S.O.T. Bavaria on the 'bay

[filmy]

No affiliation at all. But this seller is on my favorites list and has a great rep for being honest about the vehicle he flips for charity. Beware the paperwork fees, though.

Bavaria linky

[wkohler]

I'm digging the PVC rear shock tower brace:

[bkbimmer]

That's a sad sight, I love e3's though!

[Tim in N FL]

Wow...that's a very solid e3 project for someone. Looks to be in pretty damned good shape overall. Very little rust from what I can tell. The underside is pretty wet with oil...whazzupwitdat...oil pan gasket, RMS, VCG, reseal the differential? Looks like a respray but if single stage might come back pretty well with the exception of the top surfaces (hood, trunk, roof). All hail the great preserver of vintage cars...the CA climate.

[gdennism5]

Wow! Brings back old memories. My first bimmer was a '73 Bavaria I owned in the mid 80's very similar to this one. Very fun cars to drive - essentially the same drivetrain as the much-acclaimed 3.0 CS coupe for a lot less money. Mine was Atlantic Blue with tan leather interior, 4-speed. This one looks like it has the original Solex carbs which were a bitch to keep tuned. I did the Weber conversion which is much more drivable. You fuel injection guys will never know the sound of cold air getting sucked in through those triple sidedrafts under full throttle! These cars were relatively lightweight and responded well to suspension mods - I did a Bilstein upgrade with sway bars and lowered springs and actually beat some e28's(and M5's) at various autocrosses. A good buddy of mine in Suwannee, GA used to run a highly modified '72 Bavaria at Road Atlanta CCA track events a few years back - it pretty much left everything else in the dust.

The downside: cooling system was marginal at best - cracked cylinder heads due to overheating were not uncommon. A/C was a joke; remember the term "factory air"? Most European importers through the mid to late 70's only offered A/C as a dealer-installed option. Why did it take BMW so long to get it right?
Oh well, back to reality
Glenn

[CSBM5]

Glenn,

If we ever cross paths locally, we'll probably have a lot to talk about. I bought my 72 Bav in 1980 from my father who purchased it new in 1972. I took my driver's license test in the car in 1974.

In 1981, Ray Korman built a nice stg2 motor for me with the triple Webers, cam, headers, pistons, porting, etc., and I did the whole suspension too (28/22mm bars, springs, Bilsteins, Alpina subframe bushings, limited slip diff, 8x16 Rial wheels all around with 225/50s, etc) during the early 1980s. Interior work included Recaros and a Momo wheel. I did most all of the on-going work/maintenance on the car myself including rebuilding the whole front suspension, doing all calipers, etc. I knew every inch of that car (especially after doing a heater core replacement and having to get that damn box out of the dash they build the car around).

My wife and I won the first "Best Bavaria" award at the 1982 CCA Oktoberfest in Albany. I did about every track event I could find between 1981 and 1989 with the car from Road Atlanta, Mid Ohio, Lime Rock and mostly at Summit Point along with a ton of autocrossing (was autox chairman of the National Capital Chapter for a bit in mid-80's).

I never had any issues with cooling with the built motor after I replaced the radiator and ran the E12 viscous fan clutch and larger fan. When Korman built the motor, we used a 1981 head that had the thicker water passages. I drove the crap out of that motor at so many track events and autocrosses not to mention hard street driving, and it was still running strong with over 100k miles on it when I sold the car. Hey, I still have Atlantik Blau touch-up paint in my toolbox.

Sadly I sold the car in 1994, and the proclaimed enthusiast ended up letting it rot in a field for years (I found it a couple of years ago while hoping to buy it back, but it was too far gone).


Regards,
Chuck

P.S. Do you ever come to the local CCA Triangle dinners at Rudinos? Or how about any THSCC autocross events? VIR track events?


=========================================
Here are some pics below of the car late in my ownership and what it looked like when I found it a couple of years ago. I stopped counting at $25k on what it would cost to restore my old car.












Here's what the guy I sold it to allowed to happen:



Check out my nice Recaro seats!

[gdennism5]

Chuck,
It's nice to hear from another old timer like myself! Your car looks so much like mine it's scary! With all those Korman upgrades you obviously had a serious machine! I had some 15x7 gold Enkei wheels on my car that looked very much like yours. I've got some old pics of my Bavaria when I sold it in '87, just have to remember which box they're in. I assume you're a Tarheel Chapter member - will I see you at VIR in July?
Regards
Glenn

[muleskinner]

My '73....sold it to get my e28.
It was a beast and a half.

[Chrishamman]

You guys are breaking my heart with the after photos. We have owned an e-30 for 22 years. I recently bought a e-28 M535 that a good friend owned since new. He didnt keep it up in the last 5 years but we had coffee yesterday and he loved the cleanup I am doing. He said he might be interested in buying it back in the future if the markets turn around. It will be hard to let go. But, better than sell to someone who will trash it like what happened to your old car.

I thin cars stay in better shape when we let them know we really care about them. If the physicists are right and everything has conciousness, maybe all the molecules hear us. (do you hear music from the twilight zone going off in your head?)

[ismellfish2]

Chuck,
It's nice to hear from another old timer like myself! Your car looks so much like mine it's scary! With all those Korman upgrades you obviously had a serious machine! I had some 15x7 gold Enkei wheels on my car that looked very much like yours. I've got some old pics of my Bavaria when I sold it in '87, just have to remember which box they're in. I assume you're a Tarheel Chapter member - will I see you at VIR in July?
Regards
Glenn

My family had a Bavaria when I was a little kid. Those photos are amazing. I'll be at VIR July 4th, for my first driving school.

[Adam W in MN]

Chuck, I loved (and hated) reading that story about your old E3 and what happened to it. I will truly never understand how cars like that get forgotten and treated that badly by people. You always hope that the truly rare and well cared for performance vehicles will always go from enthusiast to enthusiast, but apparently that is not always what happens.

Case in point, the story I've posted on here about the ill-fated Hartge H5SP Sport (H5S with M88/3 individual throttle bodies and other goodies) that was the only one in the US, left to rot in a field in Georgia. The son of the guy who brought it into the US posted recently on this board asking if anyone knew where the car was and unfortunately, I told him the bad news as related to me by Scott Epstein, the guy who did the federalization.

[L_N_Love]

Thanks for posting the pics Chuck. Its a shame that the new owner didn't take better care of that beast.

[Chrishamman]

RIP

[LA]

Muleskinner, that white Bav is georgeous! I'm really loving my '72 & it appears the OP car was a great deal for the buyer. My Bav is my driver to work at least once a week & the acceleration and 'tossability' never fail to fire me up!



Bought it a couple of years ago from the original owner w/ 81K after being stored for ten years. I have removed the 3/4 inch front strut spacers since this pic which made a nice difference. Also have a set of the 15" alloys on the way.

I think of it as my E28's grandfather.

[CSBM5]

Chuck,
It's nice to hear from another old timer like myself! Your car looks so much like mine it's scary! With all those Korman upgrades you obviously had a serious machine! I had some 15x7 gold Enkei wheels on my car that looked very much like yours. I've got some old pics of my Bavaria when I sold it in '87, just have to remember which box they're in. I assume you're a Tarheel Chapter member - will I see you at VIR in July?
Regards
Glenn

Glenn,

Yes, I've been a Tarheel chapter member since 1980 except for 4 years in the mid-80's when I was up in the DC area.

I'm not going to be at the VIR event. I'm sort of in a hiatus again from track events for awhile again while I ponder a time trial car. I used to instruct in the old days but in recent times enjoy just driving and having the rest of the weekend free.

I've mainly been autocrossing recently. We've got some incredible National-caliber level drivers in the THSCC, so I've been really enjoying the competition in D-stock with the 330i ZHP. My main competitor just won the DC Pro-Solo last week, and it is great fun to compete against him even if the ZHP isn't quite up to the Integra TypeR he's running which is being moved to B-stock next year.

Do you have any idea what happened to your car?

Chuck

[CSBM5]

Thanks for everyone for replying about the sad shape my car ended up in. I really do regret not working out a place to store the car since I really didn't get anything for it back in 1994. I think I sold it for $4750.

I had a pretty nice E21 also back in the late 80's for a few years with a Korman Stg2+ motor (Schrick 304, 45mm Webers, etc), springs, shocks, bars, Recaros, etc., that I used for my daily driver so the Bav could stay in the garage. I think I sold that car for $5500 in 1989.

I have a few pics of it online from ~1988 when I was up in VA if anyone is interested. In the interior pic, I see my E28 535i in the background. The 535i 5MT, LSD was my wife's daily driver for many years, and she still loves that car. We sadly sold it in 1997 after 12 years, and it was in incredible condition.







All the best,
Chuck

[LA]

Chuck,

I thought you were a bit whack for getting rid of that Bav & E21...I also had a sweet E21 I sold to buy an E28. Then I read what you have in your current stable.

You are my new BMW hero!

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

Thanks for everyone for replying about the sad shape my car ended up in. I really do regret not working out a place to store the car since I really didn't get anything for it back in 1994. I think I sold it for $4750.

I had a pretty nice E21 also back in the late 80's for a few years with a Korman Stg2+ motor (Schrick 304, 45mm Webers, etc), springs, shocks, bars, Recaros, etc., that I used for my daily driver so the Bav could stay in the garage. I think I sold that car for $5500 in 1989.

I have a few pics of it online from ~1988 when I was up in VA if anyone is interested. In the interior pic, I see my E28 535i in the background. The 535i 5MT, LSD was my wife's daily driver for many years, and she still loves that car. We sadly sold it in 1997 after 12 years, and it was in incredible condition.







All the best,
Chuck

Those recaro's are elite.

[CSBM5]

Chuck,

I thought you were a bit whack for getting rid of that Bav & E21...I also had a sweet E21 I sold to buy an E28. Then I read what you have in your current stable.

You are my new BMW hero!

LOL, yeah, I love the E39 M5. This one I'm DEFINITELY NOT going to ever sell. It is like the ultimate evolution of the Bavaria I built in many ways, and that evolution died with the E60. The ZHP has been my autox car, and the E90 is my wife's daily driver...which btw, the E90 has been the most trouble-free and reliable BMW I've ever owned. We special ordered it, and now have 38k miles on it with only one issue -- a sunroof position sensor (knock on wood!!).

It's been 36 years since I caught BMW fever, and I've enjoyed every one we've had since. I had a neat 5MT E32 735i for many years too that I kind of regret selling.

Here's a link to what I've been up to recently with the M5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zix2i_m9j9I I have some other videos up on my youtube account there if you're interested in them, mostly autox in the E46 330i but a couple more in the M5 too.

Regards,
Chuck