My "New" Ride!!
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Joined: Jul 2009
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From: Los Angeles
WHAAAAAT!!! 1972? Yes, the car is just about a decade OLDER than me! I am crazy.
I REALLY wanted an E9 3.0 CS coupe since I already have a sedan (the E60), but the more I searched, the more I realized that no matter how good they looked, most are absolute rust buckets unless restored to concours condition. NOT realistic for me nor do I have the time or money to do so. I've always loved the styling and character of vintage BMW's. I was on the verge of buying another favorite of mine, a 2002 to slowly work on and use as a daily "beater." Being spoiled with 4 doors from the E60, I eventually decide another sedan could work... so the E3 was the only solution given that it is the 4 door version of the E9. Plus, the fact that Karmann built (for BMW) the E9's with a faulty honeycomb design that allowed water to be stored in small compartments causing rust was a deal breaker for me. Luckily the E3's were built by BMW with a different design. So happens I found this particular example very close to where I live, and the owner was a vintage car enthusiast which was a great sign. He was even kind enough to show me some of his vintage collection consisting of some Jaguars, Audis, and BMW's, one of which was another E3!
I have owned this car 3 weeks exactly from today. My time is VERY limited with 1 full time job, 1 part time job, a GF, plus a few side business projects and trying to have a social life. Even so, I've been making time each Saturday to work on it. Granted the car is not rust free or anything near perfect, but it is probably one of the better conditioned examples I've seen so far in original condition.
Future plans:
- refresh entire suspension / upgrade to coilovers (diy)
- remove cruise control module (diy)
- redo headliner (diy)
- swap stock front seats with either BMW Recaro's from an e21 or flow fit seats I found from an e24 (diy)
- repair cracked dash (diy)
- change plugs (diy)
- swap the HUGE steering wheel for maybe a Nardi wheel (diy)
- clean up wiring
So far I've cleaned things up from when I first purchased the car, identified the ares of rust, and already removed the passenger front seat and rear seats.
Please enjoy the photos and I'll do my best to update each time I work on the car:
3-19-11
Distant relatives
The Bavaria
I will be swapping out the white California plates for some vintage blue California plates
I will need to get used to this..
I REALLY wanted an E9 3.0 CS coupe since I already have a sedan (the E60), but the more I searched, the more I realized that no matter how good they looked, most are absolute rust buckets unless restored to concours condition. NOT realistic for me nor do I have the time or money to do so. I've always loved the styling and character of vintage BMW's. I was on the verge of buying another favorite of mine, a 2002 to slowly work on and use as a daily "beater." Being spoiled with 4 doors from the E60, I eventually decide another sedan could work... so the E3 was the only solution given that it is the 4 door version of the E9. Plus, the fact that Karmann built (for BMW) the E9's with a faulty honeycomb design that allowed water to be stored in small compartments causing rust was a deal breaker for me. Luckily the E3's were built by BMW with a different design. So happens I found this particular example very close to where I live, and the owner was a vintage car enthusiast which was a great sign. He was even kind enough to show me some of his vintage collection consisting of some Jaguars, Audis, and BMW's, one of which was another E3!
I have owned this car 3 weeks exactly from today. My time is VERY limited with 1 full time job, 1 part time job, a GF, plus a few side business projects and trying to have a social life. Even so, I've been making time each Saturday to work on it. Granted the car is not rust free or anything near perfect, but it is probably one of the better conditioned examples I've seen so far in original condition.
Future plans:
- refresh entire suspension / upgrade to coilovers (diy)
- remove cruise control module (diy)
- redo headliner (diy)
- swap stock front seats with either BMW Recaro's from an e21 or flow fit seats I found from an e24 (diy)
- repair cracked dash (diy)
- change plugs (diy)
- swap the HUGE steering wheel for maybe a Nardi wheel (diy)
- clean up wiring
So far I've cleaned things up from when I first purchased the car, identified the ares of rust, and already removed the passenger front seat and rear seats.
Please enjoy the photos and I'll do my best to update each time I work on the car:
3-19-11
Distant relatives
The Bavaria
I will be swapping out the white California plates for some vintage blue California plates
I will need to get used to this..
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,921
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From: Los Angeles
Let the fun begin!
Original rear seats in excellent condition.
Fronts are so so. Front drivers has the bottom redone where the passenger side is OEM but not in the best condition with the rips.
3 door panels are in excellent condition. The drivers side rear has a small rip.
Original rear seats in excellent condition.
Fronts are so so. Front drivers has the bottom redone where the passenger side is OEM but not in the best condition with the rips.
3 door panels are in excellent condition. The drivers side rear has a small rip.
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From: So. Cal (SFV)
My Ride: 2011.5 Alpine White E90 M3 | Black Novillo Leather | Carbon Fiber Leather Trim | ZCP | ZP2 | M-DCT | Navigation | Moonroof | 6FL Mods: TMS 12.5mm spacers all around l Hawk HPS Brake Pads l OEM M3 Edition Grills l Paint Matched Side Gills l Key Hole D
nice mel, congrats and good luck with the project...
looking forward to see the progress of this...hope you keep this "restoration journal" updated
</subscribed
looking forward to see the progress of this...hope you keep this "restoration journal" updated
</subscribed
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,921
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From: Los Angeles
3-26-11
Today I worked on removing the interior. All the seats were pretty easy to remove. I started with the passenger front.
I'm not sure wtf the previous owner was doing with the rear dash, but this is what I found after I removed the dash and speakers.
Rear seats were even easier to remove than the fronts haha
This was pretty nasty to see..
I will be going through the entire interior and hope to clean off all the glue, gunk, tar and whatever else was used to install the interior at the factory. Till next week..
Today I worked on removing the interior. All the seats were pretty easy to remove. I started with the passenger front.
I'm not sure wtf the previous owner was doing with the rear dash, but this is what I found after I removed the dash and speakers.
Rear seats were even easier to remove than the fronts haha
This was pretty nasty to see..
I will be going through the entire interior and hope to clean off all the glue, gunk, tar and whatever else was used to install the interior at the factory. Till next week..
Thread Starter
Contributors
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,921
Likes: 0
From: Los Angeles
Thanks for the support guys. I've been pretty MIA from the forums as of late with the new job and all, but I thought I'd share with everyone the "new toy." Let's not call it "the money pit" just yet. 
Oh and FYI, all the orange stuff is NOT rust. It is actually the OEM factory foam/padding that is starting to crumble and collect on the baseboards due to age.
This is my attempt at adding a little substance to my posts and the forum heh.
Oh and FYI, all the orange stuff is NOT rust. It is actually the OEM factory foam/padding that is starting to crumble and collect on the baseboards due to age.
This is my attempt at adding a little substance to my posts and the forum heh.