2800CS on BaT

The "in process" photos posted in this car's auction (specifically #300 - 322) do not inspire confidence. They reflect the kind of work environment you might find in a small-scale shop, but not what I would expect from a BMW specialist.

If I were bidding on this car, I would ask how long ago the restoration was done. E.g., was it completed so recently that the untreated areas beneath the patches have not had time to bubble through to the surface? Or was it long enough ago that a buyer can have confidence that the corrosion has been stabilized?
I agree, Those fenders should really have come off and proper attention and repair to the structure under there should have been taken. The riveted on plate behind the glovebox to patch a rust hole also indicates that there was already a good bit of structural rust in that area and the only way to restore that is to remove the fenders. If you're going to do a restoration it pays to do it right. Just painting a rust converter solution to the areas that you can reach isn't a proper way to do it. And yes it was done 10 years ago, but if the car is garaged and not driven in rain then that's hardly a test of time if it wasn't done properly. Hard pass on this one at that price...
 
in all fairness, and i'm not making excuses for werk shop - that work may have been done way before they got the car ... might have been excluded from scope of work. i'm there with you, i would have expected that those things would have been properly addressed ... if it was my company, i wouldn't have taken the work on if i wasn't allowed to do the work correctly.
 
Interesting comments from our friends here. I have a question: this car has the oil filler cap on the valve cover on the left edge (like my M90/B34). Most M30s have the oil filler cap on the right side of the valve cover. Is this unique to a 2.8CS, or is this a later build that cold be a M90?
 
Let me backup my comment. I’m not referring to whether the fenders came off or not. I’m talking about using truck bed spray under the car, and overspray on the struts and springs.

It’s not a commentary on the car either. It is directed at the workshop, which IMO isn’t holding up to countless newer shops that understand that a photo of the undercarriage matters now.

Most of the things that I would poke holes in are indeed things like valve cover selection and color, sticker placement, etc. These aren’t things that cost money. They are the difference between a “world class bmw restoration shop” and any competent auto restoration shop.

This car is beautiful…
 
I knew this car was heading for BaT because I know someone that knows the owner (and eventually we all know Kevin Bacon). I had only heard that the car was restored by WerkShop a while back, and that not everything was perfect on it. Then I saw the auction kick off. I didn't take the time to look at the photos (beyond the first few). I saw the first few comments on BaT, but wasn't aware of this thread. Frankly, I am shocked by the 4th. 5th and 6th bids. Tonight, after reading this thread, I looked through all the photos carefully. There are experts on this board that know so much more than I do. Maybe I'd catch a few, but I would miss a lot of the originality details. But I am befuddled by what I see in the photos - especially from about image 200 on. There were moments when I assumed I was looking at a different car than the one being auctioned. But it is the same car (right?). I don't want to point out the things I see with the chassis and body work - it's not my place and I don't want to offend Kevin Bacon. But I'll repeat that I am shocked by the early high bids. Maybe I need to review other recent coupe sales prices - because this one is throwing my calibration off. Kudos to the seller for sharing so much content on the history of the restoration. It is an honest auction, and the bidders are going in well informed.
 
" Full Restoration " but no money for a can of paint for the block........ no paint for the motor mounts.... no money for freeze plugs....

penny wise - pound foolish.


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It is a nice looking car.

I’m curious to hear from people who have experience with a bare-metal resto. To me, it looks like this had some rust corrected in the outer visible layer of sheet metal, but they left a lot of layers of rusty metal underneath in the fenders and rockers.

Well, I was going through the pics, and it is exactly what I think is the most difficult aspect of the car.
Just see this pic, where they paint over multiple rust holes in the part that is also visible when you open the door, connecting the fender to the A-post.
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And then continue to weld it shut.
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Does this do anything to slow rust on sheet metal with holes in it?
I don't think so: when steel is so far corroded, it has thousands of pockets and cracks holding air with moisture in it. The encapsulated moisture just keep eating the metal, expanding it as it prgresses, and cracks open a new paint layer within the year.

A one-sided paint layer is not what a Swiss cheese metal needs to live for 50 years.
It needs new steel to make it that far.


Now if it needs to live for another 10 years, then this will do just fine. And with a new Baikal Blue paint job it does look amazing.
But I would not be surprised if after 10 years we see rust bubbles at the bottom of the A-pillar where the patch was welded shut.

This also shows (to me) that only some rust was remedied:
Screenshot_20260607_150522_Samsung Browser.jpg

Now this is not at all bad thing, as the buyer knows exactly what they are getting, as the seller is fully open and honest. And it kept the car alive for at least another 10 years.

Fyi - my e9 got the same single layer treatment some 25 odd years ago, and that's why it is now on a full body jig getting new front strut towers. They rot inside just as quick as on the outside, if not quicker.
 
One could argue that a restoration is only as good as a customer’s budget, but that didn’t stop the Werkshop from drilling holes in the fender and riveting on their “complete restoration” placard.

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Indeed @Markos, the "complete restoration" term also makes me wonder.

One could still spend 10k (easily) on rust remediation of the front fenders and strut support area, and no-one would call it a waste or unwise.
Surely the Werkshop would have advised to do it, given the deep brown pockets of rust that we get a glimpse off in this pic:
Screenshot_20260608_113009_Samsung Browser.jpg
Only the top layer was addressed however. Probably by choice by the customer. It is as it is.
But then the Werkshop still sticks the placard on there? To me this is misleading; this is NOT called a full resto in my part of the world.
Would they say "All is done, nothing left to fix" if they looked at the car again?

To be precise, my rant is aimed at the Werkshop, not the owner who paid for it.

The money spend on the Baikal paint job (wild guess, 10k paint vs 10k on rust remediation behind the fenders?) to me is a bigger dilemma; rust from within will grab a hold of the paint from behind, limiting the lifespan of the paintjob to, what 10 years? 15 max?
That's a 1 to 2 K of value lost a year. Which wouldn't be the case if the rust was properly taken care off.

Still, not my car, and not my call.
And an honest reprentation of the car with all those resto pictures, so this makes the seller all the more the 'gentleman' to me.

Now if all car sales men would be honest like this gentleman, the world would be a better place :-)
 
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Definitely not a "full" restoration, just a "cosmetic" one. I agree it doesn't reflect well on the restoration company that they were prepared to compromise, even if at the owner's request - still, not my car ......
 
This is a "refurbishment" at best. Certainly not a "complete restoration". I don't think there is a one of us here that would buy that car. Oy! :(
 
Wonder if that $110k for the 2000 that just sold will drag this one’s price higher? Some recent high-priced cars have closed in the last 4-5 months…
 
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