New owner/member in Northern California

[brea]

Hello e9ers, I just recently made a purchase of a 1974 (big bumper) white 3.0CS two weeks ago in northern California off of the San Francisco Craig’s list. I have always admired the e9 coupes during my travels on some of the northern California classic car rallies such as the California Melee, Motherlode 400 and Snowball. I feel that the e9 coupes have such a classic period look and style to them that other cars simply cannot match.

After finding and now joining your group, I am still totally puzzled and also amazed how I was able to be so lucky to acquire this car without it hitting the e9coupe forum member’s radar screens. I have seen the recent sale listings being posted and it seems that the members here really track these cars with such knowledge and passion.

This is my first purchase of a BWM classic car and during the last two weeks I have been in the process of simply trying to figure out what I have gotten myself into. After doing some extensive reading here on these forums and with the input today from member Shanon I now know that my car has been given a number upgrades during its life of which seems all too good to be true.

From all the records and receipts that came with the car I can see that previous restoration work preformed included extensive engine work to the original engine, suspension upgrades, rust proofing, rust repairs, a window and interior out paint job, interior work and a list of other items.

Hopefully someone here may know more of my cars history (VIN#4310291). I was able to find that my car is already listed on the CS registry after I saw that my car came with a window sticker as being registered there. However, the registry only states "Seen in old CS Register mailing list and that it was located in Santa Fe, New Mexico".

I hope that once I learn enough about these e9’s that one day I will be able to contribute back to this forum.

Cheers,
Bernie

 

[HB Chris]

Welcome Bernie,

I just archived that old entry that I made so you can update it with your info. Share some more pics when you can, Shanon is a great resource as you now know. Lots of owners here who can help you as well.

Chris

 

[CSteve]

Sounds like a great car all around. The window sticker is rare since the CS Register/ry(long story about the name change) has been wedded to e9coupe for quite some time.

In it's day it was the go to place for cars, parts, advice. I did two runs of Register badges and key fobs and lapel pins based on the first run years ago. You will see your sticker in badge form on many coupes. Best of luck.
Steve

 

[brea]

Steve, thank you for the information regarding the window sticker on my car. I guess that sticker is a keeper.

In looking through my box of records I have found that the car was once owed by Bart Robinett of Longview Texas and he had kept a written journal about the car. He had mentioned that he did several tours with the Lone Star Chapter which would have taken place sometime between 1993 when he bought the car and 2003 the year he sold the car.

Are there any members here that had belonged to that chapter during that time frame and remember Bart or anything about his car?

Bernie

 

[HB Chris]

Bernie,

I have scans of the old CS Regiistry mailing lists and your car was registered to Barton L. Robinett of Longview, TX and later to John Connell of Santa Fe, NM. I don't have any other info I am afraid. A coupe one VIN before yours was built on 7/10/74. You can contact the BMW Archive for the actual build date. See the Registry section on the lower left for the link to Andreas at the Archive.

Chris

 

[tmason]

Congrads Bernie on your purchased.Where in N. Cal are you located?
Tim

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

Right on Bernie, looks like the only thing left to do is change those bumpers

 

[brea]

Congrads Bernie on your purchased.Where in N. Cal are you located?
Tim

Tim, I am in Stockton, CA.

Thank you

 

[brea]

Bernie,

I have scans of the old CS Regiistry mailing lists and your car was registered to Barton L. Robinett of Longview, TX and later to John Connell of Santa Fe, NM. I don't have any other info I am afraid. A coupe one VIN before yours was built on 7/10/74. You can contact the BMW Archive for the actual build date. See the Registry section on the lower left for the link to Andreas at the Archive.

Chris

Chris, I received an email response from the BMW Group Archive that provided me with a documented starting point of my cars history. I am still working on filling in some of the missing time gaps and ownership details as to my cars full history but this is what I have come up with so far:

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Email from BMW Group Archive

The BMW 3.0 CS US VIN 4310291 was manufactured on July 10th, 1974 and delivered on July 18th, 1974 to the BMW importer Hoffman Motors Corp. in New York City. The original colour was Polaris metallic, paint code 060.
We hope this information is helpful for you.
Yours sincerely,
Christina Hartung
BMW Group Archive

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1974 - The original purchaser/owner is unknown. ??

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1992 - The car resided in Santa Fe, NM with owner John Connell. His purchase date of this car is unknown. John Connell who is cited as a Factory Master Technician with BMW did extensive upgrades to the engine and suspension work during 1992 with the mileage documented at 83,000 miles at that time.

Google search provided this information regarding John Connell’s background and that his shop is still open:

Newspaper: The Santa Fe Reporter › 1989 › September › 20 September 1989 › Page 48

Meet John Connell, Owner REX GOES RACING 420 Catron Street, 984-8776 "I've always had a thing for cars," said John Connell, owner of Rex Goes Racing, a shop that services, repairs and renovates BMWs, Porsches and Mercedes-Benz automobiles. "I admit to a bad car habit," Connell laughed. "I own 11 cars myself now." Some of those cars—a 1965 911 Porsche, a 1965 Jaguar XKE roadster, and a 1967 BMW 1600 TI—are driven on the Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing Club circuit by Connell and his wife, Holly, who have been racing three years. "We enter about ten events each year," he said.

When Connell isn't racing, he's in his Santa Fe shop—the only garage located downtown—servicing and repairing BMWs, Porsches and Mercedes, old and new. "We do all the mechanical work here, and it's top quality," said Connell, who has been in the business 16 years and is BMW factory-trained. "We limit ourselves to those automobiles because that's what we know best." Although Rex Goes Racing doesn't do body work, they do everything from oil changes and routine maintenance to engine and transmission overhauls. "We specialize in modifying BMWs, Porsches and Mercedes to upgrade engine, suspension and chassis performance," Connell said.

Connell admits to being a perfectionist and compares the staff at Rex Goes Racing with tuners in Europe. "We run a clean, neat garage where we take care of business," Connell said. "We take the time to get every little bit out of a car, to make it distinctive—both in appearance and performance."

Newspaper: The Santa Fe Reporter › 1991 › April › 24 April 1991 › Page 8

REPAIR • RACE • RESTORATION BMW • PORSCHE • MERCEDES-BENZ John J. Connell, Factory Master Technician on BMW 17 Years Experience 984-8776 420 Catron Street Corner of Guadalupe and Catron Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

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1993 - The car was sold during 1993 to Bart Robinett of Longview, TX. During Mr. Robinett’s ownership he completed extensive restoration work regarding both the interior and exterior of the car. The paint work was completed during 1996 after rust repair and prevention treatments being done with a window out and interior out paint to its present color of Chamonix (white). The upholstery was also redone in the original blue leather look vinyl. An owner kept auto record lastly documented the mileage at 110,503 miles on 7/26/2002.

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2003 - The car was then sold and moved to the Bay Area of Northern California where it was garaged and was very rarely driven over the next ten years and logged only 4,500 miles through August 2013.

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2013 – August 27, 2013 the car is sold to me and I drove it home from the Bay Area to its new home in Stockton, CA with mileage documented at 114,900 miles.