Groundhog Day (1974 3.0 CSI)

shorton540

BMW Cross member
Site Donor
Messages
50
Reaction score
26
Location
Georgia, Vermont
I have enough on my plate right now, but I keep coming back to this E9. I continue to be surprised that it hasn’t sold. In light of recent BaT auction results and Hemmings listings, is there something I am missing here? Seems like such a nice specimen at an appropriate price.

http://www.rpmvt.com/1974-bmw-3csi
 

Markos

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
13,369
Reaction score
7,502
Location
Seattle, WA
Disclaimer: My car is a rusty POS that I don't drive, needs everything, and I may never finish. This is my opinion based on spending too much time on the internet and a handful of hours working on rusty POS e9's. I'm not in the $70K pleasure cruiser tax bracket and I will never buy either of the two cars I am comparing.

I think that the poor momentum on this sale has much to do with terrible advertising. I search for e9 cars and parts multiple times per day and this car never comes up anywhere. You will find that most dealers and consignment shops list their offerings on a handful of sites, not just their random company website which likely receives little-to-no traffice. The description is extremely brief, and weak at best. The car does nothing to cater to impulsivity and/or sentiment (see below). The pics invoke no emotion, and there are just a handful of "technical" pictures to make up for asthetics.

As far as the actual car goes... I said it before but I'm going to assert that while these cars look stuning in Polaris, the color doesn't sell as well as the other metallics. If I had some time and motivation (and data) I would create a viz to back up my hypothesis. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that almost 25% of new cars are silver, or that it is more difficult to pick up the chrome accents that make the e9 so special. I also believe that a blue velour interior is a rather polarizing option for many. A lot of people don't like blue interiors in general, and many prefer leather over cloth. It is elitest of me to say but I think that much like the aquired taste of fine wine/coffee/whiskey/beer/cigars/etc., it takes some time spent understanding e9's before you really begin to appreciate a nice original velour CSI interior. The same goes for a nice 2800CS interior with embossed vinyl seats.

IMO this CSI looks like a very interesting and is absolutely worth a closer look. It appears to my untrained eye to be in "survivor status". The engine bay sheetmetal and sound deadening looks original, and I wouldn't change a thing. It has obviously been repainted, and the body work looks good from 15'. The are some modifications to the cooling and likely the ignition system. The hood/door/trunk gaps look great. The swage line looks great. It is italian delivery and actually has italian signal lenses. Again without a PPI and picking out the numerous "flaws" with the car that I can spot, I would glady take something like this over a $70K "discretionary restoration".

As you know, when you conduct a valuation on a car you need some comparables. The most recent comparable price to this listing is the recent "fjord" blue offering on BAT. The readers on BAT fawned over this car, and I spoke with two serious buyer friends about the car. People were throwing out a $100K mark, which I honestly consider wreckless (without going down that rabbit hole). I said privately that it was a $70K car and the market seems to have agreed.


No offense to the seller or buyer. I am honestly trying to be objective. The car on BAT looks very pretty - gorgeous. Having a second glance at the interior, it is so very nice and it is hard to argue why anyone would want a pedestrian CSI interior over a luxury resotred leather interior like this. The "flaws" (if you want to call them that) isted below are *not present on the CSI listed above, but the CSI dealer's target selling price is probably under the $72K that the BAT car sold for. When you add the aforementioned sentiment and impulsivity of BAT, $72K gets you the following:
  • Fjord paint job that isn't fjord. It isn't the lighting. The trunk hinges are Fjord and the rest of the car is some other color that lands somewhere between Fjord and Baikal. It's not a custom color or a different factory color. It is just a beautifully incorrect Fjord.
  • Overspray in the engine bay, hood latches, strut nuts, etc. Easily observed corrected but...$72K. I don't like the overspray on my garbage can lid, which serves as my rattle can plate painters table.
  • An automatic - from a value standpoint, autos are worth less for nearly all classic cars. The spare G265 is of unknown orgin and is rattle-canned silver.
  • Carbs - Kudos for keeping the Zeniths, but CSI's are generally valued higher than the 3.0CS and certainly the lowly 2800 CS. The CSI cost more new, they cost more restored, they cost more *to restore
  • Not a single mention from the seller, buyer, or commentor on the block, and if it is number matching (keywords: original, VIN, block, engine, motor, stock, matching)
  • Trunk well is painted black and dented and spare wheel has no tire
I'd take the CSI in a heartbeat but the CS will still beat it in the next resale.
 

Bwana

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,211
Reaction score
84
Location
Santa Fe, NM
  • Overspray in the engine bay, hood latches, strut nuts, etc. Easily observed corrected but...$72K. I don't like the overspray on my garbage can lid, which serves as my rattle can plate painters table.

LOL!!! I guess I'm not the only one that does this. But my trash can lid has overspray now. Whoops! :D
 

shorton540

BMW Cross member
Site Donor
Messages
50
Reaction score
26
Location
Georgia, Vermont
Markos, your assessment is spot on. I think in this kind of luxury market, whether it be the E9 or other vintage sports cars where necessity or utility doesn’t factor into the equation, the opinions regarding values and recent sales figures and their validity should be considered critical analysis rather than criticism. Because we all have our own acceptable thresholds of finances, time, imperfections, color combinations, originality, driveability, and future value, every sale has personal variables justifying the purchase price and most of us will never know the thought process. While I sit on the sidelines and watch cars I want to buy sell for prices that I couldn’t foresee 10-15 years ago, I find myself continually adjusting my thresholds. When Vermont mud season is over, I am going to take the Bavaria on a spirited drive to talk to Peter about this car.
 
Top