1973 Golf BMW E3 now Live on BaT - Yes it's mine......

JMinPDX

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A new standard for e3’s. Very impressive. Congrats to true enthusiast owner and an experienced broker who knows how to get the most out of a BAT auction. Great call by Shane to let Avant-Guard handle the sale. The hammer price should shorten seller’s remorse by about 98%.;)
 
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GolfBavaria

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Congrats, don’t desert us, we’ll miss your epic rants :p
Don't worry guys, I have plenty of rants left in me but the older I get, the more I am just going with the flow; happy to be alive.If you don't watch the news or get too deep into politics, life is great! But, I still don't follow my own advice all the time, I admit...but overall, life is good, enjoy it gentleman and ladies!
 

Ajay

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Congrats on the auction Shane. Car looks fantastic.

Steven Wright, one of My favorite comedians. One of his jokes...a car hauler picks up a hitch hiker and let's him sit in one of the cars in the back, he ends up picking up 17 more hitch hikers, he goes 90 miles an hour an they all get speeding tickets...classic.
 

CSBM5

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I can believe the under water part (and you probably didn't even do the calculation using real (inflation adjusted) dollars either! :oops: When I came across my old Bavaria and pondered repurchasing it (it had been neglected and left for dead under a tree for many years by the guy who bought it from me), I quickly added up just parts cost plus body prep and paintwork (fortunately the car had no significant rust still), and when that tally went by $25k, I just blew the idea off. This was in 2005 when the best Bavaria on the planet might have sold for $10-12k.

Nonetheless, what an awesome bidding battle. My wife and I were watching the battle while we were preparing dinner here last night since we're both Bavaria nuts from ages ago. I think the person that won had commented about originally having a $50k limit but ended up coming back near the end to reenter the bidding. You couldn't have asked for a better auction with 3 very interested bidders, especially since it ended on a Friday, late in the day east coast time prior to a major holiday weekend (not to mention we just concluded the worst first 1/2 of the year in the markets since ages, and the worst first half for bonds ever). I'm sure you enjoyed watching the bidders battle it out. What a perfect send off to a perfect car, congrats!

Regards,
Chuck
 

GolfBavaria

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Congrats on the auction Shane. Car looks fantastic.

Steven Wright, one of My favorite comedians. One of his jokes...a car hauler picks up a hitch hiker and let's him sit in one of the cars in the back, he ends up picking up 17 more hitch hikers, he goes 90 miles an hour an they all get speeding tickets...classic.
Ajay, man you were one I forgot, haven't seen you on here in a while, thank you as well, miss you OC guys man. Oh, and yes I forgot about that Steven Wright joke, that is one I need to memorize. He's the best EVER, next to Carlin. Different stuff but love them both. How right has Carlin been all those years about what is going on in the world. Amazing a comedian with such insight.
 
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GolfBavaria

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I can believe the under water part (and you probably didn't even do the calculation using real (inflation adjusted) dollars either! :oops: When I came across my old Bavaria and pondered repurchasing it (it had been neglected and left for dead under a tree for many years by the guy who bought it from me), I quickly added up just parts cost plus body prep and paintwork (fortunately the car had no significant rust still), and when that tally went by $25k, I just blew the idea off. This was in 2005 when the best Bavaria on the planet might have sold for $10-12k.

Nonetheless, what an awesome bidding battle. My wife and I were watching the battle while we were preparing dinner here last night since we're both Bavaria nuts from ages ago. I think the person that won had commented about originally having a $50k limit but ended up coming back near the end to reenter the bidding. You couldn't have asked for a better auction with 3 very interested bidders, especially since it ended on a Friday, late in the day east coast time prior to a major holiday weekend (not to mention we just concluded the worst first 1/2 of the year in the markets since ages, and the worst first half for bonds ever). I'm sure you enjoyed watching the bidders battle it out. What a perfect send off to a perfect car, congrats!

Regards,
Chuck
Chuck, thank you very much. Love to hear we have another long time Bav fan on the board. Yeah, I was one of the few idiots that put coupe money in a Bav, but with the hammer price it did make it a little easier on my decision to sell. My wife and her mom were on the phone together watching and I could hear them in the other room as it just kept going up and up. I was in my cave here in my home office. It was all kind of surreal at the end to be honest. Kind of still hitting me.

There were $50K whispers from a few people that know what they are doing, but I think the over $60K took us all by surprise, but not really at the same time. I think Avant-Garde did a stellar job presenting the car. I was lucky actually that they took it on consignment. They are very picky with their cars they take to uphold their reputation, I was basically told I got, "lucky." They were kind of joking, kind of not...LOL. Luckily they are all true car guys and saw the potential even with my crappy Apple iPhone pics I initially sent them. We all loved that Steampunk911guy came back into the fray. I think he made a very wise decision and after reading his last comment I think it was meant to be. Just like me finding the car in 2015 after it literally came out of one of the last dairy farm barns in Norco, CA. The PO had fallen ill and left it to his nephew that had no idea what he had. But like you said, Bav's were in the $1K-$15K range at the time, $15K tops maybe. I didn't realize it was original factory Golf at first which is crazy. Had a bad Macco paint job that was lightly sprayed over the original paint that they did back in the 90's, which was great because it came off easy and I left a lot of the original paint in certain areas.

Timing happened to be good yes, even though stock market is down 20% easy across the board and yes, bonds are getting crushed. As many know, real inflation is more than what the .gov says it is, so why buy a bond that will just lose money in the long term when the rate can't keep up with inflation. It's mostly just the institutions buying to balance portfolios. Anyways, car talk, no finance, but it is related, you bet it is. I do see overall vintage car market softening a bit from last year, that recent "no sale" of the Polaris coupe great example of that, but still better investments right now than stonks and bonds......So, to end, my wife asked me this morning, "is it still emotional for you?" I said, yes, but like everything else, as time goes on, the more you forget and I am super stoked on Steam Punk. I am glad Chris reached out and invited him to the club....Cheers!
 

AbnMike

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Totally understand selling for that reason. I sold my 1970 2800 for the same reason when I moved to Montana.

Sucks that it’s worth $20-30k more now than I sold it for and miss it like crazy.

Photos are its home in my MT garage for 7 months of the year and last time driving it before too much snow on the ground.

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953845DD-9FBF-4ACD-BD93-284F54B88F50.jpeg
 
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GolfBavaria

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Totally understand selling for that reason. I sold my 1970 2800 for the same reason when I moved to Montana.

Sucks that it’s worth $20-30k more now than I sold it for and miss it like crazy.

Photos are its home in my MT garage for 7 months of the year and last time driving it before too much snow on the ground.

View attachment 143811View attachment 143812
From the limited pics it looks very nice, I don't think I have seen that one before. Don't kick yourself over thinking the money lost, $20-$30K.. It's mainly the dollar is just worth less than when you sold it; sad but true. Also, it seems like the E3 has only come into itself over the last couple years.
 

Drew Gregg

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Congrats on getting a great price for your exceptional E3. I've only driven a Bavaria once back in 1970 (2800?) and it was indeed a luxury car compared to my then 1969 Fiat 124 Spyder. What was the commission for Avant Garde? It seems like it more than paid for the great hammer price.
 

GolfBavaria

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10% plus $1K for pics
Chris is correct and they do have some exceptional mechanics that go through the car, again, their reputation is on the line. They will fix any issues but of course discuss advantages/disadvantages to the fixes (if worth it or not) prior to doing anything. There were a couple minor things they were able to help with, a bad ground on my right blinker just needed cleaning and after my drive from CD'A to Portland I wanted them to retune the carbs.

So, yes, I'm gladly paying them the 10% and the $1K for pics is well worth it, a big part of the decision to go with them is I love their photographer and how they present the cars. One other thing to keep in mind is they have a great rapport with BaT and sometimes you won't have that long wait time to get to the front of the line to list car. One other big thing for me was they handle all the "comments" and have a process of how they present on BaT that has proven to be a very effective model. Bonus is they have their own "Stig" driver who people love to watch him run their "circuit" around Portland. Put that all together and you have a winning formula.
 
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