Euro 1973 BMW 3.0CSi
Bid for the chance to own a Euro 1973 BMW 3.0CSi at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #52,444.
euro polaris '73 CSi on BaT
- Thread starter rsporsche
- Start date
RNM. Crawl back into dry storage e9’s!
Impressive engine bay…
Looks exactly like the one that didn’t sell $150K
Pretty soon we are going to need another sub forum...BaT E9s For Sale
(According to my calculation, it would get more posts than 11 out of the 18 current sub forums.)
(According to my calculation, it would get more posts than 11 out of the 18 current sub forums.)
And the sub-forum will have a drop-down list-1973 BaT E9's for salePretty soon we are going to need another sub forum...BaT E9s For Sale
(According to my calculation, it would get more posts than 11 out of the 18 current sub forums.)
Or "BaT e9s RNM."
Sigh.
Sigh.
Was watching. Sorry that it ended that way. Hoping for a post-auction deal.
@ablank135 - very disappointed (as i am sure you are) that this beautiful coupe didn't pass the golf)
Thanks, guys. We were tens of thousands off. The number where the bidding ended didn't touch the cost of the restoration. It's an unpredictable pendulum that swings from originality to modifications. The market spoke. Or maybe I just needed more poodles in my pictures.
i am hopeful this isn't true market speaking ... just today. most of the coupeking cars have this type of engine. the mods are all tasteful. this isn't a real restomod to me, this is an improved coupe that is extremely tastefully done and really well executed. wish i was in the market.
I think with the number of RNMs on this particular make and model that we may see fewer E9s on BaT if BaT gets tighter on the reserve they will allow.
Another thought...I think it is possible that the 24 E9s listed this year on BaT are not being bought, for the most part, by E9 experts. Those that have been in love with these cars for some time, have been long time owners, know all the ins and outs of them, and know many individual E9s well are probably not the market for one. Those bidding on and buying BaT E9s may be using very different criteria to determine "value" than a true expert would be using. This could be accounting for the surprise prices both high and low.
One more...you only really get one shot at determining "market value" with a BaT auction (as unfair as that is). The amount it bid to will always be visible and referenced by bidders if it is run again. Finding another venue that will expose the car to more potential buyers after a BaT RNM is tough. It will be interesting to see where the 6 BaT RNMs surface next.
Another thought...I think it is possible that the 24 E9s listed this year on BaT are not being bought, for the most part, by E9 experts. Those that have been in love with these cars for some time, have been long time owners, know all the ins and outs of them, and know many individual E9s well are probably not the market for one. Those bidding on and buying BaT E9s may be using very different criteria to determine "value" than a true expert would be using. This could be accounting for the surprise prices both high and low.
One more...you only really get one shot at determining "market value" with a BaT auction (as unfair as that is). The amount it bid to will always be visible and referenced by bidders if it is run again. Finding another venue that will expose the car to more potential buyers after a BaT RNM is tough. It will be interesting to see where the 6 BaT RNMs surface next.
Spot on @Dick Steinkamp.
I would say that e9’s are still trending up, but there was a summertime bubble.
I see three years of spring/summer spikes here. I also see an overall upward trend on hammer price. Lastly, an overall increase in quantity sold on BaT. Sold count can also be an artifact of BaT scaling up operations as it was purchased by Hearst in June 2020. You would need to evaluate the entire marketplace to determine if e9 transactions are on the rise. We don’t know how many e9 ‘s were turned away in 2019 or earlier.
The last thing to note that this year it seems easy to land a sub $50K car and a $100K+ car. Not much in the $50-$100 range. That used to be the sweet spot as seen below. I have no idea what a realistic price point is right now. With exception to a few transactions, anybody who sells will feel (emphasis on feel) like they are leaving something on the table.
BaT E9 Sales, Excluding RNM & CSL
I think you're dead-on with this, or the majority at least. My listing was a small sample size (me), but my experience was that 1) no one requested a PPI, 2) no one who saw the car in person (all locals) seemed to fully know where to look for issues, or 3) wanted to talk about them, 4) no one asked in PMs or comments for further explanation or documentation of anything, and 5) no one seemed to have forum-based knowledge of car pros and cons. It seemed very...."optical."
Sounds like stupid money to me, unfortunately just not enough of it. Yours is a very nice car.
I could loan you some poodles next time
Classic.com has historical sales data too. It seems projects keep the lowest values relatively low, and BAT auctions account for most of the high water marks. There are swings, but as @Markos pointed out this chart also shows a trend upward on lowest, average, and highest sales. The other factor that is so difficult to judge is the condition of the cars. And as someone who was a fan of e9s for 20 years, but only became serious about buying recently, I spent 20 years having no idea how much you needed to know before buying one of these cars.
It might be that BaT high bids are hindered by providing the data that knowledgeable E9 shoppers want. The small amount of rust on the frame rail and the surface rust on the hidden fender cavity look like defects to the casual observer when in fact they show a solid car.
Some high sales are fashion shows where it is more about the visual image portrayed than actual condition and long list of upgrades made to the car. The non-standard color and dark brown seats might have been a negative for the bling factor buyers.
Some high sales are fashion shows where it is more about the visual image portrayed than actual condition and long list of upgrades made to the car. The non-standard color and dark brown seats might have been a negative for the bling factor buyers.
tmh
Well-Known Member
It appears to me that the selling prices of E9's have virtually doubled over the last 2 years, which seems monumental. The idea someone could sell a car for the cost of a quality restoration is a fairly rare and unrealistic event. I always tell anyone looking to pursue an older car to buy a nicely restored one, as the person that restored the car is almost always upside down with the cost of restoration, unless they performed a substantial amount of the labor themselves.
30 years ago (1991) I took my 73 CS car to a small, highly regarded and competent 2 man restoration shop, thinking I might be able to have the car stripped down, corrosion issues remedied, and the car repainted for $15k-$20k, realizing that could realistically be spending $20k-$25k. This included converting the car to a 5 speed from an automatic, and refreshing the suspension. The shop allowed me to chase down and provide parts which probably saved me $5k. Replacing the inner and outer rockers wasn't anticipated and pushed the cost up by at least $5k (probably $10-15K current cost). Many times I would get the phone call as to whether I wanted to replace this or that for an additional $300 plus dollars, and I would decide to go ahead and get it done. That happened no less than 15-20 times, resulting in at least another $5k+. The cost of gaskets was monumental but now seems like a bargain at today's prices. The final cost was $40k, which was way more than I could afford. I rationalized my irrational pursuit by telling myself I preferred having a nice E9 over what I would spend for a new M3. Unfortunately, at that time, there was a very nice restored E9 (from a Peter Sislovich customer) that I could have bought for $25k.
30 years ago (1991) I took my 73 CS car to a small, highly regarded and competent 2 man restoration shop, thinking I might be able to have the car stripped down, corrosion issues remedied, and the car repainted for $15k-$20k, realizing that could realistically be spending $20k-$25k. This included converting the car to a 5 speed from an automatic, and refreshing the suspension. The shop allowed me to chase down and provide parts which probably saved me $5k. Replacing the inner and outer rockers wasn't anticipated and pushed the cost up by at least $5k (probably $10-15K current cost). Many times I would get the phone call as to whether I wanted to replace this or that for an additional $300 plus dollars, and I would decide to go ahead and get it done. That happened no less than 15-20 times, resulting in at least another $5k+. The cost of gaskets was monumental but now seems like a bargain at today's prices. The final cost was $40k, which was way more than I could afford. I rationalized my irrational pursuit by telling myself I preferred having a nice E9 over what I would spend for a new M3. Unfortunately, at that time, there was a very nice restored E9 (from a Peter Sislovich customer) that I could have bought for $25k.