72 Chamonix 3.0CS
- Thread starter cicada
- Start date
Dude you found my first coupe! I bought this very car, 2250066, at San Francisco BMW in 1994. It was purchased new at Peter Pan BMW in San Mateo. It was an automatic. A few years later I bought a 74 parts car and swapped in the 4speed and the wheels and tires. It’s still has the 74 wheels I put on it, Nardi wheel and the 90’s Kenwood stereo I installed. I brought it to NJ in 1999, installed new Webers then sold it to a guy in NJ in 2001. It had a nice file of service records. Never saw it again. Was afraid it was wasting away in some garage.
Here’s a photo from the mid 1990’s
Here’s a photo from the mid 1990’s
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Really? I'll be darned! Maybe I'll register to bid on it, then. Some friends that do work with these guys sent it to me, and they're going to bid in this auction on any Lotuses. It's this weekend. I go down there to do my grocery shopping anyway so might as well stop by the convention center and check out the car. Why'd you sell it?
I’m so excited. 
It looks pretty much the same as the day I sold it. Paint was good not great. Pretty sure it had been repainted before I got it. Still has the small dent in the rear valence above the exhaust pipe. Check the tires it had Michelin MXV’s. Looks like it still does. If so they could be over 25 years old.
It looks pretty much the same as the day I sold it. Paint was good not great. Pretty sure it had been repainted before I got it. Still has the small dent in the rear valence above the exhaust pipe. Check the tires it had Michelin MXV’s. Looks like it still does. If so they could be over 25 years old.
I’m remembering things, wood was nice but delaminating at the A pillars and appears it hasn’t gotten any worse in 20 years.
Still has the automatic radiator. (I never swapped it out) AC was working great when I sold it. As I recall it had no visible rust or bubbles anywhere. The listing “Highlights” says it has Zeniths. Nope, I put new Webers on and the pictures confirm it.
Nothing wrong with it when I sold it. With 2 small kids at the time, and starting a new business, I rarely drove it.
Still has the automatic radiator. (I never swapped it out) AC was working great when I sold it. As I recall it had no visible rust or bubbles anywhere. The listing “Highlights” says it has Zeniths. Nope, I put new Webers on and the pictures confirm it.
Nothing wrong with it when I sold it. With 2 small kids at the time, and starting a new business, I rarely drove it.
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One more thing, when I sold it I included a 5 speed transmission I had picked up. I explained to the buyer that it was an easy install since it already had the later style bell housing and slave cylinder from a 74 and I had put a new clutch in it. Don’t know it he ever installed it. Check for it, sounds like the auction house wouldn’t know.
Cool story...funny I remember Peter Pan BMW from growing up in the Bay Area in the 80's I would see the vanity plates on BMW's all the time. So John....are you going to buy it? Million dollar question. I bet you will be losing some sleep next few nights...I wish I could buy our old '72 Chamonix Bavaria that we sold when I graduated HS in 1988. That was bought new in Monterrey. Maybe somebody remembers the name of the BMW dealership there. Unfortunately, a week after we sold it the idiot totaled it.
Going through the pictures it seems like it was kept up fairly well. Good driver still at least, probably wouldn't need much to get it up and running and feel comfortable nothing major will go wrong while working on it. I always liked Chamonix on E3's and E9's. Their estimate on hammer price looks reasonable. This may be a good buy here.
Fred Snook’s Monterey BMW
While I do regret selling it, I will not be bidding. It has a reserve, My guess is 60k
I’ll be watching. Hope it ends up with a forum member. @cicada ?
Peter Pan BMW used to be a small “in town” dealership. They have since move out to the 101 freeway in a much more modern and larger facility.
Bid to $52,500 RNM. They sent it to the “high bid table” Whatever that means. That fact that they still claimed “Zenith Carburetors“ during the bidding does not instill confidence. It would have done better on BAT.
Lot 1055
Whatever that means. That fact that they still claimed “Zenith Carburetors“ during the bidding does not instill confidence. It would have done better on BAT. Lot 1055
I did bid it up to that point. Keep in mind there's a high buyer's premium with these people (12%) and then 6% sales tax, so I had a pretty strict number in mind. There was some questionable paintwork done... people in the auction didn't even know the interior color "look at this handsome white BMW with the black interior!" I don't think Broad Arrow/Hagerty has any chance with competing against BAT. The sell-through rate was very poor, very low turnout. They do well at the Monterey/Amelia Island auctions of course because all the high rollers are there who are willing to overpay, or who are drunk and forget they have to pay the 12% dung tax... and for what, exactly, when they can't even photograph/advertise the cars properly? For the cost of listing your car in such an auction, you can buy a premium BaT listing and the whole world will see your car for like two weeks. There's no competing with that. Though the benefit of this auction is showing up for one thing, and leaving with another... but before I get to that, I was very skeptical about the other bids on this car. I think there were some shill bids trying to inch it closer to reserve. Caller kept pointing to people in the audience who were *not* raising their hands. I had a dealer friend standing away from the audience watching. Happened quite a few times. Something else to note about this car is it had some damage at some point to a rear fender and the paintwork done there was sketchy. In my view if the car was to remain and be driven in Florida it would need a repaint, though I think that car is a wonderful base for a restoration.. but not at the price they wanted, I think, especially with everything being just a little bit rundown.
The guy who sold Broad Arrow to Haggerty was selling a 230SL he picked up from the estate of its only owner in Indiana. https://online.fliphtml5.com/kfgkh/rkgi/#p=109 I happened to see it in a corner of the floor when inspecting the E9 and it intrigued me, seemed like a really nice car. Thought for *sure* it would go up into the 70s, as I've seen worse cars on BaT do that. The BA guy (a dealer) took the reserve off and I won it at 49, ended up at about 53 all said and done. The car has no problems at all aside the crappy radio and a messed up shifter bushing (trucker who brought it to the show damaged it when removing it from the truck). Was a European delivery car, original owner drove it around there for a month before bringing it back. Received a very good repaint recently, paint looks even better than my F82 (a yas marina car, now I have two bright blue cars). It is my first foray into an old car, and I have no doubt at 27 I am the youngest Pagoda owner by a good margin. Drove it back from West Palm to Vero without a problem this afternoon. The 82k miles or so seems to be accurate based on the originality and level of wear on everything.
I'm sorry for stooping to the Mercedes level guys but I think I'll enjoy this for the time being until I can find the right E9.
The guy who sold Broad Arrow to Haggerty was selling a 230SL he picked up from the estate of its only owner in Indiana. https://online.fliphtml5.com/kfgkh/rkgi/#p=109 I happened to see it in a corner of the floor when inspecting the E9 and it intrigued me, seemed like a really nice car. Thought for *sure* it would go up into the 70s, as I've seen worse cars on BaT do that. The BA guy (a dealer) took the reserve off and I won it at 49, ended up at about 53 all said and done. The car has no problems at all aside the crappy radio and a messed up shifter bushing (trucker who brought it to the show damaged it when removing it from the truck). Was a European delivery car, original owner drove it around there for a month before bringing it back. Received a very good repaint recently, paint looks even better than my F82 (a yas marina car, now I have two bright blue cars). It is my first foray into an old car, and I have no doubt at 27 I am the youngest Pagoda owner by a good margin. Drove it back from West Palm to Vero without a problem this afternoon. The 82k miles or so seems to be accurate based on the originality and level of wear on everything.
I'm sorry for stooping to the Mercedes level guys but I think I'll enjoy this for the time being until I can find the right E9.
Now asking $65k
Well you left with a great deal. No need to apologize that’s a great looking Pagoda, manual trans is a nice bonus. Enjoy!
As I watched the auction I couldn’t help but think: these guys party like it’s 1999. Times have changed. If you watch the video they show more of the listing photos than they do of the car live on the block. They rolled it off pretty quick. BAT is not perfect but it is no surprise that they have such a massive back log of cars waiting to be listed. It’s the 21st century model for auctioning collector cars.
congratulations on the purchase of the pagoda Benz. I looked at the pictures and it looks great!
I watched the Broad Arrow auction through the link you sent and was struck by the lack of preparation on the part of the auctioneers. You would think that the auction team would prep the stage team with critical things to say about each car as it comes on stage and throughout the auction process.
The selling process has to be as much about selling the current lots on consignment and also selling yourself to futuer or repeat consigners and Broad Arrow didnt do a great job at either.
I watched the Broad Arrow auction through the link you sent and was struck by the lack of preparation on the part of the auctioneers. You would think that the auction team would prep the stage team with critical things to say about each car as it comes on stage and throughout the auction process.
The selling process has to be as much about selling the current lots on consignment and also selling yourself to futuer or repeat consigners and Broad Arrow didnt do a great job at either.
Great job on the Pagoda! I love those as well, super cool, classy, timeless cars. Money in the bank and should bring a big smile every time you drive it. Perfect for Vero Beach.
Awesome, proper pitting and all. Fred Snook.....classic. My Dad traded a 240 Volvo or some Volvo not 100% sure but think it was a 240DL or something for the Bavaria. He couldn't believe what a difference the BMW vs. Volvo was.
Kept the Bavaria for many years and drove HWY 1 from Santa Rosa to Sea Ranch in it for 8 years when I lived in Sea Ranch as a kid. My mom is Dutch and a good driver. She would do some things back then that would probably get her arrested now with two little kids in the car, passing on inside turns, double line, etc. The logging trucks up there drive faster than most people in their sports cars from the Bay Area, watch out if you ever take that drive, they will keep up if not want to pass you with a full load of timber. And anyone that has driven from Jenner to Sea Ranch on Hwy 1 knows that is no joke of a road. I still sometimes have nightmares that I drove off the cliff into the ocean hundreds of feet down, no guardrail. Good times!
When I was in college, which wasn't too long ago since I'm only talking about 2014-5 or so, a BMW was just nice transportation for me. I had a then-fresh 428i convertible, which unfortunately was totaled by a distracted driver. Anyway, I was volunteering at the library at UMiami to help them develop their rare book collection, which involved sorting out anything I thought was rare or especially interesting from the general collection into a pile to be triaged by someone who knew more than me. I found a stack of old Playboys and perused those, didn't know they were actually a serious magazine at one point with interesting interviews. I flipped to a random page and saw an ad for a BMW Bavaria. I have the same ad framed in my kitchen, because I thought it looked so cool: I then began to understand the idea that BMW builds a sportscar with luxury pretensions whereas Mercedes builds a luxury car with sportscar pretensions. Of course now all cars are basically the same, and I suppose they're all very good for the most part, especially considering what a normal guy could buy back in history, but we can all certainly agree the styling isn't there anymore.
That Bavaria ad led me all the way down a rabbit hole of a world I was never really exposed to. I could really see the niche BMW appealed to in its hungry -- and more interesting -- days. This early Pagoda I bought, or the Volvo P1800, the XKE, E9, all of these competed I think over the same guy, more or less, though I think the E9 was the most expensive of all these. And the Bavaria was for that guy with a family. I wonder, does that niche even really exist anymore? Everything is just too expensive, or huge, or overloaded with a bunch of crap (the contemporary 911 is massive with a massive price tag to boot), and I suppose BMW has changed quite a bit as a company. I remember going to the Velt a few years ago and thinking they'd never build that building now, it would probably just look like a big glass shard or anonymous steel chunk. And everybody else is no better. Except I suppose a little garage in England with the name "Morgan" on the door.
I still love the suave looks of the Bavaria. I can't help but think my dad would've driven one if there had been a BMW dealer within 150 miles of here.
