[V8] Touring car musings.

[Jason Wilkerson]

Roger,
   You really don't know me - I thought I would commment on this anyway.  I always read your posts (Long as they may be) and just really enjoy the whole thing.  Thanks for taking the time to write what you write.  It always makes me appreciate my v8 that much more - keeps me from trouble when I am tempted to turn my head at a passing BMW.  Thanks again, and don't stop.

    Jason

--- On Sun, 6/7/09, Roger Woodbury <rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com> wrote:

> From: Roger Woodbury <rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com>
> Subject: [V8] Touring car musings.
> To: v8 at audifans.com
> Date: Sunday, June 7, 2009, 12:57 PM
> Well, we aren't having much of a
> summer here along the coast of Maine.
> Yesterday was a bright sunny day for my trip to Portland
> and back.  About
> 320 miles in total, and the V8 was magnificent as
> usual.  While there is
> nothing else like it..nothing that delivers as much "bang
> for the buck",
> anyway, I have been prowling around the usual places on the
> Internet looking
> at what is out there interesting that could make a good
> summer or fair
> weather touring car.  I have found a couple of
> interesting examples and
> although none of them will replace nor duplicate the V8,
> each has a certain
> charm.
> 
>  
> 
> On eBay right now is an absolutely lovely looking Buick
> Estate Wagon.  Now,
> I have never been much of a GM car fan, but I could make an
> exception if I
> needed a big station wagon to use as a general utility
> vehicle and sometimes
> long distance cruiser.  This particular example has an
> original (supposedly)
> 41,000 miles and is so old not even Maine excise taxes
> would bother the
> owner.  For less than seven grand, with all the bells
> and whistles, this
> could be  a fun car.  I showed it to my wife who
> loved it on sight.  Being
> sold by a franchised car dealer in Miami.
> 
>  
> 
> Then out on the wrong coast a guy is selling two
> interesting looking
> Mercedes Type W123 diesel coupes.  I think the nicest
> one is the Maple
> yellow '78 non-turbo coupe with less than 80,000
> miles.  Then there is the
> most interesting one which is a later coupe that has the
> turbodiesel engine,
> leather interior, European headlights and heated seats
> which are very rare
> in these cars.  Either one for less than $15,000 which
> might seem like a
> lot, but if these are anywhere as good as they look, they
> will run forever
> and provide really good long distance touring
> comfort.  I have owned two
> cars from this series, and although a bit dated, they are
> comfy, economical
> long distance cars.
> 
>  
> 
> But the cream of the crop appears to be a late version
> 300SD, with 40,000
> odd miles.  This is as nice an SD as I have seen in a
> long time, and would
> be a truly magnificent car to keep and use as a two and one
> half season
> travel car, complimenting the V8 in the next garage stall
> very nicely.  They
> are asking the sun, moon, earth and sky for it, and in the
> end they might
> get it, I suppose.  Whether I would pay twenty grand
> or almost all of that
> for something like this is debatable even in my own mind,
> but these were
> really nice long distance cars, inexpensive to operate on a
> daily basis
> getting good fuel mileage with decent performance and great
> comfort.  The SD
> was much nicer than the SDL, which had more foot room in
> the back, but was
> made a bit more awkward for it.  Really low mileage
> examples are out there
> from time to time, but not common. I am pulled by this one
> in particular.
> But happy for my wife, I am NOT shopping for cars at this
> point.
> 
>  
> 
> And for anyone curious, I haven't seen another V8 on the
> road for almost six
> months.  And I also haven't seen any really good ones
> advertised for sale,
> either.  Sad commentary, as time marches on.  
> 
>  
> 
> Roger
> 
>  
> 
> P.S.  No, I won't drive a Prius either!
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Audifans V8 mailing list
> Send posts to: mailto:V8 at audifans.com
> Manage your list connection: http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/v8
> 
> You can help keep the audifans site running by shopping at
> http://audifans.com/shop/
> 
>