Category Archives: Sale

Sale

This Tesla-Powered Beetle Outguns Supercars — and You Can Buy It

If you’re waiting for the familiar thrum of an air-cooled flat-four, forget it. The Knepper 1303 RS-E doesn’t bark, sputter, or cough to life. It erupts. The rear wheels haze over instantly, tire smoke billows behind the stubby fenders, and bits of rubber are left tattooed on the asphalt. Whatever nostalgic image you have of a gentle, smiling VW Beetle, throw it out the window. This thing is a railgun in retro sheetmetal.

And yes—purists, clutch your pearls now—the beating heart of this Franken-Bug isn’t a boxer engine at all, but a modern three-phase asynchronous electric motor. Sacrilege? Maybe. But the team behind it calls the RS-E a perfect marriage of classic charm and cutting-edge EV engineering. After a few minutes behind it, it’s hard to disagree.

FROM JUNKYARD TO ELECTRIC MONSTER

Meet Rüdiger Knepper, the man behind Knepper Bugs & More and the mastermind of this project, along with his son René. The duo found the donor car—a battered 1975 VW 1303—rotting away in a California junkyard. Structurally sound but cosmetically trashed, it was the ideal canvas for a complete reimagining.

The restoration was obsessive. Every bolt removed, every system rethought. The body was returned to factory-fresh crispness and repainted in a rich Marathon Blue. Carbon-fiber rear fenders add subtle width, while a carbon roof spoiler delivers high-speed stability and a hint of motorsport intent. It looks like a Beetle, sure—but not quite like any Beetle Wolfsburg ever imagined.

PORSCHE BONES, TESLA MUSCLE

Underneath the retro shell, nearly nothing remains stock. The suspension is largely Porsche 944, enhanced with KW, Bilstein, and Kerscher hardware. Brakes come from a 944 Turbo S, with Porsche 964 rotors up front. Grip is courtesy of Toyo Proxes TR-1s—195/45R17 up front and 235/45R17 out back—wrapped around Porsche Cup 2 wheels.

Then there’s the battery situation. Seventeen Porsche Taycan modules, split across the chassis, feed a Tesla Model S Performance rear-motor spinning modified voltage. No transmission—just direct drive through Porsche 930 axles delivering absurd levels of torque straight to the pavement.

The result? A fully charged Beetle that hits 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds. Let that sink in. A classic Bug running toe-to-toe with supercars. Top speed: 190 km/h. Range: up to 250 km from a 48-kWh pack if you’re gentle—though gentle driving probably isn’t why you build a 600-hp electric Beetle.

CALM MODE? SORT OF.

With traction control absent, Rüdiger Knepper wisely offers “street mode,” capped at around 200 hp—still a massive bump over anything the original Bug ever dreamed of. TÜV regulators approve that figure for public roads. Switch to full output, though, and the RS-E unleashes all 604 hp and 702 Nm of barely manageable fury. “Race only,” warns Knepper, and he isn’t joking. Even dialed back, acceleration is immediate, linear, and punch-you-in-the-chest violent.

Charging comes via CCS or standard AC with an adapter. The hardware install is pure Knepper craftsmanship; the brain behind the system—the electronic control unit—comes from Alexander Lührmann and his ESDI EV Technologies team in Herford.

INSIDE: ORIGINAL BEETLE, WITH MODERN ATTITUDE

The cabin keeps most of its vintage quirks, minus the parts an EV doesn’t need—no clutch, no gear lever. Instead, you settle into wonderfully supportive Recaro seats borrowed from a BMW 2002. Heating comes from an electric unit tucked beneath the rear bench. It feels familiar, cozy, and deceptively innocent. Until you tap the accelerator.

TRADITION BE DAMNED—THIS IS GENIUS

Some will insist an electrified Beetle is a crime against automotive heritage. But spend a moment in the 1303 RS-E’s presence and you realize this isn’t replacing history—it’s rewriting it with blistering, tire-vaporizing enthusiasm. Knepper’s creation respects the original Beetle’s playful soul while injecting enough power to terrify modern sports cars.

It’s absurd. It’s brilliant. And it proves that sometimes, the best way to honor the past is to electrify it until the tires scream.

Source: Knepper Bugs & More

Sale

The First BMW M Car Ever Built Is Up for Sale — and It’s a Legend Hiding in Plain Sight

If you ask a room full of BMW diehards which car deserves the title of “first M car,” prepare for a debate worthy of motorsport royalty. Some will swear by the mid-engine M1. Others will cite the South African 530 MLE from 1976. But peel the license plates away from the equation, look strictly at the origins of BMW Motorsport GmbH, and the real pioneer appears: the BMW 3.0 CSL.

And not just any CSL — the first one ever built, chassis E9/R1, the very machine that kicked off the M division’s 50-year dominance in performance engineering. That car is now offered for sale.

A Prototype Turned Motorsport Milestone

The 3.0 CSL arrived in 1973 as a homologation special of the elegant E9 coupe, just one year after BMW formally created its Motorsport division. Twenty-one lightweight CSLs were constructed for racing programs, but only eleven were run by the factory-backed team. E9/R1 was the earliest completed car—BMW Motorsport’s first real test bed.

Built between late 1972 and early 1973, this car served as a development mule during some very cold winter months, with legendary drivers Hans Stuck and Harald Menzel rotating behind the wheel. If BMW Motorsport had a first classroom, this was the chalkboard.

The car is now listed by UK dealer Dylan Miles Ltd on Classic Driver, with the price—expectedly—left blank. For something this historically loaded, the number is probably easier whispered than printed.

Where the Batmobile Was Born

If the CSL is iconic, the “Batmobile” CSL is mythical. But even that legend had humble beginnings. E9/R1 was originally raced without the outrageous aero package because homologation rules prohibited BMW from running parts not yet approved by the FIA.

Once the green light came, engineers scrambled to equip the CSL with its towering rear wing, deep chin spoiler, and boxy extensions. The transformation into the legendary “Batmobile” began right here, with this exact chassis as the starting point.

A Life After Competition

After its time with various racing teams, E9/R1 was pulled from competition and passed through the hands of several BMW collectors. A meticulous restoration brought the car back to its pre-Batmobile specification, and it made a high-profile return at the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

A few months later, the CSL reappeared—this time wearing the full Batmobile bodywork—at Salon Privé Concours d’Elegance at Blenheim Palace. In both forms, it drew crowds like a magnetic field.

The CSL Legacy Lives On

BMW itself paid homage to the CSL’s significance when M celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. The ultra-exclusive, 50-unit modern 3.0 CSL—based on the M4 CSL—packed 560 horsepower, a manual gearbox, and bodywork sculpted as a modern love letter to the Batmobile. With an unofficial price of around €750,000, it became the most expensive new car BMW has ever sold.

And yet, that still may not eclipse the value of the original.

What’s a First-of-Its-Kind M Car Worth?

With a provenance that includes Motorsport GmbH’s earliest days, testing by legendary drivers, the genesis of BMW’s most famous aero kit, and a beautifully documented restoration, E9/R1 stands alone.

A modern CSL commands three-quarters of a million euros. But the car that made BMW M what it is today?
Don’t be surprised if it sells for far, far more.

After all, they only made one “first M car.” And this is it.

Source: Classic Driver

Sale

1999 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 30th Anniversary Edition is for sale

If you’ve got around sixty grand burning a hole in your pocket and a craving for good, old-fashioned American muscle, the obvious answers live in the Ford showroom. A Mustang GT or the sharper, track-bred Dark Horse are the usual suspects—modern icons with all the horsepower and digital trickery you could want.

But if those feel a little too predictable, and you’re looking for something rarer, with a bit more nostalgia baked in, this white-and-blue Pontiac might just scratch that itch.

Currently for sale at Diamond Motorworks in Illinois, this 1999 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 30th Anniversary Edition is one of the most collectible remnants of Pontiac’s last great era. The asking price? $58,800. That’s not pocket change for a car old enough to remember Y2K panic, but here’s the hook—it’s covered just 1,426 miles since new. That’s right: fewer miles than most owners rack up during a single summer of Sunday cruises.

A Birthday Car Worth Celebrating

Pontiac built just 1,600 examples of the 30th Anniversary Trans Am, and this one wears build number 1,333. The exterior is a throwback to the original ’69 Trans Am, finished in Bright White with twin Blue Pearl racing stripes streaking over the hood and rear decklid. The pièce de résistance? Those bright blue five-spoke wheels—bold, borderline cartoonish, and utterly unmistakable.

It’s the kind of look that could only have come from the late ’90s, an era when Pontiac still proudly marketed itself as “We Build Excitement.”

Inside: White Leather, Blue Stitching, and a Lot of Plastic

The interior sticks to the anniversary theme, with white leather seats and blue-embroidered logos, all of which look shockingly fresh thanks to the car’s hermit-like existence. The plastics remind you this was the GM of 1999—hard, shiny, and unapologetic—but that’s part of the charm. It’s a time capsule, not a time machine.

The car includes its original keys, manuals, service records, and even the window sticker, which should satisfy collectors looking for completeness as much as condition.

Old-School Muscle

Under the hood sits GM’s 5.7-liter LS1 V-8, good for 320 horsepower in its day and paired to a six-speed manual driving the rear wheels. No turbos, no hybrid assist, no modes to toggle—just unfiltered pushrod thunder and a Tremec gearbox that rewards muscle memory over microchips.

It’s the kind of setup that makes you wish the next owner would actually drive it. But at nearly $60K and with mileage this low, odds are this Pontiac’s next home will be a climate-controlled garage, not a canyon road.

A Collector’s Paradox

And that’s the irony. The 30th Anniversary Trans Am was built to celebrate motion, yet this one has spent most of its life standing still. It deserves to be seen out there, blue wheels gleaming under the sun, exhaust rumbling through the suburbs, reminding everyone what Pontiac once was—and what American muscle used to sound like before the EV age.

Because some anniversaries are worth celebrating more than once.

Source: Diamond Motorworks