving the engine results in the driver forced to buy expensive hamburgers for the technical crew.

I make a mental note, but am sure I’ll forget: the run up the Goodwood hill is so short and so packed with sensations and reactions that my brain will be suffering from overload anyway. The mechanic helps me adjust the seat, and teaches me how to restart the engine,telling me also which dials to watch more closely. The engine is practically brand new, and the car is pristine. Quester drives VIP guests in it at DTM races, probably scaring them to death in the process.

This car is a replica of the car in which Dieter Quester, paired with Toine Hezemans, won their class at the Le Mans 24 hour race, and did so in style. They actually ended up in 11th place overall, in a BMW coupe similar to a road car! The seats and the belts are modern, that’s good, and the gearbox is my BMW favorite, the dogleg Sportgetriebe. I have a lot of experience driving a civilian 3.0 CSL, but the race car in warpaint looks much more purposeful. I am not really apprehensive, as the visibility out of the cockpit is good, the controls fall nicely to hand, and I am not going to try to go fast. Well… at least that’s what I tell the BMW crew.

I manage to get the Batmobile out of its tent in the paddock without stalling, drive over to the assembly area without running any spectators over, and finally am directed to a parking space behind the brand new M8 GTE race car. Funnily enough, especially in this livery, the DNA link between the two cars is unmistakable. I attempt to get out of the car gracefully, and fail, but nobody is looking. All the eyes are directed at my buddy, Mike Skinner, called “The Gunslinger” and his hellishly rapid NASCAR Truck.

At Goodwood, when you are driving an unfamiliar car, there is no opportunity to practice, to learn the behavior of the machine, to judge the grip. A short run to the start, turning the car around, a longish wait, and off you go, watched by 70,000 people and millions more on the web and on TV. No pressure at all. I have been driving here since 2010, and I can say I know the route pretty well by now, but even with this kind of familiarity it can be tricky, with slippery dust being blown over it from the vast, dried up lawns.

My launch is OK, but could be better, with the rain tires hooking up in a manner far from a smoothness I want to achieve. The car feels great, only the driver is cautious, because he remembers the look the Austrian gave him earlier. I whizz past Goodwood House, set the car up gently for Molecomb Corner, and continue next to the flint wall and through the last two turns as cleanly as I can. The run over, I park behind the supermodern M8 again, close to the incredibly fast Pikes Peak Volkswagen. Its driver, Romain Dumas,comes over to talk cars, and then runs away toward the rally stage. “i really prefer rallies,” he says with a slight shrug. Yeah, I know, he is helping Porsche develop its Cayman rally car.

And I trundle slowly down the hill afterwards, happy not to give Dieter any cause for concern. He acknowledges my greeting with a curt nod and gets ready for the next run. I look back at the car over my shoulder. What a well-mannered beast. I need to try to drive it again. Unfinished business…

Overview

The Aston Martin Rapide appeared during the Ulrich Bez era at Aston Martin and was intended to stretch the brand identity. A Rapide existed in the history of the brand, previously made with a Lagonda badge, there wasthe William Towns Lagonda, and there had been some four-door modified cars, so some four-door DNA could be dug up. The vehicle was based on the DB9 architecture with a longer wheelbase, and, with 4 doors, was a practical alternative to a coupe for customers who had children or simply wanted a more comfortable grand tourer to cover long distances in.

Its production started at the Magna Steyr plant in Austria, as Bez was expecting a huge success. As it happened, the annual target of 2,000 units per year was never reached, and when the production capacity at Gaydon became available, the Rapide production was moved there. In 2013 the car was replaced by the Rapide S with still better handling, much more power and an 8-speed gearbox.

Not enough people bought them new, and they became unpopular, but that means that now we are lucky to be able to buy them at much lower prices. The Rapide is a much better car than internet “experts” would lead you to believe: the long wheelbase and the nearly perfect weight distribution (because of the transaxle layout) make it a refined and very fast sports car. If you avoid cars which have not been regularly serviced, you can’t go wrong.

Engine

The V-12 has a reputation for oil starvation, but the Rapide tends to suffer from it much less frequently than other models. Cam covers may leak oil. The car must be serviced every 15,000 km or every 12 months, and a major service has to be done at 100,000 km. Stick to the correct maintenance schedule, and you shall be rewarded.

Gearbox

The first model had a 6-speed ZF automatic gearbox with bespoke software, replaced in the Rapide S by a similar 8-speed transmission. Both are generally reliable, but the later one suffered from an issue with a switch which caused the car to select neutral with no prior warning and another issue with the car liable to roll when in Park. Check the maintenance records for evidence of those problems having been rectified as a manufacturer recall. Apart from those issues, the gearboxes are reliable and the same mechanicals are used in many other applications at other brands.

Bodywork

This is a car built on Aston’s VH architecture with aluminum and composites as the main constituent materials. Check the edges of aluminum panels for damage and flaws under the paint. Check for hidden accident damage, damage from speed bumps and parking dings.

Chassis

Due to its higher weight, the car eats through tires and brakes. The front brakes are bigger than on the DB9, and cost more to replace. Please check if all the suspension modes work, as the special dampers can leak and replacing them is a considerable expense. Bushes and bearings must be replaced as needed.

Interior

Check that all switches work, look for damage on sills and wear on seats. The trunk area can sustain a lot of visible scuffs when used for actually transporting baggage.

History

2006: concept car shown
2009: production car presented at Frankfurt
2010: start of production at Magna Steyr in Austria
2012: production moved to England
2013: Rapide replaced by Rapide S

Specifications

Aston Martin Rapide/Rapide S
Power: 477/560 hp
Top speed: 303/306 km/h
Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 5.2/4.4 s
Economy: 12.4/11.9 l/100 km

The DRIVERSHALL Verdict

The Rapide should be considered not only as a four-door competitor to the Porsche Panamera or Maserati Quattroporte, but also as a slightly more stable DB9 with extra interior space. It has class-leading steering and is insanely stable at very high speeds. The Rapide is also very reliable if regularly serviced. High running costs are unavoidable, and service requirements must be met. The car is very capable and rewarding, the only thing letting it down is the dated navigation display in the older model. Great to drive, and if you can afford to, buy one!

I remember old Italian movies in which the Polizia and Carabinieri chased well-dressed villains while driving boxy Alfa Romeos with rounded edges. I watched them in black and white when I was still a child, so at the time I had no idea what these funny cars were called, but their concave rumps stayed in my memory for decades. Later I learned they were called Giulias. In Italian “Giulia” simply means “Julia”, a common female name. Typical for the Italians to give an outstanding car a banal name which sounds awesome only in their mother tongue.

The squarish Giulia replaced the 1950’s Giulietta which served as a basis for a multitude of special-bodied sports versions, some of them coachbuilt by Zagato, no less. At first the Alfa Romeo management had a different idea, this being the Tipo 103 economy car project. Fortunately for us, this was quickly abandoned and the wizards conspired to build a new sports sedan. The new car was presented to the press at the Monza racing circuit in 1962, and was an instant hit. Compared to contemporary German cars, its technological advancement made it look like a Nissan GT-R facing a row of Trabants.

Italians will race any kind of vehicle, so a special variant of the Giulia was prepared to make it easier for the new car to win. Lighter and more powerful, it was built in a short production run of only 501 examples, very few of which survive. Why? Racing attrition took its toll, but for sure some smug Italian males also used the cars to impress female companions, and ran into trouble. Remember, at the time this car was created, Communist Bloc cars were as simplistic as the combination of hammer and sickle, and popular British cars did not even offer a heater! Under the hood this white car has a version of the 1.6-liter engine from the Giulia Sprint Speciale, fed by two twin-barrel Weber 45 DCOE carburetors, developing 113 horsepower, powering the rear wheels via a 5-speed gearbox (a rarity in that period).

It sports a special light-alloy steering wheel with three spokes, bucket seats in front, and, as of 1964, four disc brakes plus superlight wheel rims made of electron, an aviation alloy of magnesium. as a result, the TI Super was lighter by a whole 100 kilos than the standard car, with a grand total weight of only 960 kilograms. And just look at those 155-section tires, today even shopping carts seem to boast wider rubber. One wiper speed, no radio, Quadrifoglio Verde badges, I am in heaven.

Such cars must be driven in a manner different to today’s turbocharged, obese sedans. There is no violent acceleration on the straights, no sensations of one’s kidneys being crushed. Braking very late creates no advantage, because the car cannot accelerate swiftly out of corners. You learn to carry more speed through turns, and learn the art of energy management this way. The same energy management that glider pilots display while doing aerobatics, and the same art which the late Bob Hoover demonstrated so many times in his aircraft.

I start my sightseeing tour of Milan at Portello, the original location of the Alfa Romeo factory, and later move closer to the new railway station. The whole front of the building is taken up by a huge billboard, advertising the Freccia Rossa express train. And here we arrive at the explanation of the essence of Italian engineering. Where the Swiss would have advertised the fact that their train is the most environmentally-friendly, where the Germans would have said it was either the fastest or the most punctual, and where the Poles would have told the world theirs was the cheapest, the Italians claim their Red Lightning is simply the most beautiful train extant. Simultaneously this viewpoint does not mean that Italian take technology lightly, without them we would not have screaming Ferrari engines, Common Rail diesels and the Beretta 92F handgun.

This whole car is a deliciously analog, not coldly digital, experience, and I am enjoying it immensely. The way the forces on the steering wheel grow smoothly in a corner, the way the controls work, the way the engine sings in the upper register… it all gels together to give the driver a lot of satisfaction. And is there anything else worth living for?