Restore or Scrap

[Hinemn]

Hey There Fellow E9 Enthusiast

I think I know the answer to my question already but there is this voice inside my head that is telling me otherwise.

When I was in high school in Canada way back in the 80s I remember my sister's friend getting dropped off at school in this exact car. I always had a fond eye for the CSi way way back when I was little kid in Germany where I grew up until my parents decided to come to Canada. Over the years my parents had many different car including a few BMWs which is like owning a Chevrolet in North America.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago when I messaged my sister's friend to see if her dad still had his beloved BMW CSi 3.0 and if he was willing to sell it.

She replied with, Yes he does and yes he's willing to sell it.

I went to see the car and this is what I found. Spoiler alert, I did buy the car and brought it home.

I wan to tell myself that the car is repairable but I have enough experience with old card that I'm kidding myself. There is rust rust everywhere which is to be expected for an old car after its been sitting outside for 18 years.

He imported the car from Germany in the early 80's so its a true Euro Spec CSi, not that it matters anymore but when he put the car away the engine only had 5K km on it.

I know, it's such a sad story for such a beautiful car.

Option 1, Restore

Option 2, Resto Mod

Option 3, Part out

Option 4, Sell complete AS IS

Option 5, ?????????

 

[JMinPDX]

Sadly common sense says option 3. Unless you did the majority of the work yourself restoring this car would be well into six figures. Even with values on the rise, it’s hard to justify. I will go out on a limb and say the rust you can’t see is worse than visible rust, since our coupes rust from the inside out.
On the bright side the car looks fairly complete. Lots on desirable mechanical and trim pieces.

 

[Stevehose]

Sadly common sense says option 3. Unless you did the majority of the work yourself restoring this car would be well into six figures. Even with values on the rise, it’s hard to justify. I will go out on a limb and say the rust you can’t see is worse than visible rust, since our coupes rust from the inside out.
On the bright side the car looks fairly complete. Lots on desirable mechanical and trim pieces.

Sadly, agree. Even the replacement top fender panels on the seat are rusting.

 

[autokunst]

Others on this forum know that, 99% of the time, my answer is always "save". However, in this case I think this sweet car has passed that milestone unfortunately. There's just too much metal missing - stuff that is not available and challenging to fabricate. It has lost it's geometry and would need to be re-aligned (chassis) in addition to all of the metal work.

I'd love to purchase the shift knob from you if that helps your equation.

 

[Thomas76]

Torture to be in this position I'm certain. To have sentimental attachment yet try to maintain financial common sense. I faced this decision 2 years ago and couldn't bring myself to restore or part out. So option 4 is where I found peace, I let someone else decide.
Good luck!

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

That is a great story about thinking about that special CSi all these years, then finding it and buying it! I agree that unless you are independently wealthy AND this car is so special to you that you could care less how much the restoration costs, that the best options are 3 or 4.

Option 3 is going to take a lot of time and space to accomplish. Since this would be the first E9 you have disassembled, you will do a lot of learning during the process. A disassembled car takes up MUCH more room than one that is together. For the most part, the mechanical parts of an E9 are not very valuable. They were shared with the E3 and other BMW models. Then there is the marketing, packaging and shipping of the parts. In the end (not counting your time) you may not recoup as much money as you planned.

Moving the car on to a shop or hobbyist that has experience with an E9 and that knows what to salvage and what does not "pencil" to spend time on would be my choice. The worst choice would be to start the disassembly then realize it wasn't a good idea with the disassembly half done. The car then becomes worth less than if it was together.

In any case, congratulations on finding the exact car you fell in love with so many years ago. There is lots of satisfaction in that fact alone.

 

[sfdon]

Part it out..

estimate $100,000.00 and five years to drive this car.

sell the parts, save the money, buy a car you can drive tomorrow…

 

[Dan Wood]

What can't be seen from the outside is probably much worse than can be seen. Part it out is the best option.

 

[Wladek]

+1 part it out, body rust went too far & these parts are pain to find and in addition very pricey.

 

[BMW Pete]

+2 Part it.

There is also an emotional angle if I may, bit like an organ donor. You will have saved the car you remember and donated to allow others to live.

P.S. dibs on center consul side panels for me or the whole consul if easier

 

[Keshav]

Those look like the last series Alpina CSL rims…7x14?

 

[Erik]

Maybe this is your parts car for another, dry coupe? Unless you can afford to buy a very well-sorted car, you'll always need parts, and this car could live on in another car for you.

 

[sfdon]

PM sent..

 

[Markos]

I went through the same thing. Parting makes sense as absolutely nobody in America will restore this car. You also might consider offering the package to @KastelikClassicCar. They just restored on in similar condition.

Agree with @Keshav that the wheels appear to be CSL alpinas. Quite desirable.

You can part out a car quickly and ship later. That wasn’t my goal since I wanted to understand the car and document the process. I spent about two years. I only had a little over 400lbs of metal left over. Honestly I wish I have kept more.

Deconstruction Thread: How to part-out an E9

As much as I hate to part out an E9, I decided to harness the opportunity. I picked up a '73 CSI from WA this weekend. Original Listing: https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/73-csi-in-wa-4-500.19855/ The run down: The BMW 3.0 CSi VIN 2263445 was manufactured on October 05th, 1972 and delivered...

e9coupe.com

 

[nosmonkey]

Option 5, find a decent bare shell (is that even possible these days) and restore the mechanicals from this. A lot of usable and desirable parts on this, as keshav mentioned, those look like csl wheels

Even if you have a massive emotional attachment to the car, triggers broom comes to mind. Once you have restored it how much of it will be the original car

 

[teahead]

Sad.

Unless you are prolific metal guy, and maybe do a CSL Group 2 type replica, it's a part-out candidate.

Hope you got it for cheap.

 

[boonies]

Maybe this is your parts car for another, dry coupe? Unless you can afford to buy a very well-sorted car, you'll always need parts, and this car could live on in another car for you.

I like this concept a lot. Given the purchase of this coupe, it will make a great donor for one that has a better body. Regardless of what you purchase, you will never have all the bits you need. If you have the room…

 

[bavbob]

Sadly, if only such owners knew what their cars would be worth someday if intact. Hindsight always 20/20. Love the two-tone and front spoiler.

 

[Oldbmwcoupes]

How much would you sell the entire car for.?

 

[Hinemn]

Sadly common sense says option 3. Unless you did the majority of the work yourself restoring this car would be well into six figures. Even with values on the rise, it’s hard to justify. I will go out on a limb and say the rust you can’t see is worse than visible rust, since our coupes rust from the inside out.
On the bright side the car looks fairly complete. Lots on desirable mechanical and trim pieces.

The only reason I'm even considering restoring is because of the value of these cars but even me doing most of the work myself it would still take numerous years and a countless amount of money. As much as I like working on cars I like driving them more.