Last one sold fast: ’86 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3
Jimmy Carter gets the blame for a lot of things but you might want to tip your hat towards Plains, Georgia for this one. The unassuming jewel of a Mercedes-Benz, the 190E 2.3 16 Valve, was engineered in response to Carter’s threat to increase fuel economy and emissions standards to ridiculous levels. The skunkwerks at M-B called the folks in Northampton England at Cosworth Engineering to come up with a killer, fuel-efficient engine to put into their 190E body. The results were spectacular. M-B originally thought it would be a successful rally car and it would have been up to the task but the cost of campaigning a team was unmanageable. They began racing the 190E 2.3 in a series of equally matched cars driven by Formula 1 drivers. That’s how the public got wind that this unassuming baby Benz was something special. The US market received under 2,000 units mostly equipped with the 5-speed Getrag dog-leg gearbox. The engine was detuned to 167hp and the entire car was said by many to be over engineered to the max in Mercedes-Benz tradition. Today’s featured 16V has 60,000 miles and many rebuilt parts. And these parts all came from an authorized Mercedes dealer so you know they are correct and expensive. The seller tells us the interior is new and therefore it smells like a new car. These have 4 bucket seats to add to the unique personal ambience of this German hot rod. The car comes with the original wheels should you prefer. We’ll put the original radio back in the car too but that is just us. Click here for the eBay auction.