the cabrios, an “unofficial” story: One of the most beautiful convertibles that BMW did never built ?

deQuincey

Quousque tandem...?
Site Donor
Messages
8,422
Reaction score
2,432
Location
BIO - 43°15'46.5"N 2°56'03.7"W
based on the new posted by @byron77, a for sale advert with this interesting information:


the presentation translated:
——————————————————
“This vehicle is a sensation. The Karmann company built the E9 Coupes for BMW from 1968 to 1975. During this time, Karman designed an E9 convertible as a model and presented it to BMW. However, this idea was not very well received by BMW because the competition had already made a finished 02 convertible ready for the market in 1968. A decade later, Jürgen Dreschel took up this idea again and developed a BMW E9 convertible. Dreschel was certainly inspired by the first German convertible, which was built in Cologne in 1969. But he wanted it to be even more perfect and so he donated the convertible top of the E30 to his version. He offered this kit to other Coupé friends and over the course of time, 8 more Dreschl convertibles were created.

But that's not all: the Dreschl Cabrio also found the engine, gearbox and axles from the 745i turbo and with a bit of fine tuning, he raised this convertible to almost 300 hp. The classic car practice reported in detail in its 1991 edition.

In the meantime, BMW has also given its blessing for this conversion. No. 2 is currently in the Technik Museum in Sinsheim and the history of this convertible is also explained here.

Known as an engineer, Dreschl also gave his convertible a full leather interior with heated Recaro sports seats, power windows, modernized VDO instruments, automatic hood, central locking, cruise control, on-board computer, air conditioning, sound system, BBS rims, stainless steel exhaust system. He called it himself “One of the most beautiful convertibles that BMW has never built”.

The driving behavior of this convertible is flawless. The sophisticated stiffeners make you feel safe in every situation. The turbo engine is brutal, the soundscape is simply terrific.

There is also an extensive library on the history of the creation of this convertible. All correspondence with BMW, construction drawings and documentation about this vehicle.

If anything, this BMW 3.5 CSI Turbo Cabriolet would only be given to a serious enthusiast with sufficient proof of capital. This historic vehicle is second to none on the market.”
————————————————-


obviously there is place for a debate on the beauty of this transformation as the absence of C-pillars makes one of the charming points of the e9 disappear, some will be against, some will think different

so this for sale is a Jürgen Dreschel type convertible

i also know other stories about e9 cabrios born in a private business bodyshop in köln, and sold in spain and maybe other places

in fact i was part of a transaction some years ago of one off those cars, interestingly enough the reason of its manufacture was merely dodging the restrictions about the import limitations imposed by the dictatorship regime, you know protecting the national economy by letting only the ultrarich and ultrafriends of the dictator buy foreing goods while the rest of the people are forced to buy national crap

apparently there was only a limited number of this or that brand cars available to buy per year, so once the number of bmws was completed you could not buy another e9,

but once the car goes through the hands of a coach builder it is given a new brand name, homologation and so on, and it is no more a bmw, so you could buy it

the daughter of the original owner inherited the car and contacted me to learn about the surprising fact that the car was full of bmw emblems but in the original documentation was no sign of bmw brand whatsoever

here you are the pics of the spanish cabrio as found in Madrid in 2014

F4EB185C-3039-4ADE-B118-F1D949A86BF3.jpeg
D5482A22-08F2-4B70-A956-6C98AC72F242.jpeg


that particular car was modified by this firm, karl deutsch


E322D2A3-3808-4ADE-A59D-738C96F6B585.jpeg
6BD17B83-2CA6-4EBF-8384-123D210712B6.jpeg


did you knew about such stories ?

regards
 
Last edited:

day66

Well-Known Member
Messages
251
Reaction score
228
Location
Manchester, UK
Interesting, but I’d have to say the styling of the hood looks awkward to say the least.... it’s a long way from being the most beautiful convertible ...
 

Hans W.

Well-Known Member
Site Donor $
Messages
283
Reaction score
405
Location
The Netherlands
I shot this photo during the 2016 Bavariatour.
Interesting detail, it has the same grill badge as the E9 convertible offered by Scuderia Sportiva.
Another interesting detail, it belonged to the owner of Scuderia Sportiva.
20160526_135301.jpg
 

jmackro

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,463
Reaction score
728
Location
San Juan Capistrano, Ca.
Interesting, but I’d have to say the styling of the hood looks awkward to say the least.... it’s a long way from being the most beautiful convertible ...

Agree. Interesting history, have to admire Jürgen Dreschel for trying, but I'm still not buying the "this vehicle is a sensation" line.
 

jmackro

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,463
Reaction score
728
Location
San Juan Capistrano, Ca.
only the alfa romeo spider 1970 hits my eye with pleasure

Well yes, but the Alfa Romeo spider only comes as a convertible. A better comparison in the Alfa world would be the GT/GTV and its rare convertible version the GTC. Here are shots of the GTC and the tintop Sprint GT:

images

images

The GTC was a factory effort, so more time & effort may have gone into designing a convertible top that complimented the lines of the lower body. Coincidentally, there is currently a GTC on BaT. See: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1966-alfa-romeo-giulia-gtc-cabriolet-superleggera-by-touring/
 
Last edited:

dave v. in nc

Well-Known Member
Site Donor $
Messages
3,034
Reaction score
1,211
Location
North Carolina, USA
I agree that the Italians (of course..) did the best job of that...various Fiats, Fiat Dinos, and a few F-car Californias...maybe a Ghibli, and a few exotics...
 

jmackro

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,463
Reaction score
728
Location
San Juan Capistrano, Ca.
Speaking of convertible conversions, check out this P1800 Volvo currently on BaT. I generally dislike attempts to "improve upon" the work of professional stylists, but have to admit that I like this one, even with the top up. To me, the P1800 isn't beautiful (though I'm a fan of the P1800 ES) and I think losing that squatty hardtop improves it

1968_volvo_p1800_1591816278d88693IMG_5821.jpeg


Check it out at: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1968-volvo-1800s-2-2/
 
Last edited:

arnie

Well-Known Member
Messages
222
Reaction score
69
Location
Germany
It was that specific Dreschel E9 convertible, that catched me completely back in the days (25 years already o_O).

I planned to do the same conversion to my own E9, but because it was already a rather expensive car, spare parts wise, I decided to give it a try at a comparable cheap "test dummy" instead for the first try. Therefor I bought a 320/6 E21,1980 built and a bunch of parts from a parted out E30 convertible (mainly the roof, rear window mechanism and roof compartment bonnet).

I was already equipped with an anglegrinder and a mig welder and more or less the skills to use them, but didn't have had a car lift at all. So just throw everythin out of the E21 interieur and start cutting. Rather insane, if you'd ask me today. ;)

I still have this car and luckily my E9 still has it's steel roof. It was really a challenge to get it done to the actual status, and this is one reason why the CS - roof never ever will face the converting plan scenario again. The main reason for sure is, that it looks way nicer, than every of the few E9 conversions I know.

My E21 conv remains rather unique. Same kind of conversion was done by the company called "Lumma", shortly after I did it with the E30 series roof. They did overall 3 of these. One is located in the Netherlands (a black one), the other 2 quite close to me here in Germany (fjord and red)

Here is how it looks today

cab 328.jpg
 

nosmonkey

In Rust We Trust
Site Donor
Messages
1,104
Reaction score
1,002
Location
London, UK
It was that specific Dreschel E9 convertible, that catched me completely back in the days (25 years already o_O).

I planned to do the same conversion to my own E9, but because it was already a rather expensive car, spare parts wise, I decided to give it a try at a comparable cheap "test dummy" instead for the first try. Therefor I bought a 320/6 E21,1980 built and a bunch of parts from a parted out E30 convertible (mainly the roof, rear window mechanism and roof compartment bonnet).

I was already equipped with an anglegrinder and a mig welder and more or less the skills to use them, but didn't have had a car lift at all. So just throw everythin out of the E21 interieur and start cutting. Rather insane, if you'd ask me today. ;)

I still have this car and luckily my E9 still has it's steel roof. It was really a challenge to get it done to the actual status, and this is one reason why the CS - roof never ever will face the converting plan scenario again. The main reason for sure is, that it looks way nicer, than every of the few E9 conversions I know.

My E21 conv remains rather unique. Same kind of conversion was done by the company called "Lumma", shortly after I did it with the E30 series roof. They did overall 3 of these. One is located in the Netherlands (a black one), the other 2 quite close to me here in Germany (fjord and red)

Here is how it looks today

Arnie, you can't show us that beauty without some top down pictures!
 

arnie

Well-Known Member
Messages
222
Reaction score
69
Location
Germany
20200619_070634.jpg


Some facts: It got some upgrades beside the conversion (btw the roof is electric and fun to see peoples reaction about that ... )
2,8 litre stroker engine, Motronic ecu, selfmade stainless exhaust, 5 speed, Alpina goodies as you can see, power steering, leather interieur genuine E30 seats. Performs really great and it's fun to drive.
Some more pics can be found here if you like:
 
Top