BMW 3.0 CSL - 40 years anniversary 2011

[CSL 1973]

If I'm not totally wrong, year 2011 is the 40th anniversary of the 3.0 CSL. The carb CSL was introduced early 1971.

Is this, by BMW, a forgotten anniversary. In my opinion, there should be festivities in Münich. Speach by Neerpasch, parade of CSLs, seminars, model cars, Motorsport fashion shows, BMW historical archive open doors etc.

Cheers
Henric

 

[Honolulu]

Excellent idea

But one has to remember that BMW has not been overly mindful of their heritage except where it makes immediate economic sense to do so (tried to find OE body or trim parts lately?) Always been that way, likely to stay thus. BMW has both the blessing and the curse (so rumor has it) that it is run by engineers.

I don't think that BMW perceive the CS (i)(L) to have much contributed to the company's history or current success. The Neue Klasse, certainly; subsequent 3 and 5 series, most certainly. 6 series was nice to have, 7 series a necessity to compete with the emergence of the luxury market, and so on.

But the E9? A short-lived, not particularly successful, blip in the scene. Limited production, no great numbers, more expensive than the Benz competition...

I LIKE my CS and won't give it up for a long time (and I've owned mine over 20 years now). But I don't even hope to convince BMW that it represents any major milestone in cars generally, or the history of BMW AG itself. That's okay with me.

I don't concern myself with the prices of pristine CS examples, those are not my car.

I think occasionally that it gets crappy mileage by modern standards, is not crash safe as anything in the last xxx years, and is prone to severe rust if not carefully taken care of.

None of the modern safety improvements are present: ABS, airbags, bodies with effective crumple zones.

That's okay. We (most of us) are dedicated to wonderful (largely to us) stylish examples of cars which will not be seen this way again.

Or am I caught up in a manufactured mystique, woven into a web of my own imagination? Responses invited....

 

[Lorenzo]

The CSL is a milestone in BMW racing history.
Maybe someone forgot that among many victories around the world, the CSL won 6 European Touring Car Championship between 1973 and 1979?
In my opinion the CSL represent for BMW what the 2.7 RS is for Porsche. But Stuttgart's guys are much smarter to celebrate their heritage.
I agree Henric, this is a very important forgotten anniversary.:cry:

 

[61porsche]

CSL Power!

Well, we are a voice more than one. What's stopping us?

Now, I don't have a CSL, but none the less it is a great milestone for the rest of us who remember and pay homage in our own ways if even a memory .

My suggestion- let's see how many guys we can get to do this....

Candle, cupcake, next to the badge, take a picture and send it in. Stitched together... it could be impressive enough for BMW to take notice.

Or do something else...but do something POSITIVE.

 

[rb1971]

Well, we are a voice more than one. What's stopping us?

Now, I don't have a CSL, but none the less it is a great milestone for the rest of us who remember and pay homage in our own ways if even a memory .

My suggestion- let's see how many guys we can get to do this....

Candle, cupcake, next to the badge, take a picture and send it in. Stitched together... it could be impressive enough for BMW to take notice.

Or do something else...but do something POSITIVE.

I really like this idea. If we could agree a theme, I would be happy to stitch together a bunch of photos of coupes into a larger picture. August 1972 was (I think) the 3 liter racing start for the coupes, so I would somewhat arbitrarily pick that as the date and call it "August 1972 to Today: 40 Years of Coupe Racing" or the like.

My proposal: coupes at iconic landmarks.

 

[pmansson]

Compare this to Jaguar

Huge events in 2009 for the 60th of the XK and this year for the 50th of the E-type.
Enormous coverage in the motor press worldwide.
BMW hasn´t made a such an elegant car since the last E9 in 1975.
Z8 was cool, with some 507 elements in it, but the Chris Bangle years should be completely forgotten.

 

[CSL 1973]

CSL - 40th anniversary 2011!?

Some dates to reflect upon:

- February 1971 - first carb CSL delivered to Alpina
- March 1971 - a reinforced - some 20 kg extra - carb CSL (Inka or Colorado), with no stripes, was shown at the Geneva salon - actually official world premiere for the CSL
- May 1971 - announced official start of production
- September 1971 - the delivery to the clients started
- February 1972 - the first CSL owner's manual for the carb CSL (M-AH 1071 on the cover page)

The first carb CSLs were built on demand from the CS-serie. Therefore, no own production code for these carb CSLs.

- June 1972 - first injection car (2275001) built as a test car
- September 1972 - start of the official delivery of the the first injection CSLs with production code 3451 (252 cars built in 1972)

Note 1: the reason for only 169 carb CSLs built, is very simple; these CSLs were built on demand. Only 169 clients showed their interest to sign a contract. Most clients waited for the more powerful injection CSL.

Note 2: As the carb CSL did not have an own production code, one could consider September 1972 as a potential starting date of the 40th CSL-anniversary. That would move us to September 2012 (more time to plan something)

And yes, I wld agree with everyone argueing that 1971 was the real year for the CSL premiere, but September 1972 cld be a more pragmatic date.

Cheers

Henric

 

[dp]

But one has to remember that BMW has not been overly mindful of their heritage except where it makes immediate economic sense to do so (tried to find OE body or trim parts lately?) Always been that way, likely to stay thus. BMW has both the blessing and the curse (so rumor has it) that it is run by engineers. I don't think that BMW perceive the CS (i)(L) to have much contributed to the company's history or current success. The Neue Klasse, certainly; subsequent 3 and 5 series, most certainly. 6 series was nice to have, 7 series a necessity to compete with the emergence of the luxury market, and so on. But the E9? A short-lived, not particularly successful, blip in the scene. Limited production, no great numbers, more expensive than the Benz competition...
I LIKE my CS and won't give it up for a long time (and I've owned mine over 20 years now). But I don't even hope to convince BMW that it represents any major milestone in cars generally, or the history of BMW AG itself. That's okay with me.
I don't concern myself with the prices of pristine CS examples, those are not my car.
I think occasionally that it gets crappy mileage by modern standards, is not crash safe as anything in the last xxx years, and is prone to severe rust if not carefully taken care of.
None of the modern safety improvements are present: ABS, airbags, bodies with effective crumple zones. That's okay. We (most of us) are dedicated to wonderful (largely to us) stylish examples of cars which will not be seen this way again. Responses invited....

x2

IMO were BMW to acknowledge the L with some big whoop-dee-doo would be a total enthusiast precedent, to my knowledge no manufacturer has ever made a big deal out of a homologation special 20 or 30 or 40 years after production start, and lets face it BMW is not one to set a precedent simply for a small audience of motorsports enthusiasts since...we're not their target market, and the people who buy the tens of thousands of BMWs they sell every year (frankly) could care less about 70's race history

- February 1971 - first carb CSL delivered to Alpina
- March 1971 - a reinforced - some 20 kg extra - carb CSL (Inka or Colorado), with no stripes, was shown at the Geneva salon - actually official world premiere for the CSL
- May 1971 - announced official start of production
- September 1971 - the delivery to the clients started
- February 1972 - the first CSL owner's manual for the carb CSL (M-AH 1071 on the cover page)

Just these dates alone show any effort to "do" something would be too little too late for a 40th.
Don't get me wrong at all I think its a GREAT idea ... you know there's PLENTY of time to shoot for the 50th anniversary, eh?

 

[CSL 1973]

CSL 40 years!

BMW built 456 M1 cars between 1978-1981. When the M1 celebrated it's 30th anniversary in 2008, BMW did (among other things) the following:

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/07/21/bmw-m1-procar-race-celebrates-30th-anniversary-of-the-m1/

http://www.coolhunting.com/tech/bmw-m1.php

The 3,0 CSL was built between 1971 and October 1975. All in all, 1265 + 20 (race) cars were built. I think the CSL is a huge milestone for BMW. Jochen Neerpasch was recruited, from Ford to BMW, to initially cordinate the BMW tuners (Alpina, GS, Koepchen, Schnitzer etc). But, very soon it was decided to give Neerpasch an own budget ... et voila the BMW Motorsport was created.

One could say that without the success, on the tracks, for the CSL, we would not have the BMW M-models on the market today.

I think it's worth better than to be forgotten.

Cheers

Henric

PS. it was Burkhard Bovensiepen (Alpina) who proposed Neerpasch to add the "L" for the 3,0 CSL.

 

[Yannick]

-

 

[2275xxx]

Will the 40th birthday of the creation of BMW Motorsport be celebrated in any way ?

 

[E9coupeOZ]

The Kiwi's have it organised

The great motorsport nation of New Zealand are celibrating the 40 years of BMW Motorsport.

http://www.nzfmr.co.nz/index.php

Looks like a big event.

 

[rsporsche]

I also think the cars Yannick says are important BMW's + the CSL and the e30 M3. serious racing pedigree and great success in many racing series.

maybe BMW isn't overtly celebrating the CSL in a big way, but at BMWCCA oktoberfest, they brought out the #25 CSL racer and put it on the track at Barber. they only brought 3 race cars ... a mclaren, the CSL and i forget what the other car was ... i, along with many other people were focused on the CSL. it was hard to get good photos of it under the tent ... but when it came out, people stopped, watched and took pictures. the motorsport guys were talking history about these cars, and what made them special.

the downside is, BMW will never make another car like the CSL / CSi + CS or the e30 M3, cars that against all odds would dominate the competition because of its design engineering that would revolutionize things to come. so in some regards, i'm afraid that BMW doesn't want to call too much attention to this part of their history, because they aren't going back there ... they want to make their x1, x3 + x5's ... their z4 ... and the millions of 3 series + variants. they are no longer that small company that built the ultimate driving machine ... they are one of the big mass producers.

 

[Yannick]

-

 

[Nicad]

I also think the cars Yannick says are important BMW's + the CSL and the e30 M3. serious racing pedigree and great success in many racing series.

maybe BMW isn't overtly celebrating the CSL in a big way, but at BMWCCA oktoberfest, they brought out the #25 CSL racer and put it on the track at Barber. they only brought 3 race cars ... a mclaren, the CSL and i forget what the other car was ... i, along with many other people were focused on the CSL. it was hard to get good photos of it under the tent ... but when it came out, people stopped, watched and took pictures. the motorsport guys were talking history about these cars, and what made them special.

the downside is, BMW will never make another car like the CSL / CSi + CS or the e30 M3, cars that against all odds would dominate the competition because of its design engineering that would revolutionize things to come. so in some regards, i'm afraid that BMW doesn't want to call too much attention to this part of their history, because they aren't going back there ... they want to make their x1, x3 + x5's ... their z4 ... and the millions of 3 series + variants. they are no longer that small company that built the ultimate driving machine ... they are one of the big mass producers.

In Canada, the President of BMW C.A. has said they do will no longer be selling RWD cars in the near future.