All German Kansas City Car Show

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Who doesn’t love a set of classic BBS LM modular wheels on an M3?  They look great and are light as well.  21.5-lb for an 18×8 two-piece modular wheel is actually not bad at all.  That's still nearly 3-lb lighter than the stock, single-piece 18s supplied on the E46 M3!

This owner went a little more old-school with his wheel style, but it’s nice to see these M Coupes regardless.  They are so much fun to drive, even with the S52 3.2-liter at 240 bhp.  I say that because in 2001-2002 the Z3 M coupes and roadsters were powered by the 333bhp S54 found in the E46 M3.


Mercedes always puts on a decent show by way of variety.  It’s not often you see the 20-year-old SL600 V12 roadster, which sported nearly 400 bhp in stock form.  To put it into perspective, that’s more than the MKIV twin turbo Supra and Ferrari F355, and right there with the Viper RT-10 of the time!


This is a 1952 Mercedes 170SB, body style W191.

After World War II ended, the Mercedes plant had suffered severe bomb damage, but it still came out  producing vehicles in small numbers—a few hundred—by 1946 and then some more in 1947.  By 1949 the car-inventing giant was back to a livable 10,000 units per year, and the only model they were producing was a slightly earlier version of the 170 you see here. 


I’m told the owner of this car has owned it since 1973—over 40 years!  I think this will be me in 30 more years, in my 60’s, with my old Project Supra (and the project still going in MotoIQ).

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