In August, I received an email from a longtime Boston CCA member named Rick, whom I’d met at several chapter meetings. He said a family had asked him to help dispose of their father’s 1973 BMW E9 3.0CS, 1974 E3 3.0SA (automatic 4-speed-converted Bavaria), and 1980 Euro 635CSi. He asked if I could come to the cars’ location in Cambridge and evaluate them and possibly help sell them. He described the cars as long-dead and in barn-find condition. While I try to help with as many of these sorts of local requests as I can, my wife and I were having the countertops in the kitchen replaced and then leaving on vacation to celebrate our 40th anniversary. I asked him to contact me again in a few weeks.
Of course, I promptly forgot about it. Fortunately, he did not, and he contacted me again the week before last. I composed an email basically saying, “I just bought another Lotus. We’re about to host Thanksgiving for 25, and while my wife is a bonafide saint, there are limits, and running off to Cambridge to look at three dead and likely smelly old BMWs would use up my saint-wife free-spin card.”
But then I reconsidered. Cambridge is maybe 20 minutes from me. I’m typically awake a few hours before Maire Anne. I emailed Rick that we should be good as long as we slotted it in two weekends before Thanksgiving and did it first thing in the morning.
We swapped a few emails and a phone call in which we learned more about the outline of the task. The cars belonged to a man (Phil) who’d passed away decades ago. Rick’s connection to Phil’s family was that two of their children are friends. Rick said that the cars were behind a house in Cambridge. The E9 and the E3 were inside a garage, and the 635 was sitting outside under a tarp, where, unfortunately, a tree branch had smashed the rear windshield years ago.
In addition, there was a substantial complicating factor involving the location and the ownership. The cars are the property of Phil’s widow, who lives in California, but the house belongs to Phil’s sister, who feels it is time to move them along to new owners. I explained that I’m not an appraiser and am very hesitant to throw out numbers on what a car I haven’t seen might be worth, particularly ones that haven’t run in decades, but I said I’d be glad to take a look at them, photograph them, and craft descriptions.
That happened a week ago, Saturday morning. Rick, it turns out, lives on the cape, so the schlep back and forth to Cambridge to help out with the cars is a non-trivial commitment. We agreed to meet at the house at 9:30 am. Rick said that Phil’s sister would be there, as would her son, who would let us into the garage and help move around anything that was in the way. Rick also said that an E9 owner he’d met at BMW Day at the nearby Larz Anderson Auto Museum was also coming to look at the E9.
Cambridge is not unlike my hometown of Newton in that the houses are on small lots, so I was surprised that, when I found the house, the lot was big enough that the garage was around back, with a driveway big enough to hold a number of other cars. I’d brought a floor jack and a toolbox with me, so I pulled all the way down. I could see the outline of the 635 at the end underneath a tarp. It was blocked in by a Chrysler minivan that looked like it hadn’t moved in nearly as long.
The 635 was under that tarp at the end, the other two cars in the garage.
Rick soon showed up, as did the fellow who was interested in the E9. It turned out that I’d met the E9 owner at Larz Anderson last year. He has a beautiful big-bumpered 3.0CS automatic, but the lure of getting a small-bumpered ’73 CS 4-speed is strong for him. Unfortunately, the garage was locked, and the nephew with the keys hadn’t arrived yet.
So, we looked at the 635 first. We pulled the cover off to reveal a small-bumpered Euro on flat tires with big rust holes at the bottoms of the front fenders, and aftermarket side skirts. The car was wearing an “M” badge on the trunk, but when I opened the hood, I saw not the M88 engine of a Euro 635CSi but the “brontosaurus rib” intake manifold of an L-Jetronic motor. I also saw hand-sized rust holes next to both front shock towers. It did appear to have the Euro M90 engine (I could see the “boss” on the left side of the block), and had the shift pattern of the dog-leg 5-speed, but the rust combined with the length of dormancy and the smashed rear window likely relegated it to parts car status.
The poor thing.
I believe this to be a Euro M90 engine, which, surprisingly, wasn’t seized.
This basically seals its fate, at least for me.
The driver’s side sport seat had a ripped-open bolster, but the passenger one was pretty good.
The sister’s son then showed up with the keys to the garage. He opened it to reveal the E9 the Bavaria. We all swarmed over the E9 first. At first glance, the car looked whole and intact. It was dust-caked Baikal blue with a tan leather interior peeking through the windows. Unfortunately, the sign of trouble was rust-through on the top of the right front fender, which was visible even with the hood closed.
Tantalizing, right?
With the hood open, it looked far worse.
The crushed dream of many a would-be E9 owner.
The interior, though, was lovely, with the leather seats and wood dash and trim very much intact
That interior makes you think of things that’ll get you in trouble.
The non-mechanically-inclined fellow who owned the big-bumpered E9 automatic was transfixed. “What would it take to get this running? He optimistically posited. “Everything,” I deadpanned. I offered my opinion that it would be a good car for someone who was mechanically inclined, didn’t have a lot of money, couldn’t sleep at night unless they owned an E9, lived in a state where inspections wouldn’t fail you for rust holes, and never tried to turn the car into something it wasn’t.
Like the 635, the E9 was sitting on four flat tires. Plus, the garage had a dirt floor. These conspired to make it challenging to jack up safely and inspect the undercarriage. Still, I managed to get a floor jack under the front-most part of the front end where the radius rod bushings are and to lift it high enough that I could photograph the frame rails and floor pans without actually getting under the car. There was some rust on the forward sections of both front floor pans, but they certainly weren’t “Fred Flintstone floors.” I also quickly reached under, ran my hand along the inside of each frame rail (the part you can’t see), and did not feel any rust holes. Sadly though, the engine appeared to be seized, as I was not able to rotate it with a socket and a ratchet handle.
Lastly, there was the Bavaria. Rick said he believed the car had been painted and then put in the garage with all the trim detached. Due to the garage’s dirt floor, flat tires, and what was basically a ditch at the far end, the nose of the car was basically on the ground with no easy way to pick it up, so I was unable to look under it, but in a walk-around, I did not see a single rust hole in the car.
I couldn’t really photograph the Bavaria decently from any angle.
The left wall of the garage was too close.
The interior was pretty good.
I told Rick that I’d write up descriptions of the cars that he could use to try to sell them, but my verbal nutshell to him and the family was that:
- With the flat tires, the likely-seized wheels, and the fact that the street was narrow and the driveway’s opening had fence sections on both sides that might be too narrow to get a slide-back tow truck down it (the family commented that they had tried to donate the minivan, but the tow truck that came for it couldn’t get down the driveway), all three of the cars had serious access issues that made it challenging for anyone take them away.
- The 635CSi was likely a parts car that the owner should let go for parts car money.
- The Bavaria was likely not a parts car, but because all the trim was off, there was no inventory, and it hadn’t run in who knows how long, its value was likely about the same as the 635.
- The E9 was curious. Due to the rot-through of the right front shock tower, it’s difficult to imagine any non-bodyworking buyer coming up on the right side of financial sanity if they had to pay someone to work on the car. And yet, if it was simply dragged outside, washed, put on tires that held air, and made to roll, someone could make good flipper money. The problem was that that required actual work. The former wife in CA certainly wasn’t going to fly out and do it. Neither was the sister. And Rick, although he was doing, as my people would say, a mitzvah by helping the family with the cars, didn’t have either have a fiducial responsibility or financial incentive to them to put in that kind of effort.
On paper, I should’ve been interested in the 635 and the E9. After all, the 635 had the M90 engine and the dogleg 5-speed that my own ’79 Euro 635 was missing. And I wasn’t necessarily above pretending that I was Beverly Hills Car Club and washing the E9 and making a quick windfall profit. But having just bought the 1969 Lotus Elan +2, I am completely out of space.
After a few back-and-forth emails with Rick, we agreed that I’d first ask Mario Langston at VSR1 in NH if he had interest, then post the descriptions and photos of the cars on my Facebook page as well as here, and that I’d relay Rick’s contact into to interested parties who would field offers which he’d then run past the family. It looks like Mario is grabbing the 635. Other folks have expressed interest in the E9 and the Bav, but as of this writing, they’re still available.
For completeness, I’m copying and pasting the same description I posted on social media below. It has a bit more detail. If you have serious interest, you can email me at rsiegel@roundel.org and I’ll give you Rick’s contact info, but I can’t stress enough that due to the access situation, this isn’t something where you can simply contract a shipping broker. You’re going to need to coordinate with the family and show up with the means to drag the cars out.
“Three vintage BMWs (1973 3.0CS, 1974 3.0CA (automatic 4-speed-converted Bavaria), 1980 Euro 635CSi)
I am playing a small role in assisting in the disposition of three long-dead BMWs owned by the estate of a former Boston BMW CCA chapter member. I have seen and photographed the cars as best I can and have advised the estate on their condition, but I have not suggested values or asking prices as I am not an appraiser. All haven’t run in 25-40 years, have flat tires and likely seized wheels, and are stored behind a house in Cambridge with access issues—a driveway flanked by fencing that a slide-back tow truck likely can’t get between, and a parking area used by other people in the house. The cars will likely need to be dragged to the street by some other means, then loaded there. The 635CSi is outside under a cover, the E9 and the Bavaria are in a garage. Surprisingly they don’t stink of mildew or mice. Uncertain whether keys exist. The legal owner of the cars is the widow of deceased owner, lives in CA, reportedly has clear titles but I have not seen them. The sister of the deceased owner lives in the house and would like the cars gone. As you can see, it’s all a bit messy, you can’t simply go over there and look at the cars and speak with the owner, so please don’t express interest lightly. The contact point is a local BMW CCA Boston Chapter member who knows the owner’s family and is doing a mitzvah.
VIN 2240413, odometer 62,683. Faded Baikal blue US-spec 3.0CS with sunroof, a/c, leather. Stored nose-out in garage with dirt floor, no cover on car. Has restoration-expensive-bad rust at top of right front fender (visible with hood closed) and behind right front shock tower, with rust hole beginning to come through right firewall above glovebox. Has small amounts of rust at fender and door bottoms. However, the rest of the bones of the car appear pretty good. Jacked up nose and inspected frame rails and floor pans. Frame rails appear fine with no rust-through seen. Front corners of floor pans have some amount of rust. Difficult to tell extent, but they’re definitely not Fred Flintstone floors. On right floor pan, front corner may be held together by inside sound deadening and outside undercoating. Looks like small rust-through at front corner of left floor pan. Can’t open trunk to inspect rear shock towers. Interior is surprisingly beautiful, leather and wood very good, has wood steering wheel. Engine did not free up with tug on ratchet and socket on crank pulley. Engine was left with air cleaner on. Has oil in pan and some coolant in overflow tank. Original factory 14” alloys. Comes with extra right front fender and hood. Inspection decal from 1985. Doesn’t strike me as a parts car, but expensive to do the rust remediation unless you have a shop or have a brother-in-law who owes you a big favor.
VIN 2180298, odometer 33,895. 4-speed-swapped former automatic. Stored nose-in in garage with dirt floor, no cover on car. Appears to have been repainted but the trim was never put back on. Hood now needs refinishing, some minor surface rust on right front fender. Nose-in storage and sagging of front wheels into dirt made it impossible to safely jack up front, so frame rails and floor pans not inspected from underneath, but did not find ANY rust holes in the portions of the body investigated. Left rear elephant skin pulled back from rear wheel well, no rust seen, but color of shock tower was blue, original color? Did not attempt to rotate engine. Engine was left without air cleaner on. Interior quite good. Good purchase if someone wants a potentially rust-free Bavaria to recondition.
