FS: CL - 1971 BMW 2500 (Tiaga) in East Mesa, AZ for $3,500

Nachtycoupe

Nachtycoupe

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So, if this car was anywhere near close to me I would check it out myself. It is in Arizona and that's more than a hop skip and a jump away. Good news is the car is still for sale. Which is a little suspect (12 days on CL). If it is anywhere near the condition of the pictures and the story checks out, seems like a great find. Rare color and complete. I spoke to Eddie, fair warning, he is a character and I would highly advise seeing this car in person before any deposits etc. are exchanged. Send someone local over or maybe a fellow member can go check it out. Anyhow, good luck, hopefully someone on here buys it. It is AZ car that was in storage (apparently) but when I asked about rust, he did say a "little" which as we know usually means a lot, but not showing in pics. Interior looks great as does the motor and he said as far as he knows no wrecks. But hood looks a little off, not sure if just unhinged, it is being held up by broomstick in pictures, usually means the tension spring in hood support is bad and or broke from being wrecked, but not the end of the world. No affiliation, somebody go check it out and report back please. He says willing to negotiate, bring cash or don't come by.


http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/5230512402.html
 

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I went to look at this 2500 this morning. The car piqued my interest in February but I already had too many cars and this one had enough question marks to where I decided it probably wasn't for me. Price dropped and I ended up checking it out for a friend.

Talking with Eddie, the "owner" (more on this later), over the phone, the story of the car is that it was a one-owner car and the guy died. One of this guy's family members does estate sales, so they got the car. After three years or so, he was able to get it from them and he got it for his 16-year-old daughter to drive. She didn't like it (I was shocked! Eyes bulging, jaw dropped, the whole bit). So, he must sell it to be able to buy her a VW or something. I was clear that I was going to check it out for a friend. I had talked to him about how the car ran and he said unless I'm going to buy the car, I'm not going to test drive it. Fine. I'll know in 30 seconds if a test drive is even necessary.

The car looked okay in the photos, so the hour-long drive seemed worth it. I pulled onto the guy's property, saw the car and thought about just backing out and taking off, all with him sitting on the porch. It would certainly send a clear message, but in the interest of science, I decided to persevere.

I gave the car a once-over on the exterior and it had a two-stage respray at some point, I'd say at least 20 years ago. It was a scuff and shoot job with no block sanding or anything. Some trim was removed, most wasn't. There's a large chunk of paint on the left front of the hood that's missing. It does have the correct hood for an early car with the single hole for the windshield squirter, but the leading edge was showing some rust. The left rear door is loaded with dings and missing paint, so it likely sat on one side of a garage for a while. It had wing mirrors fitted at one point, though the original trapezoid mirror is still on the driver door. Eddie was excited to tell me the mirrors were in the trunk. The front grilles were painted black at some point, but where they are chipping, you can see they were grey. The right one has a couple broken slats.

Eddie opened the hood and this car did not start out Taiga. It was Tundra originally, which definitely makes more sense for the tan interior. It had a very thorough color change, but lots of stuff was in the way like the wiper linkage, horns, strut mounts, door latches and more. Of course, there aren't a lot of cars out there that haven't had some sort of paint work done. The right front has some rust perforation around the shock tower and where the fender attaches. There are also holes in the rockers and the under-hood structure up front is showing plenty of rust.

The battery was dead but he charged it for a bit and it fired right up. Minimal smoke on start up. It was clear that he hadn't started it before I got there.

I didn't bother pulling back the trunk carpet or panels since the car has enough rust. It doesn't have a sunroof, headliner looks okay for the vintage - not too much staining on the C-pillar, so it was probably garaged a good part of it's life. The seats have absolutely been redone, but we knew that going in. Driver's footwell carpet has a hole in the heel pad. There are a few cracks in the dash, but I've seen much worse. It has a stock-looking AM/FM radio and also has a TEAC 8-track unit under the drivers seat which Eddie insists is a factory part and it works. I asked if he has any 8-tracks. He said no.

He's dead set that the car has 25k miles on it. I think the odometer is on it's second time around. He showed me a flap from an oil filter box from 1981 which showed 15k and change on the odo. I'm sure that was 115k miles (11 years) I decided not to argue with him. No point. He cites the wear on the pedal pads as his evidence of mileage. To me, they look like they have 225k miles and that PO heel-toed his automatic.

He brought me "the title." Back in the 1970s and until the mid 1980s, Arizona used a system where they printed a certificate that had a reduced copy of your hand or type-written application for title on it. Well, what he has is a copy of that. Not the real thing. It's tough to read and almost looks like a ditto. There's no place for a notary or even a signature since the back side of this is completely blank. It's not a legit title, so unfortunately, this car essentially has no title. I didn't get into it with him since it's a non-issue for me and while he was insisting I make him an offer today, I reiterated the fact that I'm not an interested party. Only checking it out for a friend.

He does have the pair of license plates that were on the car. They're the green/yellow Arizona 73 plates which they used until 1980 and made people replace them in 1990. I have to try to read my picture of the "title" to see when it was issued. The PO was in the Air Force, so it's possible that the car didn't start out here.
 
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Oh there was a dog in the house. I had a feeling he was going to nonchalantly close the gate while I was looking in the trunk and then ask, "So, how much you offerin' today?" Then out comes the dog!
 
Too bad it's not an actual Tiaga car... sad state.
 
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Well having seen it and talked to the owner (see my comments above), it's not a project I'd take on. Also the very poor photocopy of the title is another issue that isn't worth sussing out even at this price.
 
Marcos, good job picking up on the fact that this is the same car for sale back in OCT by crazy Eddie. Do not buy sight unseen is the major message here on this particular car. I was almost fooled into thinking this was a different car; new listing, different guy, lot etc. It looks like a steal sight unseen. That's what this community is great for. I hope nobody on here gets duped on this one.
 
GolfBavaria said:
Marcos, good job picking up on the fact that this is the same car for sale back in OCT by crazy Eddie. Do not buy sight unseen is the major message here on this particular car. I was almost fooled into thinking this was a different car; new listing, different guy, lot etc. It looks like a steal sight unseen. That's what this community is great for. I hope nobody on here gets duped on this one.
Click to expand...

I have a stupid ability to remember long term stuff like this, especially if a picture is involved. I can't remember to take out the garbage, or the name of someone I was introduced to 35 seconds ago...
 
jefftepper said:
I thought that the 2500 was not officially imported into the US after the Bavaria came out in 1971. Am I incorrect?
Click to expand...
I always thought it was the first e3 model built with the lower output motor (2.5L). The precursor to the 2800. 3.0S and the Bavaria. Maybe Chris can chime in on this.
 
That sounds correct and I have noticed in the US, the registration is based on the year it is sold, not the manufacturing date. So it is possible this car was sold in 1971 I guess (could also just be wrong advertising), then visa vie registered as a 71. The MY (month/year) build date vs. the year it was sold is always a point of contention it seems especially with the vintage Porsche owners. They argue about that all the time. Because in Europe they go by the MY it was built, not sold, creating confusion especially for the very low production early years (1964-1965). The dollar value can go up or down considerably depending on year it was built with those kind of cars. Not a big deal in this case with this model car (BMW e3 2500), at least not yet. And it's not a special 3.3L or something, so not really a big deal and still falls under the smog date requirement of 75 or older. But I've seen some bitter arguments over this. Sorry for veering off course a bit. Thanks Chris for the clarification that is what I would have figured.

And off of Wikipedia just for a good read:

Porsche 901 was the name originally intended for the Porsche 911.

By the early 1960s, Porsche project design numbers had reached into the 800s. For instance, Porsche's 1962 F1 model was called Porsche 804.

At the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (Frankfurt Motor Show) in Frankfurt in September 1963, Porsche presented its successor to the Porsche 356 as the 901. It took several more months until the cars were manufactured for sale to customers. Between 14 September and 16 November 1964, 82 cars were built[1] and the 901 was presented in October at the 1964 Paris Auto Salon. There, French car maker Peugeot objected to Porsche using any three digit number where the middle number was 0, asserting ownership of the naming rights in key markets, and having already sold many models with that scheme.

So, Porsche simply replaced the middle 0 with a 1, and called the car Porsche 911. Officially the 901s already constructed were used for testing and for exhibitions, and Porsche sold none to private customers.[1] Nevertheless, several of the cars retained by Porsche at that time appear to have made it to private ownership subsequently: in 1988 number 20 was discovered and completely restored by Kurt Schneider and his wife, Lori.[2] Then in 2010 it was reported that car number 37 was owned by a Porsche specialist named Alois Ruf.[1]
 
Shane,

You have production year and model year reversed. US cars are always titled with Model Year, verified on the Mulroney window sticker and also the DOT/EPA sticker since late 60s. Errors get made when transferring titles though.
 
Yes, you are correct the dyslexia kicked in there.....reason was is I saw a 1972 Bavaria titled as a 73' the other day on the registration, and it was clearly a 72'. An obvious DMV error. There was no doubt it was a 72'.
 
Though errors can and do occur, back in the day the California DMV listed the year model as provided by the manufacturer/dealer and also the date first sold or registered in California. The significance of the first sold or registered date is that the registration fee depreciation schedule started when the car was first registered. Note that for cars first registered out of state and, in recent years, when a car is resold here, the car is assigned an *yr (asterisk year) which resets the depreciation schedule clock to reflect the value of the car at the time of resale or the time it was first registered in California. Now there's a piece of trivia for you when you compete on Jeopardy !!;)

"Alex, may I have arcane DMV trivia for $200 please?"
 
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