David Tang
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Hello everyone:
I have had the pleasure of a 1973 3.0 CSL in Taiga green since 1991. The car was German, appropriately located in Bavaria when I bought it and brought it over to Canada. I’ve had the privilege of being friends with Marcus Glarner, who has made it possible for me to enjoy the car all these years.
The CSL is a pre-Batmobile but the original owner, a doctor in Bavaria, had the front spoiler and the roof hoop installed. He also replaced the four wheels with BBS mesh wheels, although he kept the original spare (which still has the original Michelin XWX on it). Other period modifications include a oil temperature gauge, Schroff harnesses and a flexible gooseneck reading light. A different radio was also fitted at some point but has since been removed and I have never put in a radio since driving it leaves me with absolutely no desire to listen to music.
In the mid 90’s, I had the body restored with what was then the last thin gauge tail panel then available for a CSL. The car had been repainted gold at one point so all of the body panels were stripped back to bare metal, except (foolishly) the underside of the hood, which had the non-CSL underhood sound/heat foam proofing on it, which I thought we wouldn’t removed. I also had the roof hoop hole repaired and it is now just held on with just the rain gutter clamps and double sided body tape.
The car has 163,xxx km on it now with me putting on about 20,000 km of that. The first couple of years I drove it more than later, proving that restoring cars leads to a completely different mindset. For example the car hasn’t been driven in the rain since then. That hasn’t prevented it from being tracked every five years or so, although somewhat “gently”.
The CSL is the most valued of my other cars, most of which are BMWs and most of those M cars. Fittingly the CSL is not only BMW’s first Motorosport car, but my first. At the time I had a E28 535i, which was replaced with a 1991 E34 M5, then supplemented with a 2000 E36/8 M Coupe. I’ve had as winter cars a VW Passat Syncro wagon, a Mercedes W124 300E 4Matic and then a E39 540iT. All of those winter cars are gone now and I currently drive a E91 328ixT. I’ve recently added a 2006 E60 M5.
I can’t decide what I want to do about the interior of the CSL, which is, shall I say, quite original. Others might say it is a little tired. I’ve noted the trend towards keeping “patina” on cars. It does need new fabric on the driver’s side Scheel particularly where the fabric is very stretched and thin, one of the door panel wood trim pieces is imperfect and the dash on the passenger side is warped and needs repair. The bits that you interact with most are in fine shape which makes it less irritating (the dash is warped on the passenger side). I had a new proper replacement steering wheel before I bought it. Oddly, since the fabric is worn on the drivers side seat, the vinyl on the Scheels is replaced, I believe since the texture is different than on others that I have seen.
Adding to the confusion for me is the fact that CSLs seem to finally have appreciated a bit in the last several years and my storage situation is getting tight. Storing 4 cars each winter is getting difficult and I can no longer drive a manual transmission as a daily driver because of a nerve problem in my left foot. I don’t know whether I should be thinking about selling and letting the next owner deal with those issues or not. Or indeed which of the keeper cars to keep!
What would people think a fair price range for the car would be?
The CSL has the plexiglass rear window, thinner glass windows throughout, aluminum hood, trunk, door skins, gas tank lid, headlight covers etc. so it's correct. The front air dam, roof hoop and rear spoiler are not but neither the earlier owners nor I liked the CSL stripe so those are the only parts of the Batmobile kit on it. I waver back and forth even on the roof hoop, but generally think that the uniqueness of it slightly trumps the better lines of the car without it.
I look forward to participating in the forum further. I'm going to try and attach some photos but am not sure it will work.
If they don't here are some links:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/3.0 CSL at Thornhill Cruisers-.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/IMG_0998.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/3.0 CSL at Thornhill Cruisers-9387.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/3.0 CSL Burnt River Car Show-1060137.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/3.0 CSL at Thornhill Cruisers-9395.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/IMG_2905.JPG
Cheers!
David
I have had the pleasure of a 1973 3.0 CSL in Taiga green since 1991. The car was German, appropriately located in Bavaria when I bought it and brought it over to Canada. I’ve had the privilege of being friends with Marcus Glarner, who has made it possible for me to enjoy the car all these years.
The CSL is a pre-Batmobile but the original owner, a doctor in Bavaria, had the front spoiler and the roof hoop installed. He also replaced the four wheels with BBS mesh wheels, although he kept the original spare (which still has the original Michelin XWX on it). Other period modifications include a oil temperature gauge, Schroff harnesses and a flexible gooseneck reading light. A different radio was also fitted at some point but has since been removed and I have never put in a radio since driving it leaves me with absolutely no desire to listen to music.
In the mid 90’s, I had the body restored with what was then the last thin gauge tail panel then available for a CSL. The car had been repainted gold at one point so all of the body panels were stripped back to bare metal, except (foolishly) the underside of the hood, which had the non-CSL underhood sound/heat foam proofing on it, which I thought we wouldn’t removed. I also had the roof hoop hole repaired and it is now just held on with just the rain gutter clamps and double sided body tape.
The car has 163,xxx km on it now with me putting on about 20,000 km of that. The first couple of years I drove it more than later, proving that restoring cars leads to a completely different mindset. For example the car hasn’t been driven in the rain since then. That hasn’t prevented it from being tracked every five years or so, although somewhat “gently”.
The CSL is the most valued of my other cars, most of which are BMWs and most of those M cars. Fittingly the CSL is not only BMW’s first Motorosport car, but my first. At the time I had a E28 535i, which was replaced with a 1991 E34 M5, then supplemented with a 2000 E36/8 M Coupe. I’ve had as winter cars a VW Passat Syncro wagon, a Mercedes W124 300E 4Matic and then a E39 540iT. All of those winter cars are gone now and I currently drive a E91 328ixT. I’ve recently added a 2006 E60 M5.
I can’t decide what I want to do about the interior of the CSL, which is, shall I say, quite original. Others might say it is a little tired. I’ve noted the trend towards keeping “patina” on cars. It does need new fabric on the driver’s side Scheel particularly where the fabric is very stretched and thin, one of the door panel wood trim pieces is imperfect and the dash on the passenger side is warped and needs repair. The bits that you interact with most are in fine shape which makes it less irritating (the dash is warped on the passenger side). I had a new proper replacement steering wheel before I bought it. Oddly, since the fabric is worn on the drivers side seat, the vinyl on the Scheels is replaced, I believe since the texture is different than on others that I have seen.
Adding to the confusion for me is the fact that CSLs seem to finally have appreciated a bit in the last several years and my storage situation is getting tight. Storing 4 cars each winter is getting difficult and I can no longer drive a manual transmission as a daily driver because of a nerve problem in my left foot. I don’t know whether I should be thinking about selling and letting the next owner deal with those issues or not. Or indeed which of the keeper cars to keep!
What would people think a fair price range for the car would be?
The CSL has the plexiglass rear window, thinner glass windows throughout, aluminum hood, trunk, door skins, gas tank lid, headlight covers etc. so it's correct. The front air dam, roof hoop and rear spoiler are not but neither the earlier owners nor I liked the CSL stripe so those are the only parts of the Batmobile kit on it. I waver back and forth even on the roof hoop, but generally think that the uniqueness of it slightly trumps the better lines of the car without it.
I look forward to participating in the forum further. I'm going to try and attach some photos but am not sure it will work.
If they don't here are some links:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/3.0 CSL at Thornhill Cruisers-.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/IMG_0998.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/3.0 CSL at Thornhill Cruisers-9387.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/3.0 CSL Burnt River Car Show-1060137.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/3.0 CSL at Thornhill Cruisers-9395.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28785058/1973 3.0 CSL/IMG_2905.JPG
Cheers!
David
