BMW 3.0 CSA in Wicklow

db707

Hi Folks,

I have been keeping my eye out for a BMW 3.0 CSi/A for some time now, always imagined I would buy it in the UK and bring it home. I would be ideally looking for a solid restored car that could be used as a 'semi' daily driver without too much grief.

I just noticed this on Carzone:

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/6-Series/30CS/201017197771934/advert?channel=CARS

I e-mailed the seller asking for some info and got the following:

"The car is running but there are a couple of issues with it.
The breaks have been completely overhauled recently, however the main
break server could not be found new so I sent it to the UK to
recondition. While they work they need to be pumped. And the last item
of concern is that the fan wasn't coming on to cool the engine. The
only other item of concern is that rust has started to reappear. The worst spot is the boot, right hand side."

not really the type of car I was interested in but the year is perfect (finding a '74 model is a bonus for me), the millage, if correct :rolleyes: is relatively low and at the price I would have a few Euros left in the budget for the restoration required (I know these cars are famous for rust....and if you can see it in the pictures then I guess it is pretty extensive unfortunetly)

I am assuming it will need a full body strip and repaint with a fair amount of panel repair due to rot, multiple systems repairs/replacements/probably some interior work as well as engine+gearbox recondition-rebuild.

I have never owned a classic car before and I don't have expereince with car maintenance (but I do know how a car works). So I will need to get the work done rather than do it myself.

• Is their a workshop who could take this type of work on ?

• How much (ballpark) do I need to set aside to bring the car into a good, (relatively) reliable, rust free condition for regular use.

• Would it make sense to bring a mechanic with me to look at the car to get a better understanding of the scope of work required before I buy and if so where might I find a person capable of evaluating a classic BMW.

Any help or advice much appreciated.

DB

2.8trooper

its a lot of car for small money imho,although im sure nothing for these cs models are cheap my first port of call would be here http://www.bmwcarclubireland.com/

some one on there should know what to look out for if not the car itself not many of these on the road now would be nice to see it get the tlc it deserves
but be under no illusion old cars cost money and will always need something doing
best of luck

Bigus

Well the first thing i'd say is you're not doing yourself any favours here by letting everbody here know its available... that's why we have the
"this weeks classic bargin that I'm NOT buying thread"

Should be publishing it after you buy it or when you've decided not to buy it.

Good luck anyway

Teddy Daniels

Thats a lota car for the money.

Sids Not

Yep...its a bargain alright...if i had the space.:rolleyes:

alpina

Sorry, walking out the door so jump on over to http://bmwireland.ning.com/ & you will get some good advice.

gears

OP if youre even half interested in this car buy it now as myself and lots of others here would probably take the hand and all off the guy selling it at that price.

alpina

Emmm...one begins to wonder;)

Teddy Daniels

<Nodding in agreement at the wondering.>

colm_mcm

Are these fast, drove a Bavaria 3.0 manual and it felt a bit dead, just wondering what they're usually like to drive?
I know they're old and all that, and technology has progressed.

kev1.3s

imo if something seems to good to be true then it usually is, I think I seen that car for sale one day in Sandyford a couple of years ago with close to 10,000 in the window at that stage there was already plenty of rust around the arches the sills and around the bottom of the windows. If this is the same car and I do mean if it's more realistically priced but there is a serious amount of bodywork to be done there at this stage and we all know here that the sky's the limit as regards bodywork!

603304529

I'm pretty sure I saw this car on a tilt tray yesterday, north bound on the M50, just north of the Mad Cow roundabout.

I was in the boss' office, and my jaw dropped - what are the chances!

db707

OK Folks, here's what happened.....

I made an appointpment with the seller to view the car on Friday night at 7:30pm.

I spent Friday afternoon looking for a mechanic to come with me to look at the car but unfortunetly I was not successful. Thanks to 'alpina' for pointing me in the right direction to find some contacts though.

The seller was a very genuine guy in my opinion, he had owned the car for about 10 years and had a book of receipts about 6" thick, I recon he had spent about 20K on the car over the years, so considering he was only looking for 2K for the machine.....it was an absoute bargin.

The car looked good superficially but on closer inspection had signs of rust in most of the common areas and without having a mechanic/expert with me it was hard to judge the extent of the repairs necessary, I would not be surpised if this car was bordering on unrepairable.....but again I am not an expert. In addition to the rot, the electrics seemed to be in trouble and I would guess a complete re-wiring might be on the cards. The car did run quite well, starting was no problem, and it ran smoothly although it was overhearing and had some mods to the fan to keep things under control.

Not having owned a classic before the main thing that hit me was the fact that the seller had been pouring money into this car on a regular basis, had garaged it and only driven it about 300 miles/year and it was currently not safe to drive (brake problems and not working windscreen wipers) and seemed like a massive restoration project.

To be honest, chatting to the seller about the car brought home the reality of owning this type of beast and it scarred me a bit, I understand that owning a classic means accepting costs to keep the thing running.....but I expect it to run most of the time. This thing seemed to consume cash and then not run and at the same time slowly dissolve.

I decided that before I could take on the car I would need to get some expert advice so I did not buy the car but to try and get my hands on an expert and return on Saturday. There was someone else (coming from waterford I think) scheduled to look at the car on Friday night and the seller called me at about 9pm to tell me they had seen the car and bought it.

I regret I did not buy the car as it was without doubt a fantastic deal and a beautiful car, on the other hand, without a mechanic/expert I was was risking buying something that I might never be able to get into a semi daily driver state.

So good luck to whoever bought it.

Teddy Daniels

db707 wrote: »

OK Folks, here's what happened.....

You went with your gut; I went against my gut on a car once and regretted it for a long time. Also it seems too cheap.

alpina

db707 wrote: »

I decided that before I could take on the car I would need to get some expert advice so I did not buy the car

Wise man...If you knew these cars like the back of your hand, had owned a classic before, were aware of the pitfalls, & really wanted it, it would be a project, a long but wortwhile & expensive project. So under your own circumstances believe you did the right thing to walk away.

2.8trooper

you made the right decision as said if you werent an avid collector and have no contacts and cant do any of the work yourself you need a car thats done.there will be more maybe not at that money but you would have ended up putting the same amount in to get it were you wanted it without being able to enjoy it as you should;)