#38 - Little & Large

In the lifetime of most collectable cars, there is frequently a period of time where they become….. well quite frankly uncollectable. They fall off the radar, come to be unloved and in many cases see their values take a nose dive.

I recall vividly the release of the BMW E46 M3 CSL back in 2003. At the time, it was scrutinised for the price tag it wore versus the enhancements it sported over and above the already much loved standard M3. It had tyres that BMW advised you not to use in the wet, an uninspiring automated gearbox and with an on the road price tag of ~£58k, it felt like the good ol people at BMW were really just trying to milk the iconic CSL moniker. It was a good car……just not great. 

Hindsight is a lovely thing but looking back now, I think the biggest headache with the E46 CSL was nothing to do with the car. The problem was more to do with customer’s palates at the time being in a very different place to where they are today. Cars like the Ferrari 360 CS and Porsche 996 GT3 RS were just in their infancy and the idea of “paying more for less” was a new concept. 

So it was no surprise that most people kinda forgot about the CSL and exacerbated by a global financial crisis at the end of the noughties, you could have picked one up for around £20-30k. Fast forward to today and you are paying comfortably into 6 figures now if you are after a low mileage car with good history.

What’s more the CSL was not an isolated incident. A smorgasbord of what we now consider collectable & investable modern classics all seem to go through this same transitionary unloved period only to find fame again later on……which brings me onto 2 cars in particular.

Back in 2003, at the same time BMW were trying to sell CSL’s to a demographic of consumers who didn’t know they wanted a CSL yet, Mercedes were having a much better go with their customers. Power, comfort, technology, ample luggage space….all necessary evils required to keep Merc customers happy and sales churning along. The sporting flagship at the time for them was the R230 SL.

Now in typical Merc fashion you could choose from a multitude of engine options depending on what your driving preferences required and your bank balance would allow but the go to car for many was the very capable SL55 AMG. Powered by the M113 E55 supercharged V8 engine offering just shy of 500bhp and a mountain of torque, it also benefitted from all the handling and cosmetic upgrades you would expect of a Merc sporting the AMG badge. It was enough to get the nod of approval from your mates at the golf club, annoy any 911 drivers that crossed your path and keep a smile on your face as you traversed Europe’s motorway network. However in typical top trumps fashion, if you were willing to stump up another £50k over and above the list price of the SL55, Merc were prepared to sell you something even more special…..enter the SL65 AMG.

Now the SL65 AMG was a car created for bragging rights rather than necessity. It was a car that if you had to ask for the price tag or the fuel consumption achieved from its twin turbo 6 litre V12 (more on that shortly), it probably wasn’t the car for you. In fact the mere thought that someone high up in Merc gave the green light to produce this behemoth for the European market (let alone UK) was in itself a rather mind blowing revelation. I guess oil tycoons, drug dealers and dictators all need a sports car for their summer vacations. I’m told between 80-90 units ended up being produced for the UK market making it an unsurprising rarity on UK roads.

So what about that engine? Well let’s start with headline figures shall we…….604bhp and 1,000 Nm of Torque … big numbers even by modern day standards. In fact for a while, the SL65 held the record for the world’s most powerful production sports car. Of course the cars inability to easily deploy that gargantuan power was beside the point. It was the simple fact it had all those torques at the disposal of the drivers right foot that was enough to grant it instant access into cult classic status.

Being fortunate to have one of these behemoths sitting in our showroom currently sheds light on what makes the SL65 such a special car. The revised front bumper made to accommodate the larger intercoolers, the massive eight piston brake callipers hidden behind the sensational split piece rims (unquestionably some of the coolest OEM wheels found on a production car ever)……this is a car that doesn’t need to prove itself around a race track or drag strip…..the chrome emblazed “V12 Bi-Turbo” sitting just behind the front wheel arch does all of that for you. What’s more, as Mercedes actively phase out all V8 and V12 models, the excessive lunacy which this car stands for means prices are only going up from here.

Now at the other end of the showroom sits a car which seems almost apologetic in its appearance compared to the 65…..the Audi A1 Quattro. Its quaint (dare I say cute) appearance is too frequently misunderstood. In fact the birth of the A1 Quattro is consistently glossed over and as a Yorkshireman who recently visited the showroom so eloquently put….. “ain’t that one of those little Audi S1’s?” Well yes but no…..allow me to expand.

Prior to 2011, the boffins in Ingolstadt had never attempted to squeeze there iconic Quattro 4wd system into a car smaller than their A3 line. In fact it’s hard to find the real catalyst behind the skunkworks project which ensued…..maybe the hope of homologation for a future rally car or just a particularly potent cup of Bavarian coffee one morning but the end result remains to this day one of the coolest cars to come out of Audi in recent years.

Making 600 component changes over the standard A1, Audi were able to slot their 2 Litre TFSI engine coupled to their Quattro system into the car. It was a masterpiece; compact chassis, bountiful traction and great powertrain. It looked the part as well with its rally inspired turbine wheels and flared rear spoiler. Such was the interest in the project that Audi decided to build 333 cars…..all sporting glacier white paint with subtle red and black accents across the car and all LHD. In the end just 19 cars were allocated to the UK making it a real unicorn.

So just like the SL65, the A1 Quattro is due an explosion in value any day now. With the obvious go to investable cars such as the aforementioned M3 CSL and the iconic Renault Clio V6 seeing their values skyrocket in the last 12-24 months, investors will be analysing where other pockets of values exist and for me these 2 cars offer the perfect solution.

Happy Motoring,

Greg