During my talk to the White Mountain BMW chapter about my CSL tribute car and my 60 years of BMW sedan ownership, I neglected to speak about my experience repairing my CSL after a head on accident at Watkins Glen in 2021. At the time, I was unaware of the problem sourcing body parts for BMW E9 sedans and finding a repair shop experienced in repairing these unique bodies. The E9s were one of the early BMW sedans post WWII and they were made with thinner metal and lacked any rust prevention applications. This is the reason there are so few E9 sedans remaining today and those that remain unrestored suffer from severe body rot deep in the frame.
My accident destroyed the right fender and the complete front grill pieces and severely bent the inner right fender lining. Fortunately the E9 has a strong shock support structure that was unharmed. It took me six months to source the body parts and I was fortunate to find the perfect body shop willing to take on the repairs. Tom Kelly and his son Zack at Precision Motorsports in Milford Mass did a magnificent job which was quite complicated. They have specialized in repairing race cars for 30 years and both of them race BMW M3s in SCCA competition.
My car has flared fiberglass fenders that are attached to the steel OEM fenders. I needed to find a replacement steel fender and complete steel front grill members and then have a replacement fiberglass fender made. I visited Mario at VSR1 in New Hampshire and he was extremely helpful with advice and an offer to purchase the front grill parts in Germany for me and provide illustrations of how the repair would be done. He informed me that BMW had ceased making most body parts for E9s years ago. The body molds were sold to a Polish company which went bankrupt. During my six month search, I discovered on Ebay someone in Long Island that was parting out three E9 sedans and I purchased two sets of front and rear fenders and a front grill structure and had them sand blasted and zinc treated for rust prevention. I then contacted the Coupe Guy in Colorado who is one of the few sources for fiberglass CSL Group 2 body parts and had him build two sets pf front and rear flared fenders and front spoilers. The repair took several months and the results are amazing as you can see in the pictures I have posted earlier. Owning an E9 BMW is a goal for many BMW club members, but
I advise anyone considering this purchase to be totally aware of the problems associated with this particular BMW model before paying the very inflated price for these beautiful cars.
