The E39 M5 market.

[SARAFIL]

Originally Posted by FC

Don't kill the dream!

I can totally see how. Heavy, not sporty, slow transmission, etc.

Still, that car was inspirational for me as a teen, so I have a special place for it. It's also a pretty car.

I really like those SLs also. I think Zach is right on his comments but don’t think those are the reasons I’d want one anyways. They are cheap enough that it could be an interesting part of a fleet of a few fun cars. Alas, no space for extra toys at this point... maybe down the road.

Originally Posted by FC

Crazy. But if you think about it, did the owner really make all that much money for that massive gamble? Cr could have been damaged, stolen, etc. and I doubt insurance would have paid anywhere nearly as much.

Put that $80k in an S&P 500 index fund and you beat the return (156% according to https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/). To say nothing of the floor space, worrying and insurance spent all these years. Now there is the income tax to pay on the gain.

There was hardly any enjoyment either.

I keep thinking of buying a MB R129 in good condition. They seem to ave hit rock bottom. All MB SL's start to appreciate at some point.

I agree. Buying a car to just park it and hope for appreciation seems like a risky proposition. There have been a few cars like this on BAT recently (some guy in Hawaii with E46 M3 and another guy with original MINI GP) and the math just doesn’t work on most cases. Maybe they have a ton of money and got personal enjoyment out of it but seems like they would have been better off driving the cars a bit and getting some use out of them.