other Just Bought A Rust-Free Bavaria, 49K, For Four Grand

[Mike Self]

Excellent find--and a stick too!  BTW that's the same tobacco vinyl that was used in the 2002s of that vintage, altho the waffle pattern in the center is different.  Great find--sounds like the perfect car to drive to Vintage in 2014--marvellous highway cruiser.

 

mike

[thehackmechanic]

Larry my friend, the car was on a lift so I could thoroughly inspect not only the rockers but the undercarriage. Not only did I not find a rust hole anywhere on the car, I did not find a rust BUBBLE anywhere on the car. There was only minor surface corrosion on a few patches of the floor and frame rails that'd clean right off with a Scotch Brite wheel.

Edited December 13, 2013 by thehackmechanic

[Pamola]

Does it also have A/C?!

[jp02ti]

I have a box of bavaria interior bits!  seeing the pictures of the interior reminded me what they were.  we had one when i was a kid.  dad bought 2 in the spring of '83, one rusted and one burned.  he moved the good bits from the ruste done over to the burned one.  I got to remove the remaining interior pieces form the rusted one, and they are now in the box in my garage.

He had it completed 3 days before we left for O'fest in COlorado Springs (driving from Toronto).  the car earned the nickname "puff" not only because it had previously burned, but also because every time we stopped it would emit a large cloud of oil smoke from under the hood.  upon arriving at o'fest, out ritual of opening the hood to allow the smoke to clear was witnessed by Mr Al Melton, who came over and chastised us for our crappy wheels, pointed out the bit that was missing and causing the smoke, and became a friend of the family.

He had the nicest 3.0L around.

 

Jon

Edited December 13, 2013 by jp02ti

[path88]

Impressive.  

 

I wish I could claim to be as lucky as this when I made my 2002 purchase.  What a deal!  If you decide in the next 3 months that buying a great low-rust car thousands of bucks below market value just isn't your idea of a good time, call me and I'll complete the buy.

 

You know, in case you don't want to deal with such burdens. ;-)  Just let me know (he said only half-jokingly...wait, no I'm dead serious).

 

Also, liked the book.  Congrats on that too.

[bob02]

Rob, you are a lucky dog with that find!! Bavarias have been on my radar for a couple of years now, and that one looks really nice! Have fun!

 

 Bob

Rob, you are a lucky dog with that find!! Bavarias have been on my radar for a couple of years now, and that one looks really nice! Have fun!

 

 Bob

[skipsfcr]

Congratulations Rob. My wife loved the discussion in Memoirs regarding "fleet size." I came really close to buying Andy Stuckey's beautiful '73 Bavaria last month. The price really made the deal too good to pass up but I'm at ten cars myself and didn't savor the idea she proposed, that I might have to live in one of them!

[thehackmechanic]

Like all US-spec Bavarias (I think), the car DOES have a/c. The path to making it work, and blow cold, is identical to that in an '02, namely:

 

--heave the York compressor in favor of a Sanden

--use a new modern parallel flow condenser

--make new hoses to replace the original leaky ones

 

However, this car is so original that I'm going to need to think about that approach.

 

One thing at a time. As the Wicked Witch said to Dorothy, "these things must be done CAREFULLY..."

[gracer]

Great find!  I would have paid that much also.  I had a bavaria that I had ordered when I was In Viet Nahm.

I had a lot of fun with that car.  G

[saaron]

I'm jealous.  On many levels.  

 

Have fun with it.  Someone brought up a good point - what do you drive to Vintage?  You owe the tii a trip to it (or is it the other way around?)  Or do you take the new car...there are fewer of them at Vintage.  But can you debug it in time?  

 

Scott

[Mike Self]

Excellent find--and a stick too!  BTW that's the same tobacco vinyl that was used in the 2002s of that vintage, altho the waffle pattern in the center is different.  Great find--sounds like the perfect car to drive to Vintage in 2014--marvelous highway cruiser.

 

mike

[jgerock]

I'm thinking you could have several folks exercise your fleet down to the 2014 Vintage Event.

 

[radio9phs]

"........delicately." She said.

First vintage BMW I looked at, before I bought my 2002 was a four speed Bavaria. In retrospect it was a good, car, better than the 2002 I ended up with. Didn't have anything to compare it to at the time.

[thehackmechanic]

Delicately. Crap. Can't believe I got that wrong!

[MatthewCervi]

Very cool.  Did you take any more pictures of it?