Is this coupe worth saving ?

Oldtimer

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Hi all ! I have an opportunity to purchase this coupe. As you can tell it is very rough. I do realize that it will require a lot of time and $$$ but I am still tempted (below you will see wht)... Can you please give me your opinion on its overall condition and if it is worth saving. Looks like its 75 CS euro - not listed in the registry. The bumpers are not included with the car. The engine is a carbureted m30b35 which I was not able to confirm - maybe some of you can confirm this by looking at the pictures. The car is located in Canada and the price is approximately $3K US !!!! Not a typo Hence my temptation .... Thanks for looking and sharing your thoughts!

 

dang

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I vote no. It's a mess and I think the feeling that you got a deal will fade quickly. If the rest of the car is complete it might be a parts car.
 

autokunst

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I'll admit that I am usually the first guy to say "save it". But the pics on this one have caused me to change my tune (for once). I have to agree with Dan, this one seems too far gone. Seems there are a few decent parts - but I'd think it would be hard to get into the black on the parts at $3k.
 

HB Chris

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This coupe has no redeeming qualities, everything forward of the firewall is toast, it even has the dreaded rust above the glove box. Run don’t walk away.
 

CSteve

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This coupe has no redeeming qualities, everything forward of the firewall is toast, it even has the dreaded rust above the glove box. Run don’t walk away.
I stopped at photo #54 and pronounced it. As they say at the scene of a catastrophic accident.
 

Markos

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Euro 3.0 CS

It might be worth saving for someone who is a garage fabricator. I’m talking about someone really handy who builds monster creations in their free time. Someone who isn’t interested in period correct. The rust on this one goes above and beyond your typical problem areas. Looking at the rust inside the passenger a pillar as seen from the footwell. Seeing daylight in front of the passenger side wheel arch. The inner front fenders are completely fabricated. It is missing thousands of dollars in interior parts, $2K in bumpers, and the sheetmetal that it needs is NLA. The used sheetmetal costs big dollars and isn’t regularly available in the US. The super fabricator mentioned above would be better off
with another nightmare car that is in just slightly better shape.


If it were to live on, I would think that a group 5 body kit and full cage would be in order. As a parts car, it is worth about $3K. I can break that down if you want. In a nutshell:

Slick top/RearDisks/Dash/Cluster/Random Sheetmetal.
 

bluecoupe30!

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Think about when you visualize yourself actually driving this Coupe. Perhaps you are a welding wizard and have great connections for parts plus a large sum of disposable cash that you can convert into Euros to purchase new body panels, but getting this Coupe together and available for that sweet first drive, is really difficult to see. If you go ahead, my opinion is that it won't be very long before you wished you had just waited for the next E9 to show up on BAT, and have a go at the bidding, saving years and dollars. Just my opinion. Patience and caution with these 45 year old BMWs. Good luck. Mike.
 

adawil2002

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If you have very deep pockets buy the best car you can find. If you do not have deep pockets buy the best car you can find. Some cars are not financially realistic to save, this is one of them.

Oooh a green button fog lamp switch!
 

JayWltrs

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These guys know more than me, but it seems you’d be manufacturing an E9 from scratch. This would only make sense for a CSL or a sentimental car you were conceived in. Welds on poor repairs all rusting and glob of bondo on paint foretells horrors elsewhere untold. Just imagine how the “frame” lines up and how you’d straighten the unibody. In addition to the work you can see, you’d have to undo & re-do any prior work. There are better shells out there to start from, and @Markos likely has an .xlsx with their GPS coordinates.

That said, if a bunch of additional
parts go with it, and you’ve got the extra dry space to stash it, I’d do it for $3k, if it were w/i 200 miles. Just not as a restoration project.
 

rsporsche

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i started on pic 6 or so and had hopes that it was an original turkis, but i only got to #33 and decided that salt has not been kind to this coupe. everything is worse than i imagined it could be. this will cost you so much more than it would ever be worth. run is not a fast enough word of avoidance
 

Markos

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There are better shells out there to start from, and @Markos likely has an .xlsx with their GPS coordinates.

Ha! I know where a few of the rough ones are. :D

Personally, I still really like this car. Still a big project, but worlds ahead of the car on dropbox:

 

JayWltrs

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Ha! I know where a few of the rough ones are. :D

Personally, I still really like this car. Still a big project, but worlds ahead of the car on dropbox:


A restoration huckleberry from pics. Never saw where he landed on price & assumed somebody bought it. @Tony.dreamer must be running out of space. :)
 

teahead

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If you can get it for $2k, and you can send it off to Hungary (Mikleos) and have all metal work done for <$30k, then maybe it'd be worth it.

Would take another $20k to then put it together if the engine runs. Add another $2-5k for another engine if it doesn't.
 

Tony.dreamer

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A restoration huckleberry from pics. Never saw where he landed on price & assumed somebody bought it. @Tony.dreamer must be running out of space. :)
Very Funny Jay,
I ran out of space long time ago , but that didn’t keep me from buying more E9 . In fact I bought two more on Saturday! One of them in excellent running shape with dog leg 5 speed ...

This car is a lost cause for restoration! I see no body part in the car worth saving.

Pull the front and rear axle , dash and instrument panel, gas tank , wiring harness (mainly for special sockets ) may be few other odds and ends.... that’s it ...
 

Gransin

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Would take another $20k to then put it together if the engine runs. Add another $2-5k for another engine if it doesn't.

That's way too low.
Paint, interior, wood, trim, chrome, bumpers, glass, wheels, tires, suspension, exhaust, all rubber + seals etc etc. Never ending list on this one.
It adds up fast with rising part prices, and shipping costs.
 

eriknetherlands

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Not sure if I need to add my view, as the consensus is overwhelming. Alone the outer skin sheet metal (that's the four corners) will set you back 5K. And then you still have to buy full rockers, new doors, floors, inner wings. boot lid. I think if you add up and buy all metal bits from Walloth & Neesch that you actually have spend >20K and you would still not have all the metal parts. And for those 20K it's still on your floor. Not on your car.
Practical problem is also the previous fix; that was done so rudimental, that it will be hard taking the car apart layer by layer.

I agree: parts car.
If you are willing to chop it up:

Two interesting parts to mention that were not in the above posts: it looks like a new right front fender was installed. If it was, and if it is still relatively rust free, it could be cut out and sold for ~500 (small bubbles) /800/1000 (if fine) euro's (not sure of scarcity in US). And the other collectable is the cover on the windshield wiper motor. Mine is missing, and I 've been on the lookout for > 5 years, but non have come up in the wrecks I've visited to pick off. I'll offer you 20 bucks for it....

some other bits: the aluminium trim around the door opeings; rivieted to the inside A and B-Pillar. And the textured cover of the b-pillar on which the door catch is mounted. Also right door opening still has the stainless steel trim on the inner sill, the 4 foot one with 6 or 7 screw holes. It seems nice still.
 
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