“I’m not pressed to sell it” says my new hero, a man named Kevin on Facebook Marketplace who is almost certainly not going to be pressed by anyone to sell his extremely purple, very custom 1988 Sterling 825, which he only slightly inaccurately calls a Sterling 825 Acura and is asking $15,000 for right now. The audacity here is astounding and wonderful.
The seller’s description starts with “(FIRE EMOJI)TESTING THE MARKET — 1988 STERLING 825 (FIRE EMOJI)” and I’m assuming the flames are for the money he spent customizing this bizarre Japanese-British-American zonkey of an automobile. I can’t get over “testing the market” because, I’m not an expert on Sterlings, but I am a living and breathing human being who looks at approximately 412 used car listings a week and I’m pretty sure this is a test the market is going to fail.
Also, there are maybe no Sterling experts because there weren’t enough Sterlings sold in the United States in order to generate expertise. This is a case, like my poor beloved Merkur, of a brand that was capsized by the strength of its home country’s currency… and the brand’s completle lack of a reason to exist.
Our champion, Kevin, continues:
Putting a feeler out there on my 1988 Sterling 825. This is a very rare gem and definitely not something you see pulling up at every car show. The Sterling was sold in North America for only a short period, and the 825 shares its engineering roots with the Acura/Honda Legend, including the Honda 2.5L V6. (Consumer Guide Blog)
No lies detected. What makes Kevin better than 99% of all Facebook Marketplace posters is that he’s both honest and extremely clear about what he is. There’s even a citation! He’s not wrong that the car shares its underpinnings with the first generation Acura Legend. That’s a good car, and even for all his Sterling-related exuberance, he’s making clear that it’s not a British-engineered car.
Additionally, he’s not wrong that you won’t see this “pulling up at every car show” or even any car show. I’ve seen one Sterling at a car show in 20 years, I think, and that was the 827 hatchback version. I will say that people were excited to see a Sterling in person. Well, weirdos like me were excited to see one at least.
Kev-man continues, utilizing Emojis at a level rarely seen on FB Marketplace. This guy is the Steph Curry of appropriate and enticing Seller Description emojis.
The 18-inch BBS wheels are an excellent and the paint looks wonderful in photos. I love a purple car, though I think, given it’s a Sterling, perhaps aubergine is more accurate. I would double or triple take if I saw this in person. In profile, especially, it does look great.
The inside does give off a sumptuous bordello vibe, assuming that bordello was run by Grimace. There’s a thick purple floor, some kind of leather or leather-like white seat with purple stripes, and even purple seatbelts and headliner. The seats proudly say “Sterling,” presumably because even K-Dog can’t remember what the car is when people ask.
Dude even did the handle on his PRNDL shifter.
I love it. If we lived in a universe that rewarded customizing cars, the amount that Kevin has put into said Sterling (which I’m guessing might be close to $15,000) would be given back to him upon sale. If anything, Kevin seems worthy of 2x of whatever he put in, because the last person this committed to the color purple was Whoopi Goldberg.
Will he get it? Hope springs eternal, but probably not. People generally don’t want to buy your specific car aesthetic, and custom cars are often worth less than stock versions. Kevin is going for it, though. Kevin knows what he has. Kevin knows his worth. Kevin will not be daunted. Kevin doesn’t even know the meaning of the word daunt.
Or, hear me out, maybe someone in his life wants him to sell the Sterling because they don’t get it, and by pricing it so high he’s all but guaranteeing no one is going to email him.
“Hey, Kevin, did anyone reach out about your listing?”
“It’s the strangest thing… no one seems interested…”
He did use hashtags (#aucra #lexus #benz #audi #honda #cars #bbs), so I’m thinking he’s really going for it. Someone searching for a Benz is going to see this Acura and maybe be so happy. They didn’t want an S-Class, they wanted the Class that comes with buying a S-terling.
Even if nobody buys it, I just want Kevin to know that I see you, I appreciate what you’ve done here, and I hope you get everything you want out of this sale and, you know, life in general.
Top photo: Facebook Marketplace
If there’s a Sterling expert in the U.S. of A., it might be me.
I owned four.
They are not horrible cars.
The 825s are to be avoided. The 1990-91s were the best, but still suffered from dodgy a/c and window lift issues.
The fastback is a damn fine looking car, especially the Silver Bullet edition, which I owned around a decade ago.
If you own one of these you are double orphan…it’s dead car from a dead company.
But that’s just how I like ’em.
As for this car, all I can say is: Ho. Lee. Shit.
I don’t know what reasonable prices are these days. I know a mechanic that paid $10-15,000 for a cherry 90s Ranger for his daughter, and $10,000 for a similar old Honda for himself.
A relative had already decided on a Sterling and had found a dealer owned car locally.
In about five minutes I found some better deals on similar cars, including a loaded model.
I was fairly impressed by them, but warned him about the obvious issues.
He used the offers I found to leverage a better deal on the local one.
He had numerous small issues and factory recalls, ALL fixed to his satisfaction, even getting a large cash rebate at some point.
He drove it past 200,000 miles then sold it.
I may have been baiting you to do this exact comment.
Well played, sir.
I still have a few Sterling parts in my stash. If you ever get one that is missing something, hit me up.
If you end up with this purple one, an intervention may be needed.
Driving this would make it too easy for Batman to spot you.
Oh, that is good! Kudos! 😀
“The inside does give off a sumptuous bordello vibe, assuming that bordello was run by Grimace.”
Now I’m picturing Grimace in full 70’s pimp regalia. It totally fits.
EDIT: Looks like I’m not the only one who thinks so:
https://www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Men-s-Grimace-Is-A-Pimp-by-JudgmentDesign/150921638/z5wf
We need more of Matt loosening his shirt collar and writing pieces like this. Some real gems in there.
> Kevin seems worthy of 2x of whatever he put in, because the last person this committed to the color purple was Whoopi Goldberg.
> K-dog
> Kevin will not be daunted. Kevin doesn’t even know the meaning of the word daunt.
12/10 story, will read again.
Also for the record, those seats and seat belts are sex.
They may be sex, but it’s a kind of sex that’s illegal in most states.
Of course I sent this car to my partner (who shares his first name with this short-lived British brand), as soon as I saw the listing earlier this week.
I really like purple, so I might conceivably be able to handle the interior. But it would need an MT and least and the liftback, preferably, to be worth 2/3 of what he’s asking. Credit to Kevin for realizing his “vision”, though.
Yeah, I would be tempted at about $5500 or less. It looks like the interior was mostly well done and I do like something with color.
I really like purple, so I think, maybe, possibly, I could handle the interior. But it would need at least the MT to make it worth 2/3 of what he’s asking. Credit to Kevin for realizing his “vision”, though.
Strange car connoisseur here… What in the hell is a ‘Sterling’?? This demands an immediate internet search… but wait… perhaps it is better to savor the unknown? There are so few purple mysteries in life anymore…
Rover, British maker of reprehensible shitboxes.
Famous for their ability to f*** up even decent Hondas.
Back in the 80s and 90s, used Rover/Sterling cars were basically disposable. You’d buy one for £1500, drive it until it died (which was quick), and repeat.
This guy had two choices:
1) swap the Sterling badges for Acuras and double his money;
2) sink 3x the value of the car into mods of, um, dubious aesthetic value and try to come close to breaking even.
He chose poorly.
Hear me out… I don’t hate it. I’m not buying it, but I kinda like it.
That’s my exact take, beat me to it.
If it were manual and a liftback I’d be slightly more tempted.
Needs to knock a zero off the price though.
Just knock a zero off and I’d probably buy it. Knock it down to $5500 or less and I’d be tempted.
That interior wrecks the only things appealing about a Sterling; he should have done that to an Acura.
Has anyone ever swapped Sterling/Rover 800 interior bits into an Acura Legend?
Just looking at it I was thinking Connecticut or New Jersey. Toms River is very appropriate for this thing and Kevin to live.
I don’t think Kevin has a understanding of 80s interiors this screams early 00s to me.
That whole screaming Kevin! Thing that home alone brought and the Kevins of that era a younger seem to adapted to also works.
There is also something very bogan about this. Mid ’00s style in a 80s sedan. The university of North Carolina at Greensboro script from the 90s that was probably one of former owners also adds to that. Has keven even been to Greensboro? Is Kevin secretly a bogan? Bogan styles are assaulting us all with the oval sunglasses and those ridiculous shorts that are kind of baggy pants.
That’s true. It’s multiple layers of “dated.” It sort of exists out-of-time.
Thanks for letting us know where the car is… I don’t have FB and didn’t want to create an account just to know the location.
I only use it for marketplace. It’s horrific.
“Kevin knows what he has. Kevin knows his worth. Kevin will not be daunted. Kevin doesn’t even know the meaning of the word daunt.”
There are a lot of words that Kevin does not know the meaning of.
I wonder if he knows the meaning of CP?
Because that’s how I’ll be voting today.
Not only won’t you see it rolling up to any car shows, it’ll be a miracle if you see it rolling under its own power at all. Sterling wasn’t exactly known for “sterling” build quality.
Kevin will tell you ” it’s basically a Honda it’s an Acura, trust me bro”
I fear there is far more “80s British luxury” then Kevin realizes.
Yes, the problem, as G.K. notes below, is that the UK assembly teams were somewhat less competent than their Japanese counterparts. It may have been designed by Acura, but it was built by InAcura.
Definitely, and uk suppliers used. Lucus electronics not exactly what people think of when they think Honda quality. People like Kevin are special though. They believe crazy things and can’t be told otherwise.
True, and this is a great example of that.
As a show of faith, Honda allowed Rover Group to build the Honda Legends for the UK and EU markets at Rover’s own factory, alongside the 800 series. However, Honda was aware enough of Rover’s poor quality control that it set up a separate post-processing line at its own facility in Swindon, to catch all the defects before the cars made it to dealers…of which there were apparently a great many.
BMW Group dissolved Rover’s relationship with Honda pretty much as soon as it bought Rover, and that was that.
OK
made me laugh
I recently saw the special, looking back at the Absolutely Fabulous seeies.
They said Whoopi didn’t use one single line, as written, when she appeared.
My favourite part was when she engaged a covert cameraman on the ground just out of shot, in a speaking part in the plot!
It’s in the final cut!
Did Kevin do all this or did Kevin buy it like this? I have a lot of questions in either case, just slightly different ones.
I actually think its dope as shit aside from that awful headliner material. I’d go as far to spend like 4k on it.
Assuming it ran the way a Legend is supposed to run, I’d outbid you by $1k.
Please tell me that the license plates read GRIMACE
*inserts gif of “Now comes the part where we throw our heads back and laugh.”*
Someone should invite him to bring this car to Torch’s Old Folks Home Auto Show in Chapel Hill.
I like it, and cars are expensive these days, so maybe 15 isn’t out of reach?
In the UK you’d struggle to get $5k equivalent for one of these, in that condition I don’t think it would sell at all. They were fairly common at one point, but most have been scrapped.
Didn’t realise Sterling was a separate brand in the US though, that’s quite odd.
The headliner is a step too far, but for the most part I unironically dig it. Not for $15k, though.
Well;
1. Just that paint job is worth More than the ask.
2. It is customized for Kevin it is as is for everyone else
3. Won’t see it drive many places, probably less than you see it being towed to
4. Sunroof?
Needs the exterior paint but with a refreshed/upgraded original interior. The interior was the only thing cool about these.
K-dawg’s interior is awesome.
I drive a red Sterling
and the seats recline.
LOL
interior is a bit much, exterior is great. all in all, it’s very period correct.
I think the only terrible thing about it is that headliner. Everything else seems well executed.