1974 BMW 3.0 CS (Boston, MA)

I live in Canton (the next town over from Westwood) so I could check this out this weekend for anyone who might be interested.
 
Boston Car

This car does in fact exist. I drove it last night. The owner was very open and upfront about the car.

It started right up from cold into a very smooth idle, like Oh, Wow! smooth. I drove it 5-10 miles and it drove fine without any obvious foibles. The shift linkage was very mushy but it pulled fine, stopped fine, etc. It had a pretty good front end shimmy in it which could be the result of many things. I'd want to know the source before buying.

The paint is 20 years old. Its clear to me that the prep work for the paint job was not that good. Over time, the car should be repainted but it shines pretty good now. There are two large cracks in the paint in the top front corners where it looks like there has been either body work or thick paint. The dash is cracked in two places. The wood has been redone but not very well. The front seats are Vaders so thats a personal preference thing. The rears have been recovered but not in the correct period leather.

The chassis appears dry and does not have rust in any of the obvious places. It looks good when I peered underneath. The sunroof opens and closes nicely and does not have any rust showing.

And the wheels. 'nuf said.

Conclusion: It seems like a good candidate for a rolling restoration but potential buyers should take it somewhere (VSR is an hour away) for a real PPI, compression/leakdown test, put it up on the rack, etc. Go through the suspension, change all the fluids, drive it and fix the cosmetics over time.

And ditch the wheels.;-)
 
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Wheels wouldn't be so bad if there were grey/charcoal.
Was the bumper conversion done well?
Price seems a little ambitious but who knows what it'll sell for.
Sounds like a great car to drive now and restore later.
 
The wheels are horrid and kill the whole look of the car but some people have the same reaction to 16" wheels.

The cosmetic attention to detail is lacking. All the right pieces seemed to have been used with the front bumper, but the execution was weak. Its a little wobbly.

Interestingly, the front air dam was blended into the body work (it cannot be removed) as part of the front clip.

If you dropped it off at a shop and put $25-30K into it (assuming the motor is good and not a disaster under the paint), you would probably end up with a $45-50K coupe based upon today's prices. Alternatively, you could go buy one at that price and be done with it. He knows is price is a bit ambitious.

For the right person who wants to do a rolling resto doing most of the work, this could be a good candidate.

Again, it needs to be checked out properly by someone more expert than me. My point is that it seems like its a candidate to take that next step for the right person.
 
Andrew Wilson sent me the link to this car as I have been dabbling in getting an E9 to supplement my 635CSI. I did put a call into the owner, and am waiting on a return call.

I have also already talked to Mario at VSR about getting a PPI performed.

As always getting to see the car in person will be the biggest factor.

Good thing I have a perfect set of BBS RA wheels in my garage! :?

Cheers, Phil
 
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