Solid 72 CS on Hemmings w/4bbl intake
- Thread starter teahead
- Start date
Toolkit is post e9, it has the long tool for the plastic gear.
I think the more realistic occurrence is it was a 1972 or 1973 EURO automatic body, but with a 1972 US manual VIN stamped/swapped, whatever.
my original guess was a canadian coupe - with roll ups, no a/c and Km speedo. that doesn't explain the VIN. only things that work with that are significant rust that joined a couple of cars into one ... or a stolen car that is hiding its true identity. the fact that it has so much funny stuff going on makes me think it was a car completely taken apart to fix the body and put together with whatever they could find.
i am going to speak to Gary to see if he went to go look at it. if he did not, perhaps i will go see it friday and take a good look at it. see if we can determine what has been reworked on the body - obvious splice welds. the floors show some questionable replacement seams. but i am curious to look at the back / front side of the firewall and within the trunk / under the rear seats.
i am going to speak to Gary to see if he went to go look at it. if he did not, perhaps i will go see it friday and take a good look at it. see if we can determine what has been reworked on the body - obvious splice welds. the floors show some questionable replacement seams. but i am curious to look at the back / front side of the firewall and within the trunk / under the rear seats.
floridabmx
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,056
- Reaction score
- 378
I follow the owner of motorcarstudio on instagram, and i swear i vividly remember him being in his shop and saying "How often and rare is it to have three 74 ford blue 3.0cs at once" so this is kindve interesting to me.
If it was a Canadian 74 it would have the bumper reinforcement in trunk and a 224xxxx vin though. I noticed the fading on the dash rail where an Auto indicator would have been too. As Rob says, most likely a euro mid-73 with later window motors.
I think it's likely this. There were different routes taken to get euro grey mkt cars into the country. This looks like a fairly easy route. Steering column cover, braze in VIN body stamp (poorly), VIN plate swap with a couple rivets and the hard part (depending on who you know) get a buddy to do a VIN inspection get a title generated. Once that's done, you've got a US coupe titled and tagged in the US.
Remember, this car has been here for at least 20 years. This stuff wasn't done yesterday...
MotoCarlo
Member
I am learning a ton from you guys ; this is great. I am sitting here taking notes. I have been hoping to find a clean E9 for under $40 k. But my garage is currently full , and I am in no rush. So this is wonderful info for a guy like me.
We live about 1 hour north of Atlanta (in the mountains - car heaven) and I planned to go look at the car. I had a great phone call with Tyson who got the inspection and spoke with the dealer. The dealer said he got the car from the owner of 20 years who did the "restoration" himself. I suggested he get photos and any documentation he could about the work done. Even so, this is clearly not the car for me . Primarily because when it came my time to sell, I would be stuck with a real problem.
But I am curious about something.
These cars are rust monsters. If someone took a good frame and built a car from a couple of cars. It passed state safety inspection (I had to do that with an old Porsche I had and it was pretty tough in Georgia.) , the car was safe on the road, got a clear title with vin matching the vin on the car, etc ... is it still a bad car due to the inaccuracies? Of course the price should be closer to $28k than $38k, but I would like an honest opinion. Would it be a 'bad' car at $28k?
We live about 1 hour north of Atlanta (in the mountains - car heaven) and I planned to go look at the car. I had a great phone call with Tyson who got the inspection and spoke with the dealer. The dealer said he got the car from the owner of 20 years who did the "restoration" himself. I suggested he get photos and any documentation he could about the work done. Even so, this is clearly not the car for me . Primarily because when it came my time to sell, I would be stuck with a real problem.
But I am curious about something.
These cars are rust monsters. If someone took a good frame and built a car from a couple of cars. It passed state safety inspection (I had to do that with an old Porsche I had and it was pretty tough in Georgia.) , the car was safe on the road, got a clear title with vin matching the vin on the car, etc ... is it still a bad car due to the inaccuracies? Of course the price should be closer to $28k than $38k, but I would like an honest opinion. Would it be a 'bad' car at $28k?
i don't think it would be a bad car at 28k ... not sure its a bad car in any basic discussion. its just not a black + white discussion ... there's a lot of gray that you might have to explain at some time. that has a negative value to me. my worst nightmare would be to buy the car, spend some money on it and have somebody prove that it was theirs ... and had been stolen and had the VIN swapped. the real curiosity is whether BMW ever included a hidden VIN - other than the one on the column, the one on the firewall and the engine number ... doubtful
Yea, I don't think it has much to do with the car being good or bad. It could get sticky if the car was somehow reviewed and an eagle eye inspector thought the VIN looked funny (which it does) and then the problems begin. Not to mention it will always be a story car... Imagine the pig roast if that all came out on a BaT auction.... Woooweee that would be some fireworks!!
Never EVER buy a car with a VIN swap. Will always prevent any kind of return on investment.
MotoCarlo
Member
Bingo. I bought a rare guitar in the classified years(decades) ago. A few years later when I decided to sell it, a guy responded to my add, asked a bunch of questions and showed up with a cop and paper work that proved it was a stolen guitar. His guitar. I had no idea I had bought a hot guitar and had to give it to him. No money. So that is the big fear. This is why I suggested to Motorcar to get some documentation. Even so no one likes a "story" when they buy a car. (at least this kind of story)
Hey Guys,
I was hesitant to join and get involved in this thread - and as a fellow long-term coupe owner I hate that this is my introduction to your forum - but as the seller of the coupe in question I wanted to chime in. So much wild speculation... We acquired this car from a local (Atlanta) owner who is an executive with BMW NA and owned it for over 20 years. He also did / commissioned the restoration on this car. This coupe has been on the road, titled, registered and insured as you see it / with this VIN since 1999.
As you know there was a time when these cars were not particularly valuable and there was still some inventory of E9s languishing behind people's BMW shops, in junkyards, etc - obviously that has changed but this was the mid 90s. The car in question employed several donor cars to complete - the owner wanted a sunroof coupe with euro bits and that's what he built. For example the fenders are from a 74. The best parts were put together on the best shell. It was a lot of work but turned out fairly well - the type of build that you would probably enjoy following today on a "build thread with pictures" - if that had existed in the 90s. Attached are a couple pictures mid-restoration.
I understand that this car is not for everyone but no one is trying to pass it off as a CSL or a concours restored example. It is advertised as a "hotrod driver that needs some buttoning up" and is offered at a below market price. I'm happy to discuss the car's history, high and low points with anyone who is interested. I spoke to the PO today and he is bringing me additional build photos next week which I will also be happy to share with interested individuals.
Your forum has a wide reach - I've received calls from a number of people who aren't members but come here for information (or to shop for cars) regarding this car. While I appreciate the resource that this platform provides, please bear in mind that your comments and speculation resonate outside of this thread.
Nick Huston
Motorcar Studio, Atlanta GA
404-692-5250
www.motorcarstudio.com
I was hesitant to join and get involved in this thread - and as a fellow long-term coupe owner I hate that this is my introduction to your forum - but as the seller of the coupe in question I wanted to chime in. So much wild speculation... We acquired this car from a local (Atlanta) owner who is an executive with BMW NA and owned it for over 20 years. He also did / commissioned the restoration on this car. This coupe has been on the road, titled, registered and insured as you see it / with this VIN since 1999.
As you know there was a time when these cars were not particularly valuable and there was still some inventory of E9s languishing behind people's BMW shops, in junkyards, etc - obviously that has changed but this was the mid 90s. The car in question employed several donor cars to complete - the owner wanted a sunroof coupe with euro bits and that's what he built. For example the fenders are from a 74. The best parts were put together on the best shell. It was a lot of work but turned out fairly well - the type of build that you would probably enjoy following today on a "build thread with pictures" - if that had existed in the 90s. Attached are a couple pictures mid-restoration.
I understand that this car is not for everyone but no one is trying to pass it off as a CSL or a concours restored example. It is advertised as a "hotrod driver that needs some buttoning up" and is offered at a below market price. I'm happy to discuss the car's history, high and low points with anyone who is interested. I spoke to the PO today and he is bringing me additional build photos next week which I will also be happy to share with interested individuals.
Your forum has a wide reach - I've received calls from a number of people who aren't members but come here for information (or to shop for cars) regarding this car. While I appreciate the resource that this platform provides, please bear in mind that your comments and speculation resonate outside of this thread.
Nick Huston
Motorcar Studio, Atlanta GA
404-692-5250
www.motorcarstudio.com
hi Nick - great to see you post. welcome to the forum
Guys, i have met Nick and his cohort Chris on several occasions. they are both standup guys. Nick has an extremely nice '73 fjord ... unless he has sold it.
Guys, i have met Nick and his cohort Chris on several occasions. they are both standup guys. Nick has an extremely nice '73 fjord ... unless he has sold it.
Thanks for jumping into the deepend on this Nick. I think most of us know this forum is fairly widely cited amongst devotees of the e9 but realistically probably not a lot beyond that. The intention is to discuss specific cars for sale and the positive and negative aspects of those cars. As you can see people get into the minutia. No harm or blowback was intended on your reputation or the cars value as a non-original example. Having said all that, the issue with the VIN is a significant "knock" and as such our discussion is to educate both owners and potential owner/ clients (myself included) of what they may be getting involved with.
Just so there's transparency, the pictures you sent don't look like the car you are selling. The pics depict an early car (vents in the chin spoiler) and yours has the 73+ short vents. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Just want to make sure we are all talking about the same car. Perhaps the seller had more than one coupe he restored..
Good luck with the sale
Just so there's transparency, the pictures you sent don't look like the car you are selling. The pics depict an early car (vents in the chin spoiler) and yours has the 73+ short vents. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Just want to make sure we are all talking about the same car. Perhaps the seller had more than one coupe he restored..
Good luck with the sale
Vents in mid 73 were shortened on the outermost ones to get ready for the big 74 bumpers, snap a pic to confirm.
Ok, I’m out of town untill Monday afternoon but I have a 73, a 74 and this “72” so I will investigate. The pic I posted is the only one I have handy that shows the vents behind the bumper. I would be surprised if the photos he provided are not of the car in question but I’ll report back once it is in front of me.
Maybe it is a 72 224xxxx coupe. Did the PO change the seatbelts to 74 style, add the rear fog, change instruments to metric, does it have one piece carpet, maybe he added that too, anything is possible. Glad to hear that you are a coupe owner too, thanks for joining us.
