1974 BMW 3.0CS E9 VIN #4310157 Vintage Classic Stonington CT

1974 BMW Other Description

1974 BMW 3.0CS E9 VIN #4310157 “Matching Numbers” Stonington, Connecticut USA 06378

I have decided to part with my 1974 BMW 3.0 CS E9 (375 made) which I have owned since 1989 with 92,943 miles. Manual 4 speed. No sunroof.

This vehicle was purchased new in July 1974 by Mrs. J. Miles of New York City and sold in October 1975 to Mr. S. Williams of Southbury, Connecticut for $12,500 with 7400 miles. Mr. Williams who was born in 1912 maintain and cared for the car for the next 14 years until I purchased it on February 6, 1989 with 78,106 miles for $10,000. I believe I have all the maintenance records.

The basic story is that in 1990, almost 26 years ago I realized the driver’s door was misaligned and brought it to the body shop only to learn that behind the exterior skin of the E9 coach built by Karmann was a lurking cancer. For the next four years we undertook a major renovation of the entire chassis. I proceeded to invest approximately $5000 I had in a secret (from my wife) bank account and more to purchase and install OEM parts from Germany, shipped in crates from Germany through Illuminessence Group Inc. of Santa Monica California. Many parts were also purchased through Maximillian Importing Company in Baltimore Maryland, including, inner and outer right front fender, left fender parts, right rear quarter parts, floor panels, emblems, seals, side mirrors, fender covers, the inner, middle, and outer rocker panels and more. The body shop removed all the rot and the car was painted in the 1972 MB 280 SL navy blue. Gorgeous. Headliner has no stains or tears. Not more than a ½ gal of plastic on the entire car. You will, of course, see surface rust in some of the pictures of the exposed interior, exhaust etc. but there is no ROT/RUST in the critical areas including the shock towers. It has a brand new windshield. The only remaining metal work is the attachment of the two outer rocker panels and spare tire holder bracket. Lower right of left front fender has a couple of small dimples.

Then life took over - wife, children, house, the full catastrophe- and the E9 sat in storage for the next 22 years. I have not started it since. I Manually turned it over a few times. When I retired the E9 the motor was smooth, solid and pulled strong, it did not burn, leak or smoke oil. The 4 speed manual transmission and clutch shifted well and the driveline was tight, even the Zenith carburetors worked fine. In 1988 the air conditioner was cold. Only modification was the installation of an expensive Yamaha YCT-605 tuner, ADS amp and 6 speakers. Amazingly, I think I have almost all the parts (except the spare tire? and many nuts & bolts) including many, many new ones with BMW’s part numbers still on them. The car will need a fresh coat of paint (some surface rust and paint separation on the bottom of the doors and a patch of clear coat damage on the hood 6” square) gas and brake lines, front seat leather, exhaust work and tires I imagine. The project is more than I am willing to undertake at this stage in my life.

Here is a link to a large photo file. BMWE9CS

If it does not work shoot me an email and I will forward the link. All of the photographs were taken 3/26/16 in Stonington Borough CT.

I welcome inspection and believe in full disclosure so please ask any questions you may have and visit if you can. A truly interested buyer would personally inspect this car and parts! Buyer Is Responsible For All Shipping Costs.

If you are looking at this ad, I will presume you know what this car means in the vintage world. I appreciate that this car has not been run in 27 years and that it needs to be put back together. If I were in the market for one, for the very first time, I know I would be tempted to pick one up that was running and think that I could handle the restoration down the line. However, knowing what I know now, except in very rare circumstances, under the Karmann skin are all the problems I discovered, and fixed with OEM parts when it was still possible to buy them and economically feasible to purchase them.

PLEASE CALL 960-608-0765 FOR QUESTIONS AND MECHANICAL INSPECTIONS. THE DETAILS This 1974 BMW will be sold with clear and clean Connecticut title. It will be sold "AS IS" with no written or verbal warranties expressed or implied. I welcome prospective new owners to come see, inspect this car in person. NOTE: There will be no post-sale inspections to determine whether you actually want to purchase this car. So, PLEASE bid thoughtfully!

On Apr-03-16 at 19:29:37 PDT, seller added the following information:

This link should work better: BMWE9CS

On Apr-03-16 at 19:41:34 PDT, seller added the following information:

Here are some articles if you are not familiar with the E9 to get started:

Google Photos:

BMWE9CS

Bloomberg:

BloombergBMWE9

Jalopnik:

JalopnikBMWE9

On Apr-03-16 at 20:16:23 PDT, seller added the following information:

For Fun a Little Video History. Note I have the 3.0CS not the 3.0CSI:

BMWVidHistory