Silverphile
John Kuhn Bleimaier
I say you can buy happiness… inexpensively
Can you buy one of the finest collector cars ever built by the world’s premier constructor of automobiles for fifteen grand in 2013? Due to the vagaries of the market, the fickleness of taste and the unpredictability of human psychology, my answer is “yes.”
In the mid-1980s, Mercedes-Benz collaborated with Cosworth, the British racing engine builders, to create a four-passenger sedan to compete with the newly launched BMW M Series. Note that all this transpired before Mercedes had acquired AMG to function as Stuttgart’s in-house tuning department. The result of the historic Cosworth collaboration was the 190E 2.3-16, a hot rodded version of the four-door Saloon that was known as the “baby Benz.”
Cosworth engineers took a stolid, sturdily built family-oriented compact sedan and transformed it into a lightning-fast pocket rocket for the German Touring Car Trophy series. The blueprinted, four-valve-per-cylinder engine, as well as the lowered and stiffened suspension, transformed a fine handling sedan into a world-beating competition sled.
Only a small number of these special vehicles found their way into the United States. I was the lucky owner of one of the “16 valves” – so called because of they had four valves per cylinder times four cylinders. Having driven mid-engined Porsche 914s along with other sporting machinery for years, I came to the table accustomed to flat-cornering enthusiast vehicles capable of taking sharp curves as if on rails. My pearl black 16-valve was named “Zorro.” She was a bandit. The engine wanted to rev to its high-digit redline; the close-ratio 5-speed gearbox made it possible to take full advantage of the cheeky torque curve. Zorro was a real competition car while being street legal and was even completely tractable for everyday driving.
This was the ideal vehicle for the club-event aficionado. Zorro was absolutely at home on the track at Summit Point in West Virginia, the Nelsons Ledges and Mid-Ohio tracks in Ohio, and other road courses that the MBCA rented for driver-education events and time trials. This unique sedan was an autocross natural. Even without resorting to “R” compound tires, the grip at the contact patch was tenacious. Just for fun one weekend, I decided to cruise into a different neighborhood and attended a gymkhana held by the local Porsche club. You should have seen the jaws drop as a four-door sedan with a three-pointed star on its hood posted faster times through the cones than some pretty serious looking 911s.
To my never-ending regret, I totaled Zorro at a club driving event. She is no more. But her unburstable engine and tire-smoking differential live on in track cars owned by two MBCA friends. It is said that only the great, the beautiful or the wicked have portraits painted of them. Zorro qualified in all three categories. I commissioned renowned automotive artist, Charles Maher of the Automotive Fine Arts Society, to paint a portrait of my late 16-valve. I will never forget that motorcar. Maher’s painting, by way of a diptych, depicts Zorro in motion – deftly sashaying between the cones – and then at rest, after her nose got wrinkled and bent out of shape.
While my old 16-valve is gone, there are a bunch of these cars still out there in the hands of enthusiasts. They appear for sale in the classified pages of The Star with some regularity and they are not expensive. Fifteen grand will snag a perfectly serviceable example. This is because the market does not value four-door sedans. If, back in 1986, Mercedes-Benz had shoehorned the Cosworth engine into an SL, a two-sweater convertible like that would be giving Gullwings a run for their money on the collector-car auction circuit today. While connoisseurs appreciate true value, investors pay attention to the glitz that fires emotion and brings a fast return.
Here’s an acquisition strategy. The 16-valves are now eligible for historic license plates and classic-car insurance coverage. This means that the costs of ownership for this legendary street racer have become negligible. Behold, a great motorcar – ideally suited for driving events in the MBCA and the Sports Car Club of America – and affordable. It is one of the last Mercedes models imported into the United States with manual transmissions in most vehicles. This is a thoroughly satisfying car that engages drivers and encourages them to do their part. On account of its demure looks, you perhaps won’t attract the attention of toddlers, low-belted teenagers or the constabulary. So be it.