Helmut Kohl's parade car
This one came out of the back door of the San Francisco dealership. People bring these older cars to the dealership for squeaky brakes or something. The service department gives them an $800 brake job estimate and they end buckling and trade up for a new car. Fortunately for me, they usually get reamed on the trade-in: it cost me only 3,200 dollars. This particular battleship is Cocoa brown with a Cognac leather interior. It's a decidedly 1970's color combo. The 600 limousines used to show up a lot in this color. Ordinarily you'd think, "Brown? Yuck.", but it's actually pretty handsome.
It runs like a top. This picture (click to enlarge) is from a trip down route 5 from San Francisco to LA, which is a close as you can get to the Autobahn in California, as far as I can tell. On Route 5, everybody cruises at 85-100 MPH, for 5 hours straight, and this big brick handles the job more than capably. It seems to have just the right amount of wear and tear that I won't mind parking it outdoors and worrying too much about it. And as far as power goes, the steeper the hill, the more enthusiastic the V8 sounds. You just press the pedal and it goes faster. A far cry from my old 240D.
Something about the dark color and extended length gives this car a real Helmut Kohl, head of state, parade-car presence, which I fully endorse. It loves to take a party of four out to a nice restaurant. Valets leave it out front.
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