Black Cal Tag CSL on BAT,

Markos

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It’s a decent example but not superb so I think market correct. The underside is scruffy and I recall the firewall insulation looked crumbling when I saw it. Wrong kidney grill, and other details missing.

Yeah I think it is a fair price. However relative to the recent wonkiness of BaT the CSL didn’t see the same “love”.

I think the market has already corrected a bit. With that said I am rooting for your auction and selfishly for the 2800CS in general.
 

BMW Pete

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If I may on this car. There seemed to be some genuine interest in this car and I think the price was a little light, but the car was not :) Not in a bad way, it just is.

If we take into consideration what I am presuming is steel door skins, all four electric windows, the wonderful washer system(fun to see, but weight) and a few other things that can be seen clearly in the pictures, we are looking at a one of the heavier LHD CSL's produced. Compared to modern so called weight saving, I am sure even this car could hold its own % wise to a modern "lightweight" version of a street car, but not amongst it CSL siblings, nothing wrong with that of course, its still an extremely rare CSL.

I have now heard about three people that saw it and the paint was less than optimal and if you look at the pictures etc, that looks to be the case. Any buyer would have to wonder whats below that paint, how much of the Skelton problems we all know about were addressed. The few people who called me on the car, these were the points discussed.

E9s are hot, really hot at the moment, but I still think its early days and people are going for looks rather than the most historically important and rarest, that knowledge/desire comes with time. The big money guys are out there and they are looking, but this was not the car to attract their attention or hit it out of the park on a CSL.
 

vince

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It's very cool car, I'd love to own it but... Peter brought up the paint so here goes... The passenger door is clearly off a shade, that would drive me crazy if it were mine. Maybe that held it back a bit.
 

Stevehose

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It's very cool car, I'd love to own it but... Peter brought up the paint so here goes... The passenger door is clearly off a shade, that would drive me crazy if it were mine. Maybe that held it back a bit.
Agree. With my polaris passenger door having a ding that I wanted properly repaired and painted, the only way to get it close to matching is to blend it into the front and rear fenders and the roof pillars, essentially painting 1/3 of the car. I decided to touch up just the ding and live with that instead of staring at mismatched body panels with decades different paint.
 

Dick Steinkamp

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Yeah I think it is a fair price. However relative to the recent wonkiness of BaT the CSL didn’t see the same “love”.

I think the market has already corrected a bit. With that said I am rooting for your auction and selfishly for the 2800CS in general.

I will probably get booed for throwing this out there, but I think there are far less enthusiasts interested in the CSL than a non L. The price is part of it, but I don't think the major part. This is only my opinion.

The CS is a beautiful and pure shape. Hard to improve on. I think the CSL tries and fails. The stripes, air dam, chrome wheel arches, etc. all take away from the timeless design of the CS. The CSL is rare and has a following because of that, but it loses so much in the appearance department to the CS with the add on do-dads. I think it is a very limited audience that lusts after a CSL...not so with a CS. ALL car guys, vintage BMW followers or not, want a CS in their garage.
 

Markos

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I think that is mostly fair. The stainless arches evoke a lot of negative commentary from the uninformed. I think the factory seats are much prettier than the scheels and matching fabric rear. The black polyester bumper isn’t as sexy as the chrome, and the missing front bumper doesn’t help with the elegance.

A couple of exceptions. There are numerous people who elect to install the CSL air dam. It is hugely popular. A smaller percentage of owners go with stripes but it isn’t insignificant. Obviously, like 80% of coupe owners put CSL inspired alpinas wheels on the car. The 380mm Petri is without question the most popular target factory wheel for e9 owners, although few have a leather CSL Petri.


The CS to CSL jump isn’t as significant as M cars starting in the 80’s. It isn’t difficult to have a CS out perform a CSL even if it is a boat anchor compared to a lightweight. Hot rods seems to be of interest to many and the market supports the endeavor.

I can drop a B35 with a big cam in my 2800CS, tack on all the original CSL bits. Shed 300+ pounds. It will still just be a 2800CS. The CSL’s are quite special and despite being less elegant, would be my top choice.

The CS is a beautiful and pure shape. Hard to improve on. I think the CSL tries and fails. The stripes, air dam, chrome wheel arches, etc. all take away from the timeless design of the CS. The CSL is rare and has a following because of that, but it loses so much in the appearance department to the CS with the add on do-dads. I think it is a very limited audience that lusts after a CSL...not so with a CS. ALL car guys, vintage BMW followers or not, want a CS in their garage.
 

Stevehose

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I will probably get booed for throwing this out there, but I think there are far less enthusiasts interested in the CSL than a non L. The price is part of it, but I don't think the major part. This is only my opinion.

The CS is a beautiful and pure shape. Hard to improve on. I think the CSL tries and fails. The stripes, air dam, chrome wheel arches, etc. all take away from the timeless design of the CS. The CSL is rare and has a following because of that, but it loses so much in the appearance department to the CS with the add on do-dads. I think it is a very limited audience that lusts after a CSL...not so with a CS. ALL car guys, vintage BMW followers or not, want a CS in their garage.
I'll add no a/c, very helpful if you actually want to drive it with your s/o, and rear windows that don't go down which to me the full "cut" is a major appeal of the design. Despite this I'd gladly give my right you-know-what to have a carb'd CSL but an injected one with all the doo dads you mentioned doesn't turn me on to the point of parting the cash for one. I'm not knocking them, I think they are awesome and totally understand why they command the prices they do.
 
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