That got everybody's attention.
Apologies to the couple of Forum members that know parts of this story but now that the deal has been closed I thought it only fair to update everybody.
A while back word of a chamonix 1972 'barn find' ' City Pack' CSL was doing the rounds here among parts of the E9 community in Australia. The car was subsequently advertised for sale essentially 'as is where is' in a couple of Australian classic car magazines and later online as well in the UK.
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1046247
What started out as a bit of a running joke at the body works while my CS was being finished got serious when I called the vendor one evening. Turns out he'd just got back from a long holiday and hadn't returned any previous calls about the car.
Yes - he was keen to sell the car but only for a fair price and only to somebody that appreciated E9s (CSL's in particular); and who would do something with it. After a lot of emails containing all manner of pictures of hard to reach parts of the car and some discussions about prices for recently sold CSL projects (distinct from asking prices) I broached the issue with my wife...
Unsurprisingly, she was open to the idea of buying another E9 given my previous predictions about the restored value of my CS had been borne out by an appraisal from Shannons Insurance. On an unrelated note I've committed to finishing our home renovations..
Next stop the bank to discuss bridging finance.
I should disclose my bank manager is a very nice fellow who just so happens to me a bit of a car tragic (mini minors) - I pointed out that technically speaking these were also now BMW's and we were basically brothers in arms.
Having organised that I then booked the flights to go an inspect the car - 4000km each way from Tasmania to Perth across three time zones. Finally D-Day arrived having left home at 4am local time arriving in Perth to inspect the car.
The vendor is a really nice guy who informed me he'd had the car since 2000 but that he had some oral history and paperwork showing the car had been in storage in the UK, Hong-Kong and Australia since 1984.
The car certainly presents like it's been in storage that long with literally decades of dust and grime on every surface. Internally the car presents well with all of the original interior present and in good restorable condition. The timber work has cracked up due to lack of care and years of living in a very warm and dry climate. This has an upside though the car has no fresh or active rust as it's literally bone dry.
The car does have its share of imported UK rust though. The outer sills look to be on the way out as do the fender boxes. Shock towers, firewall and floors are all solid though. I suspect the car was put off the road in 1983 on account the the fender box and sill rust as it wouldn't have passed a MoT.
The car still carries all the alloy CSL parts, seats, steering wheel, hood lining, cabin light etc.
Another upside is the issue of spare parts, it comes with the following (not on the car):
Stainless exhaust and muffler;
RHD dash assembly;
Spare gauge assembly and gauges;
Steering column;
Original Alpina wheels;
25+ rust repair panels;
Steel boot;
Fibre glass CSL boot lid;
Brake callipers;
2 x brake discs;
Bell housing;
Tail shaft;
Fibre glass CSL rear bumper;
2 x chrome rear bumpers;
2 x chrome front bumpers;
Heater assembly;
Injection manifold;
CSL front air dam;
CSL roof dam;
Plus a heap of smaller bits I'm yet to sort;
Following some haggling and discussions about freight costs, and cost of flights flights for the inspection a price was agreed and I bought the car. At the time of writing it's on the Indian Pacific railroad in a 2oft container destined for Melbourne where it then ships for Tasmania - due to arrive in 10 days.
Once it arrives I plan to do a partial tear down ahead of preparing to commence what I expect to be a long and significant restoration process.
Happy to post some pictures if anybody is interested.
Below is a potted history of the car. If anybody can tell me more please post on here.
UK MoT VIN search revealed car was first registered 01/03/1973 and last registered on 08/01/1983. Registration number was PYV906L.
At time of last registration car is shown as having had one previous owner – doesn’t detail who that was.
Car is also to be found in ‘CSL News’ from May 1985. The car was listed as owned by Mrs Rodwell and as for sale. It’s presumed she is the last owner to have registered the car in the UK in 1983. It's believed she was the second owner and owned it at the time of last UK registration.
A Mr Tony Martin is believed to have owned it in the mid 1980s - believed to have bought it from Mrs Rodwell.
Mr H.G Godfrey is recored as owning it in 1991 - believed he took it to Hong Kong.
Car imported to Perth, Australia in 1999 to a classic car dealership for restoration (never happened)
Vendor purchased from them in 2000 and owned ever since until now.
Apologies to the couple of Forum members that know parts of this story but now that the deal has been closed I thought it only fair to update everybody.
A while back word of a chamonix 1972 'barn find' ' City Pack' CSL was doing the rounds here among parts of the E9 community in Australia. The car was subsequently advertised for sale essentially 'as is where is' in a couple of Australian classic car magazines and later online as well in the UK.
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1046247
What started out as a bit of a running joke at the body works while my CS was being finished got serious when I called the vendor one evening. Turns out he'd just got back from a long holiday and hadn't returned any previous calls about the car.
Yes - he was keen to sell the car but only for a fair price and only to somebody that appreciated E9s (CSL's in particular); and who would do something with it. After a lot of emails containing all manner of pictures of hard to reach parts of the car and some discussions about prices for recently sold CSL projects (distinct from asking prices) I broached the issue with my wife...
Unsurprisingly, she was open to the idea of buying another E9 given my previous predictions about the restored value of my CS had been borne out by an appraisal from Shannons Insurance. On an unrelated note I've committed to finishing our home renovations..
Next stop the bank to discuss bridging finance.
I should disclose my bank manager is a very nice fellow who just so happens to me a bit of a car tragic (mini minors) - I pointed out that technically speaking these were also now BMW's and we were basically brothers in arms.
Having organised that I then booked the flights to go an inspect the car - 4000km each way from Tasmania to Perth across three time zones. Finally D-Day arrived having left home at 4am local time arriving in Perth to inspect the car.
The vendor is a really nice guy who informed me he'd had the car since 2000 but that he had some oral history and paperwork showing the car had been in storage in the UK, Hong-Kong and Australia since 1984.
The car certainly presents like it's been in storage that long with literally decades of dust and grime on every surface. Internally the car presents well with all of the original interior present and in good restorable condition. The timber work has cracked up due to lack of care and years of living in a very warm and dry climate. This has an upside though the car has no fresh or active rust as it's literally bone dry.
The car does have its share of imported UK rust though. The outer sills look to be on the way out as do the fender boxes. Shock towers, firewall and floors are all solid though. I suspect the car was put off the road in 1983 on account the the fender box and sill rust as it wouldn't have passed a MoT.
The car still carries all the alloy CSL parts, seats, steering wheel, hood lining, cabin light etc.
Another upside is the issue of spare parts, it comes with the following (not on the car):
Stainless exhaust and muffler;
RHD dash assembly;
Spare gauge assembly and gauges;
Steering column;
Original Alpina wheels;
25+ rust repair panels;
Steel boot;
Fibre glass CSL boot lid;
Brake callipers;
2 x brake discs;
Bell housing;
Tail shaft;
Fibre glass CSL rear bumper;
2 x chrome rear bumpers;
2 x chrome front bumpers;
Heater assembly;
Injection manifold;
CSL front air dam;
CSL roof dam;
Plus a heap of smaller bits I'm yet to sort;
Following some haggling and discussions about freight costs, and cost of flights flights for the inspection a price was agreed and I bought the car. At the time of writing it's on the Indian Pacific railroad in a 2oft container destined for Melbourne where it then ships for Tasmania - due to arrive in 10 days.
Once it arrives I plan to do a partial tear down ahead of preparing to commence what I expect to be a long and significant restoration process.
Happy to post some pictures if anybody is interested.
Below is a potted history of the car. If anybody can tell me more please post on here.
UK MoT VIN search revealed car was first registered 01/03/1973 and last registered on 08/01/1983. Registration number was PYV906L.
At time of last registration car is shown as having had one previous owner – doesn’t detail who that was.
Car is also to be found in ‘CSL News’ from May 1985. The car was listed as owned by Mrs Rodwell and as for sale. It’s presumed she is the last owner to have registered the car in the UK in 1983. It's believed she was the second owner and owned it at the time of last UK registration.
A Mr Tony Martin is believed to have owned it in the mid 1980s - believed to have bought it from Mrs Rodwell.
Mr H.G Godfrey is recored as owning it in 1991 - believed he took it to Hong Kong.
Car imported to Perth, Australia in 1999 to a classic car dealership for restoration (never happened)
Vendor purchased from them in 2000 and owned ever since until now.