Would like feedback on this E9 listed for Sale

Tate said:
Hello, I’m new here, but have been using the Search Function to learn more about these cars, including the Companies that restore them & the Dealers who list them.

Below is an E9 listed for sale in Europe (I live in Seattle, WA.) I wasn’t able to find info about this particular listing here, or much about the dealer (perhaps there is, but I wasn’t able to come across it). I’ve emailed back & forth with the dealer, & he’s been a pleasure to work with. However, I’d like to get some objective feedback, from the members here. Again, I’m new here & my knowledge is extremely limited on these cars, restorations & the companies who traffic in them. Any & all feedback would be greatly appreciated (including potential registration issues with a vehicle imported from Europe)

Listening link: https://www.classix.se/cars-for-sale/260-bmw-3-0-csi-e9-137-000

YouTube link:

Thank you!
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Keep looking. Much will come down to how much work you want to put into the car yourself -whether you want a turnkey example that might not be concourse quality, but needs nothing (in my eyes, there is a difference), or whether you are open to the idea of buying a car at a considerable savings to the one you linked to, with the tradeoff of putting in some time to get the car up to 'bar'. By 'needing work' I am not talking about a car that needs considerable (or any) rust mitigation, but rather one that just needs a mechanical refresh and superficial refinements. If the latter, there are likely considerably more options but options that will require a lot more due diligence in terms of being certain the car isn't hiding anything too scary. In the case of the former, there's no way I would import a car these days unless it's a one-off, never to come again example. There are reputable sources in country for cars as good as the one you linked to. You might have to wait a bit for the right one, but with coupes, waiting is usually rewarded.
 
bimmerboy73 said:
That's a beautiful seat comb and the first I've seen. I've been trying to decide what direction to go with my interior as I was lucky to grab a pretty nice set of restored Scheel Mann seats in new cloth / leather (dark tan / black). I considered recovering them and the the rears in brown leather to go with a set of very nice brown door cards I've had laying around for years. But this makes me think doing the rears in the same combo as the Scheels is the right move.
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FWIW - Below are more interior pics of Velour seats, in a Ceylon Gold E9:
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Link: https://www.classix.se/cars-for-sale/312-bmw-3-0-csi-ceylon-120-000

Really like this color combo!!
 
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IMHO, ceylon is one of the best colors - others may or may not agree with it. for some it is an acquired taste, others love it immediately. ceylon looks great with black interior or tan interior ... and that cloth interior looks quite good in several car colors.

if i list my favorite colors
1. ceylon
2. inka
3. blues - nacht, baikal, riviera + fjord
4. granatrot
5. chamonix
6. turkis
7. taiga

that being said, a car in GREAT verified shape with a really good color trumps a reasonable car in any of your favorite colors. but when you find a great car in a color you love, and a color that everybody loves, be prepared to pay a bigger price ... and even so, you will spend less money than buying a questionable car and restoring it.
 
rsporsche said:
IMHO, ceylon is one of the best colors - others may or may not agree with it. for some it is an acquired taste, others love it immediately. ceylon looks great with black interior or tan interior ... and that cloth interior looks quite good in several car colors.

if i list my favorite colors
1. ceylon
2. inka
3. blues - nacht, baikal, riviera + fjord
4. granatrot
5. chamonix
6. turkis
7. taiga

that being said, a car in GREAT verified shape with a really good color trumps a reasonable car in any of your favorite colors. but when you find a great car in a color you love, and a color that everybody loves, be prepared to pay a bigger price ... and even so, you will spend less money than buying a questionable car and restoring it.
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I agree on Ceylon - Favorite of mine, too

I also like Malaga, Tundra, Nacht & Baikal.

Below’s a video of Ceylon with black Velour seats:
 
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@Tate ; if the Swedish car fit's within you budget, and if can sit on it for a while, i think you can find a more fitting car somewhere in the coming 6 months or so.
For that amount of money, i expect around 10 or 20 per year become available in the US alone per year. After all about 30.000 E9 were produced. We're not talking Ferrari 250GTO's here.

how about Turkis? Black leather. Really sophisticated if you ask me.
HB Chris

Thread 'Turkis CSi'

Here is another CSi that I will be helping to sell.
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Rudy3.0CS said:
You could replace the red interior in Chris's blue car for less money than the cost of import, duties and tariffs. Its just not that big a deal. The seats have already been rebuilt so it's covers only. It's already in the US.
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Tate, welcome to the forum!

I 100% agree with Rudy3.0CS. Buying a well-sorted, well-represented coupe in a gorgeous color....on the West Coast...makes good sense, as the cost of changing the interior color will be far less than bringing a car over from Europe (that you are unable to see in person) or buying a car that is not as well sorted and paying a restoration shop $20-30k to remediate hidden rust.

Besides, the red interior may grow on you.
 
Hi Tate - I spent three years looking for my car, and my approach to buying my coupe was much different than yours. I wanted to find a solid car knowing I would make changes, and I didn't have anywhere near the budget you do (budget is a primary reason my search took so long). That said, you need to map out ahead of time how important certain factors are to you. By way of example, rust was very high on my list. I did not want to buy a rusty car because of the level of restoration that requires.

Continuing my example, color was less important than rust. And so, I ended up with a car that was not painted in an original BMW color. This meant the car was less expensive to obtain, but also limits the upside value somewhat. I also wanted a car that was fairly complete so I would not have to spend time and money seeking hard to find cosmetic parts. I downplayed the drivetrain/suspension components of the car because parts are much easier to find and because I can fix these components myself. These are examples of things you should rank. And given that your wife has vetoed one of the cars you have considered, you need to clarify what factors are important to her and put them on your list. One caveat here - the more emphasis you place on color, the more you will have to compromise on the condition of the car.

One thing that comes through from your posts is you want a car that is well sorted. Here, I would encourage you to change your approach. You appear to have placed more emphasis on European companies that have coupes for sale in stock assuming those cars will be well sorted. If you think about the business of automotive restoration, these factors do not ensure a well sorted car. Indeed, they may cut in the opposite direction because the pressure to complete and sell a car that a dealer owns is pretty high. This in turn encourages them to move fast and emphasize making a car look good.

The reason you won't find US companies that are good at coupe restoration that hold inventory is quite simple. It is more profitable and less risky to restore customer cars. None of the best US restoration shops have stock on hand. In the early days of building up a business, some of them would buy cars to keep their people busy if things got slow. Now, all the good US shops have multiyear backlogs and a shortage of good people to do the work. Sometimes they help customers sell cars, but they rarely take ownership of the cars themselves. Not sure why European companies hold inventory - I would think the same economics apply to them.

I leaned heavily on this forum to help me buy my car. I studied the for sale section of the forum, looking at scores of cars and evaluating the comments people made. This provided me with useful information on what to look for, and about who on the forum is knowledgeable. I also attended a number of car events where coupe people were likely to show up, so I could ask them questions and see their cars. And there were a handful of forum members who were extremely generous with their time in helping me evaluate cars and in actually closing the transaction to buy my car.

One other thing - don't shy away from seeking help here out of fear that someone will buy your car out from under you. A couple of years ago there was a member here who behaved this way. He was taken for the entire purchase price by a scam.

Good luck.
 
Howdy - Chris' write up is excellent. One other point worth making is that the cars in Europe LOOK great, but unless you go there and inspect them, or have an expert like Erik go do a PPI, you will never really know. I suspect these cars are "90 percenters", and once you get the car stateside, you should plan on doing the extra 10 percent with your favorite shop to FULLY sort it. That's what is good about being patient and buying a car stateside, you can always get a PPI first, and if it passes, you can go fly to see it if its not close by. By way of reference, I had two PPIs done on cars that looked great, but were not. Hope this helps!
 
@Tate while poking around on the W&N site for some rough idea of cost of some items, clicked on the "seats" section and here you go - tan fabric entire seat set. Of course you can probably find this stateside for equivalent, but this at least gives you some idea of cost. Figure in the cost of the labor to put these on and you're likely still far better than the European cars, and you have brand-new seats to boot!
www.wallothnesch.com

Fabric seat set beige complete after facelift from 1973 up (serial number beginning with 43..) you need 1 for 1 car

Fabric seat set beige complete after facelift from 1973 up (serial number beginning with 43..) you need 1 for 1 car
www.wallothnesch.com www.wallothnesch.com
 
e9Leveque said:
@Tate while poking around on the W&N site for some rough idea of cost of some items, clicked on the "seats" section and here you go - tan fabric entire seat set. Of course you can probably find this stateside for equivalent, but this at least gives you some idea of cost. Figure in the cost of the labor to put these on and you're likely still far better than the European cars, and you have brand-new seats to boot!
www.wallothnesch.com

Fabric seat set beige complete after facelift from 1973 up (serial number beginning with 43..) you need 1 for 1 car

Fabric seat set beige complete after facelift from 1973 up (serial number beginning with 43..) you need 1 for 1 car
www.wallothnesch.com www.wallothnesch.com
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Thanks!
 
They have ones for an earlier model, I couldn't remember offhand the year of the car that you are representing. We all clearly want Tate to purchase that vehicle, probably because we each would love to own it but can't justify another purchase, so will live vicariously through a forum member's acquisition. I was just trying to demonstrate to him that if the seat color is the main non-starter, the cost of changing that one issue is likely far less than any unknown mechanical item that might be present on a car coming sight-unseen from overseas
 
@Tate a new Fjord car was just listed in Texas. I'm not one of the experts here but it seems to have had a $150K restoration a decade ago, then sold for $100K.

Minivansomeren

Thread '194 Fjord B35 5-Speed on BAT'

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M30B35-Powered 1974 BMW 3.0CS 5-Speed

Bid for the chance to own a M30B35-Powered 1974 BMW 3.0CS 5-Speed at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #220,420.
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Thoughts?

The photos aren't great (too dark, not addressing many common rust spots) but this seems very nice. The one receipt provided mentions a $150k rotisserie resto and it seems like it sold for $100k in 2014. I'm curious what this goes for now, with the market down.

Also, is the "ivory" leather on the console and dash a factory option, or was that done during one of the two "refurbishments?" I haven't seen it before but I know there were some new color options added in 74. I honestly don't love the interior, but I think...

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M30B35-Powered 1974 BMW 3.0CS 5-Speed

Bid for the chance to own a M30B35-Powered 1974 BMW 3.0CS 5-Speed at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #220,420.
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