The story of "Cooper", a 1969 BMW 2800 CS E9 coupe and her restoration. No. 561 off the line in 1969. Owner #1: Germany '69-71, #2: CA '71-87, #3: CO '87-Present.
It wasn't until my sixth car that I caught the BMW bug. It was a used 1974 2002 as a sophomore in college. The next year I upgraded to an even older 1972 2002 tii. I was elated. At some point in there, I saw my first E9 coupe in Golden and fell in love with the body style. When I found one in the Denver classified ads, I went to drive it even though I couldn't afford the $8000 price tag. A cool Persian guy owned it and let me drive it. I was VERY careful with it. He said, "Pull over by this park and I'll show you something". He got behind the wheel and proceeded to smoke the tires for half a block, leaving a cloud of smoke behind us. I couldn't wipe the smile off my 20 year old face. Once I earned my engineering degree, I took my first career job in Los Angeles and started watching the classified ads for E9's. I bought the first one I looked at in 1987. Definitely a rookie mistake! When I lifted the driver’s side floor mat I could see the road underneath but the car was straight and complete and seemed to have been well cared for. Thus the journey began! Fast forward 28 years and when my youngest son went off to college (he is the one who named the car Cooper by the way
), I removed every panel, nut and bolt off the car. I had it all sandblasted to remove the paint and rust, did a year of weld repair inserting roughly 100 patches in the footwells, wheel wells and fender tops. Did 1.5 years of bodywork. Had it professionally painted in Fjord Blue. Flew to California and brought back a 1992 735i for the M30B35 donor engine. Tore the engine down and had the cylinders honed, replaced the cam, had the valves done and head and block milled and built it back up with dual Weber 32/36 carbs. The suspension has been rebuilt adding H&R lowering springs, ST front and rear swaybar kit and Bilstein HD shocks front and rear. New steel brake and fuel lines and fresh yellow zinc plated calipers. currently preparing the engine bay to receive the engine.
When I started the project, I realized I wanted to document the build online and ended up going with Facebook mostly because I trusted them to be around for years to come and not lose my photos! It has worked out so far. I have a little more time these days and since this is definitely the best go-to E9 resource, I plan on sharing some posts here as well. I will make some summary updates here and include periodic links to my Facebook updates for anyone who wants the full detail there.
It wasn't until my sixth car that I caught the BMW bug. It was a used 1974 2002 as a sophomore in college. The next year I upgraded to an even older 1972 2002 tii. I was elated. At some point in there, I saw my first E9 coupe in Golden and fell in love with the body style. When I found one in the Denver classified ads, I went to drive it even though I couldn't afford the $8000 price tag. A cool Persian guy owned it and let me drive it. I was VERY careful with it. He said, "Pull over by this park and I'll show you something". He got behind the wheel and proceeded to smoke the tires for half a block, leaving a cloud of smoke behind us. I couldn't wipe the smile off my 20 year old face. Once I earned my engineering degree, I took my first career job in Los Angeles and started watching the classified ads for E9's. I bought the first one I looked at in 1987. Definitely a rookie mistake! When I lifted the driver’s side floor mat I could see the road underneath but the car was straight and complete and seemed to have been well cared for. Thus the journey began! Fast forward 28 years and when my youngest son went off to college (he is the one who named the car Cooper by the way
), I removed every panel, nut and bolt off the car. I had it all sandblasted to remove the paint and rust, did a year of weld repair inserting roughly 100 patches in the footwells, wheel wells and fender tops. Did 1.5 years of bodywork. Had it professionally painted in Fjord Blue. Flew to California and brought back a 1992 735i for the M30B35 donor engine. Tore the engine down and had the cylinders honed, replaced the cam, had the valves done and head and block milled and built it back up with dual Weber 32/36 carbs. The suspension has been rebuilt adding H&R lowering springs, ST front and rear swaybar kit and Bilstein HD shocks front and rear. New steel brake and fuel lines and fresh yellow zinc plated calipers. currently preparing the engine bay to receive the engine.When I started the project, I realized I wanted to document the build online and ended up going with Facebook mostly because I trusted them to be around for years to come and not lose my photos! It has worked out so far. I have a little more time these days and since this is definitely the best go-to E9 resource, I plan on sharing some posts here as well. I will make some summary updates here and include periodic links to my Facebook updates for anyone who wants the full detail there.
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