Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
Sounds like the price needs to come down, at the very least. I do see some other nice examples to look at in the classifieds here too. Good expenditure of time today, on this. Thanks again.
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I wonder if anyone here knows this car?
- Thread starter Manthri Srinath
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Sounds like the price needs to come down, at the very least. I do see some other nice examples to look at in the classifieds here too. Good expenditure of time today, on this. Thanks again.
I buy a lot of cars for my job, mostly newer, but the gauge that I use for my bids works for everything. If I don't get the car at the price I bid/offered will I "lose sleep" over it. I wouldn't lose sleep over that CS until the price came way down.
Take a look at the Polaris on BaT. If I were you I would bid all the way to $45K on that one. The ownership history and service history looks great and the car is clean. Not perfect but it screams survivor instead of accident damage.
25-Years-Owned 1973 BMW 3.0CS
Bid for the chance to own a 25-Years-Owned 1973 BMW 3.0CS at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #22,292.
Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
Honest-looking car. I could survive on an automatic, but it would be a reduced quality of life. How easy to swap out that transmission? Easy enough to find a 5 speed? Maybe that’s not a good idea?Take a look at the Polaris on BaT. If I were you I would bid all the way to $45K on that one. The ownership history and service history looks great and the car is clean. Not perfect but it screams survivor instead of accident damage.
25-Years-Owned 1973 BMW 3.0CS
Bid for the chance to own a 25-Years-Owned 1973 BMW 3.0CS at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #22,292.bringatrailer.com
I am not tight with the market but would hazard a guess it is easier, cleaner, and probably? cheaper and more "original" to swap a four or five speed for a slush pump than diving boards to chrome bumpers.
I would take a transmission swap over a bumper swap all day. Plus you could paint the engine bay on the Polaris. I think it will go for quite a bit more than $45K however.
There are still thousands of G265’s floating around, but there is a big swing in price depending on condition/year/comparability.
Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
I just spent an instructive 45 minutes on the phone with sfdon. I mean, super instructive. Gonna have the granatrot CS checked out, and I’m going to keep an eye on BaT, and points east.
It is not easy to swap from an automatic to a five speed, but it is too difficult either. I did it, and many others here have too. And in the technical section of this forum there is a step by step guide, complete with a listing of the parts you would need.
There are several huge benefits to this. First and foremost, you will get a great deal of satisfaction and "bond" with your car more rapidly if you do this type of project immediately after buying the car. Second, you get a much greater understanding of the condition of your car by doing this right away. It will develop a longer list of things to do, but make it more likely you will catch trouble spots before they become big problems. Third, it likely will be less expensive to acquire a car with an automatic, in part because the car is a fair bit slower with the automatic (both because of the weight differential and because of the way it shifts), so some buyers will be put off.
And, of course, this points to a larger lesson -- buy the most solid and complete coupe you can find.
Guess I needed this advice about 5 years ago.
But the bond I am making is indelible!
Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
@sfdon was really super helpful. We’re going to meet up to PPI the 74, and I’m going to keep an eye on these other vehicles floating around. The seller of the 74 is going to straighten out that bow at his shop, on a frame rack. We’ll see how that works out.
Pull the back seat and look at the metal there. Should be the same as your 635 and require nothing to remove.
Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
A quick update. @sfdon and I met at the sellers body shop, and looked the thing over together. Don was pretty impressed with the car. It needs quite a bit of mechanical work, none of which surprised me. The body is rust free, very clean in certain respects. Paint is excellent. By the time the seller is done repairing the divot and the rear aluminum panel (there was definitely an impact back there at some point), I think the body and paint work will be complete for my purposes, until I elect to do a bumper conversion and side marker removal. The price is actually quite decent, and based on my post-PPI conversation with Don, I’m gonna guess that the additional money I’ll put into making this a really nice driver over the first twelve months or so should be recoupable at sale time. That last is very important, as it’s the line I use to get the bookkeeper to give me my money at times like this.
So after all is said and done, I think the deal is right. I’m gonna get that car. In about 4-6 weeks, I think. I’ll keep you posted.
Oh, and I think the color is Surinamrot and not Granatrot. A bit more copper in the former than the latter. I’ve seen a few of those online. I think it’s a very nice color.
So after all is said and done, I think the deal is right. I’m gonna get that car. In about 4-6 weeks, I think. I’ll keep you posted.
Oh, and I think the color is Surinamrot and not Granatrot. A bit more copper in the former than the latter. I’ve seen a few of those online. I think it’s a very nice color.
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Looks like Granatrot to me, built around May 1974. Get the build date and color here: [email protected]
Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
Yeah, you may be right. I’m guessing. I think the factory color was Granatrot, but the respray looks ever so slightly lighter and browner, like Surinamrot. Not at all sure though. I’ll check that registry. Thanks.
Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the lead on that. You were exactly right about the manufacture date. Here’s their reply:
Dear Mr Srinath,
Thank you for your email.
The BMW 3.0 CS US VIN 4310255 was manufactured on April 29th, 1974 and delivered on May 11th, 1974 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Granatrot metallic, paint code 025.
We hope this information is helpful for you.
Yours sincerely,
Julia Oberndörfer
Glad to hear she's rust free.
For 5mph bumpers, it must have been hit really hard to it to push into the aluminum trim like that. Did you check whether the whole frame is square?
If the customer is going to have some paint redone, have them make some EXTRA paint. Enough to do any touch ups and put a CSL front bumper on there asap. Will look good while sourcing chrome bumper parts.
For 5mph bumpers, it must have been hit really hard to it to push into the aluminum trim like that. Did you check whether the whole frame is square?
If the customer is going to have some paint redone, have them make some EXTRA paint. Enough to do any touch ups and put a CSL front bumper on there asap. Will look good while sourcing chrome bumper parts.
Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
Haven’t checked the square yet, but I will. It certainly looks that way. Looks like that divot is going away quickly too. Clean below the paint. All good so far.
Attachments
That's an interesting section that was replaced below the C-pillar. Not sure why you'd do a repair like that. A rust patch, or more likely an entire area repaired after a hard hit. I'm not trying to insult this car but as cars get older and older you lose track of their history and it just makes you really curious.
Manthri Srinath
Well-Known Member
Yeah. Apparently a segment of quarter panel was spliced in, and the frame wasn’t bent back correctly. But there wasn’t anything else there. No huge bondo patches or rust or anything. The seller is a really good body guy, from what I can see.
I get the impression the car was really cared for, but on a tight budget. The body work was shoddy, when it was done, apparently to save money. But the car itself is in good shape. Some of it is really good. No rust, all original, and the dash is immaculate. Don said something like it was one of the best he’s seen. So it’s a weird amalgam.
No worries on the critiiques. It’s far from a perfect car. I appreciate all the help I’ve gotten here. Also, I don’t take anything with cars personally, haha. They’re just cars, at the end of the day. I’m gonna have some fun driving it, and I’ll take good enough care of it to hand it off to the next generation. That’s the plan