E3 2500 on BaT

[Dick Steinkamp]

I don't think I have ever seen a 2500 in the US.

1971 BMW 2500

Bid for the chance to own a 1971 BMW 2500 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #52,553.

bringatrailer.com

 

[Christoph]

I don't think I have ever seen a 2500 in the US.

1971 BMW 2500

Bid for the chance to own a 1971 BMW 2500 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #52,553.

bringatrailer.com

Looks nice at first glance, some later additions, rear aluminium panel gone, but still a good-looking car. Haven't looked at the details yet, maybe another day.

2500 were most rare. They only built 999 Automatic and 750 four-speed in 1969/70. One of them now is the New Horizon, first shown at the Art Miami in December 2018.

<https://www.e3-wundercar.com>

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

Are those hub caps correct for the 2500?

It has the brushed dash like my 7/71 production 72 MY Bav

I'm surprised they built more automatics than 4 speeds.

 

[HB Chris]

Member fredomatic in the LA area has one as did Gordon Parr whose was red, his was last seen on BaT two years ago. I think those are earlier than 71 caps, here is our Jan 70 build 2800.

 

[CSBM5]

I don't think I have ever seen a 2500 in the US.

When shopping for a car for me in 1975, my father and I looked at a red 2500 4spd in the Atlanta area. It was showing rust in various places, so we didn't even drive it.

 

[Christoph]

The cone caps with the black circles are the first of probably three series of caps. They are pictured in the 68 and 69/mar brochures. When they were replaced is unclear yet, maybe in autumn 1969 for the 1970 model year. People quickly discarded the old caps and put on later ones for a more modern look. Second & third series are rather flat and should differ only in diameter of the centre indentation (is that a word?), the later ones having a larger diameter. Trim rings are the correct early ones with the rectangular holes, on the 2500 and the beautiful silver 2800.

Recently someone told me when the cars were new alloy wheels and leather interiors were for the rich. Now only the rich can afford cloth interiors and steel wheels with caps and rings, the less fortunate have to get along with what once was prestigious.

The 2800 looks brilliant. What a sharp crease in the rear wing. Which shade of Polaris is this? It seems much livelier than the usual Polaris on the Series 1 E3. I like that very much. The trim says "2800", not "2800 Bavaria", and the VIN says it, too. Had to look it up, I must admit.

By the way: You can find E3 VIN ranges & production numbers here.
<https://bmw-e3-club.de/fahrgestellnummern/>
We worked on it last winter, the errors should be gone now. It started with one (this) subpage, then our IT scientist forced us (and himself) to renovate nearly all technical & design pages. I am glad he did. Hope you like it.

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

Recently someone told me when the cars were new alloy wheels and leather interiors were for the rich. Now only the rich can afford cloth interiors and steel wheels with caps and rings, the less fortunate have to get along with what once was prestigious.

I don't know about "only the rich", but E3 steel wheels, caps and rings in good condition are extremely hard to find. Of course I think they are the most flattering wheel treatment for an E3 and a signature feature of the cars. Of course I am prejudiced

I have not poked in on the club's website for several months. Excellent work on the upgrades!

 

[HB Chris]

The 2800 is a Jan 1970 build date and as I remember it is Polaris Neue. It was parked in 1981 with a cracked head at 51K miles and was found and bought in 2015 and I completely rebuilt the mechanicals. It shows evidence of a repaint early in its life but was owned by one family from new. In 71 the Bavaria name was introduced. The rubber seals, door surround cloth, headliner, dash, radio and carpets still look brand new, leather seats are worn but still very nice. Mike has it in Monterey as we own it together.

 

[Christoph]

I don't know about "only the rich", but E3 steel wheels, caps and rings in good condition are extremely hard to find. Of course I think they are the most flattering wheel treatment for an E3 and a signature feature of the cars. Of course I am prejudiced

I have not poked in on the club's website for several months. Excellent work on the upgrades!

Glad you like what we did with our site. I will tell our IT hero, all credits to him.

You'd be of course welcome in any all-night discussion about wheels. There seems a renaissance of the stock look, steel wheels & caps. Unfortunately, two years ago I went from caps to 6x14 FPS radial spoke when I needed new tyres very badly. The wheels, not the tyres, came as a present from the E3-Club, and our president declared me the "Club's Official Dunlop Test Driver". Sometimes he tends to exaggerate a bit. The FPS are most elegant, but it took quite long to get used to the car's different look.

 

[Christoph]

The 2800 is a Jan 1970 build date and as I remember it is Polaris Neue. It was parked in 1981 with a cracked head at 51K miles and was found and bought in 2015 and I completely rebuilt the mechanicals. It shows evidence of a repaint early in its life but was owned by one family from new. In 71 the Bavaria name was introduced. The rubber seals, door surround cloth, headliner, dash, radio and carpets still look brand new, leather seats are worn but still very nice. Mike has it in Monterey as we own it together.

Just phenomenal. The blue leather is a blast and, of course, very rare. Someone spoke of another set in a 69 car in the Netherlands.

You probably know more about it, but from today it seems the name "Polaris Neu" is foul play by BMW. It may have been like that: Polaris Neu 060 (silver-grey) lasted from the start of the E3/E9 production or earlier until the end of 1971. It was succeeded by Polaris 060 (bright silver). This got me confused. The BMW V8-Club has issued a colour guide, it says the colour Polaris 057 (also silver-grey) appeared in 1963. So the "Neu" might refer to the earlier Polaris 057. It might also be the colour of the limited production 1800 TI/SA. What do you think?

 

[HB Chris]

Christoph, I have always thought 057 was indeed an early color superseded by 060 Polaris in 67/68, then Polaris Neue and finally Polaris PVC-frei.

 

[Christoph]

Still not sure when the suffix "PVC-frei" first appeared. At the end of 1971 BMW did some changes to the recipes of the old metallic colours (Baikal, Polars, Tundra), maybe also Nachtblau. The colours remained unchanged, except for Polaris (brighter than before). Should have been major changes in recipe, because they give the exact VINs for the old and new versions in the parts catalogue. Probably you know the stickers "Baikal NN" or "Tundra NN". These may refer to the later version. "PVC-frei" is written on a lot of colour stickers: Arktisblau, Polaris, Taiga, etc. Some restorers, however, doubt if the "PVC-frei" lacquers were really free of PVC.

 

[AbnMike]

Member fredomatic in the LA area has one as did Gordon Parr whose was red, his was last seen on BaT two years ago.

Gordon’s (then mine, then AndyRog’s) was a Euro spec 2800, not a 2500 like this one. Small difference but different.

It was later wrecked, then rebuilt and attempted to sell on BaT without disclosing the wreck.

Didn’t meet reserve and was later listed on a used car website for near 25 grand. Sold, but not sure for how much. They weren’t disclosing the wreck then and the heater core was still blown from when I had it.

Fun car though.

the BaT site went down the last two minutes of this auction and no one won.

BaT is offering to repost but by now I assume the seller has received a cash offer and it’s gone. Maybe not.

 

[HB Chris]

My mistake but I remember when Gordon owned the 2800.

 

[AbnMike]

The auto 2500 is back on BaT.

 

[bavaria]

Round 2 for this car.


1971 2500 Round 2

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

$17,253 this time...

1971 BMW 2500

Bid for the chance to own a 1971 BMW 2500 at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #55,105.

bringatrailer.com

 

[CSL177]

Am I the only person that hears the unpleasant whine in the idle and driving videos? What IS that?

Looks nice enough but the noise should be alien to anyone familiar with the M30.

 

[HB Chris]

Am I the only person that hears the unpleasant whine in the idle and driving videos? What IS that?

Looks nice enough but the noise should be alien to anyone familiar with the M30.

Water pump bearing? It would annoy me to no end.