Mercedes E36 AMG cabriolet | Spotted

There are cool old Merc drop tops - then there are cool old Merc drop tops

By Matt Bird / Sunday, 13 July 2025 / Loading comments

There are certain cars that linger in the memory longer than others. For one reason or another, it’s impossible to forget the experience of driving them. A shame more cars aren’t like it, really. This time last year we welcomed another Mercedes into the PH Heroes Hall of Fame, the 300-CE Sportline cabriolet. A 124 of any description would have fit the bill, of course, because it’s a Benz icon, but there really was something special about the lusty straight six and drop-top combination.

And before you think this is just another missive about old cars being great, a similarly favourable impression was left by the recent CLE 53 long termer. For similar reasons, too: smart looks, great straight six, a sense of wellbeing that Mercedes - when they’re on their A game - do better than anybody else. Combine the best bits of both of those cars - 124 style with AMG special sauce, basically - and you’d probably end up not far from this: the E36 AMG. Yep, the '90s E36 with a straight six that very much isn’t a BMW. Always a very rare beast, with fewer than 200 built in period, the E36 stands up 30 years later as one of the most desirable pre-merger AMGs.

The overhaul wasn’t drastic, though with a foundation as sorted as the ‘124 it was mighty effective. The M104 straight six was bored and stroked out to 3.6 litres (nothing says good old days like badges that match capacity), with spicier internals to yield more than 270hp. The four-speed auto was sharpened up, the suspension revised and the fabulous monoblocks fitted.

An E36 certainly wasn’t a cheap car back in the '90s; the first owner of this one part-exchanged a Rolls-Royce Corniche to contribute towards the £69k RRP. That money in 1996 is almost £140k today; far beyond CLE territory, and almost SL kind of cash. New cars these days are expensive, but they aren’t pre-merger AMG expensive…

Probably as a result of that, and with standard six-cylinder 124s being as good as they were, very few E36s were sold. This is believed to be one of only 14 ever to reach a UK customer in right-hand drive. Sold new in Brighton, this Silver Metallic over Dark Blue example is said to have had ‘just about every option box ticked’, which might explain the original RRP. The first owner covered 40,000 miles in 15 years to 2011. Since then it’s been with three more keepers, still now only on 47k but with plenty of history; the most recent owner is described by the seller as a ‘fastidious collector of the marque’. Certainly the E36 looks to have been kept superbly well; it helps that this era was built as well as it was, but this sort of condition doesn’t happen by accident. It’s hard to think of much better for wafting through the summer.

With pre-merger AMGs now hot property for collectors, the asking price for an E36 this nice is going to be a substantial one. Even as long ago as 2012, a similar cabrio with a six-figure mileage could command £20k; it will easily have doubled now, if not quite a bit more. Maybe not very far from that original asking price, in fact. But just as in ‘96, just as it will be in 2056, there won’t be many more memorable AMG convertible experiences.

SPECIFICATION | MERCEDES E36 AMG CABRIOLET

Engine: 3,606cc straight-six
Transmission: 4-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 272@5,750rpm
Torque (lb ft): 284@3,750-4,500rpm
MPG: 27.1mpg at 56mph
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1996
Recorded mileage: 47,000
Price new: N/A
Yours for: POA