Acquired a 71 Bavaria in 79 with 85K miles. Lived surrounded by BMWCCA. The car was set up to cruise ‘all day at top end’ - as said by the mechanic U joints could only be bought factory balanced to a new drive shaft - but man did it run SMOOTH. It really did. cruise at 144. MPH at an hour a clip Loved.it. Speed and comfort. Traded in for new ‘86 Corolla and drove that car for O.425 million miles.
Cool car, had a 73 and 76 2002 and my stepbrother had a 73 3.0 CSi back in the day. Real driving machines. To this day I still love German cars, my daily driver is a 08 A4 with 175K that runs perfectly and my play car is a 2000 996 C2 that I love to drive on the back roads out west. Let us know how it goes, what a fun road trip!
That's a very rare one nowadays. Most if them went to the breaker's yards in the seventies or early eighties. Mercs were a lot more durable back then - and they had a more caring clientele than BMW drivers who were the road hogs of thar time.
the 2500 e3 had 150 hp DIN ; 170 hp SAE , power steering and lsd were available as an option, 4speed manual or 3 speed auto, 4 plain discs 2 circuits : circuit 1: on all 4 wheels; circuit 2: front wheels only.; ignition with breaker points, sohc inline 6, 7 bearing crankshaft, cooling fan with viscous coupling.
In the late 80s my parent's friends just gave me a 1972, white with the same interior as this. I was so pumped when I saw it had "DUAL CARBS!!"😂 The interior had a very interesting smell, years of globbed on armorall baking in the sun and no ventilation 🤢 It ran a bit rough and had a cooling issue, and I had no money to fix it. A guy with a small/sketchy car lot told me he'd give me $500 for it. I slapped my plates on it, and drove it through 2 towns to him, having to stop once to let it cool down and add coolant. No inspection sticker, no registration, no insurance (young, dumb, and spontaneous) When I got there the guy said "I don't want that.." 😐 So I white knuckled it back home, passing a cop coming the other way 4 houses away from my house 😳... 👀. He never turned around. And by the time I pulled into the yard I was drenched in sweat, heart pounding, legs weak and felt like a 90yo man, and steam was pouring from under the hood. 2 weeks later I scrapped it.. Too bad, it was a cool looking car
Now that a decent 2800 - 3.0 cs is now completely out of my price range, I want an old Bavaria someday! Jackie O bought one of these new and kept it until the new e36 came out.
My brother and I, being car nuts, convinced my parents to purchase a 1972 2500. It was a revelation. It drove three times better than anything made in America. It was a blast. Sadly, its transmission died around 10,000 miles and was replaced by a new one that suffered the same fate. My parents got tired of visiting the dealer for repairs and so it was traded in.
don't let it rust out on the east coast! check out your shock tower area, the look to have the tell tail sign of rusting out, on my 2002 they were fairly rusty under a thin veneer of paint. a lot of ink has been spilled about how well these BMW's were built but the mysterious twin holes on the inside of the rear wheel wells is so water could get trapped are just 1 of the many great and mysterious water traps built in.
I believe those bumpers are the European bumpers. The standard American bumpers of the time were much chunkier. Also, considering your gauge cluster is in German, I'd guess that is a grey-market Bimmer.
A human being actually crash-tested one of these into a tree at ~45 kph (28 mph) back in the early 1980s for the German TV show Der 7. Sinn. to show the benefits of seat belts. It did well, the driver walked away, but the windshield flew out. The windshield flying out would not happen on a US-spec E3 built in 1970 or later, Federal standard required the windshield to stay attached in a front crash on vehicles built on or after Jan. 1, 1970. The BMW E3 was a safe car for its time, certainly much safer than anything the Japanese were putting out at the time. In crash protection it was about equivalent to some of the safer American land yachts of the era, but you were less likely to get in a crash in the first place in one of these. Definitely a car that has stood the test of time well. I'd love to get the opportunity to take an E3 for a spin, but I'd want a US-spec one built in 1970 or later, especially like a 3.0Si. Since the E3 was made from 1968-1977, the majority would be '70 and later. The later E3's are better than the earlier ones. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Cr0mO4OB2t8.html February 10, 2020 12:54 am
I had a 1970 BMW Bavaria back in 1994. I was really impressed with the way it came from the factory, given the time when it was built: twin carbureted straight six engine, four wheel independent suspension, four wheel disk brakes, and leather seats and trim. I really liked how the car looked and drove, and would have loved to have kept it, but in the days before the internet, it was just too hard to locate basic maintenance parts for relatively rare, 24-year old German car. I paid $1,500 for the thing, and ended up giving it to a friend who had another one. I have no idea what they are worth now.
Those sedans were quite common in the Bay Area even in the mid 1990s (at one time, the number export Market for BMWs in the World )....yeah, I must agree, had the internet been then what it is today,many pleb: German,French,Italian,Japanese cars of the 70s/80s would still be around doing their thing...in sheer simplicity.
LOL at German language effort. I used to own a Jacky Kennedy green(agave grun) 3.0Si. Quick car with powersteering and 4 power assisted vented disc brakes. I wish i never sold it.
the way you guys rag on this car. I would've loved to have seen you take a road trip with the 1972, Jimmy that I drove for about five years. The amount of mileage. I put on that saying was disturbing and the whole time I drove it, it only ever gave me trouble once and that was about the last time I actually drove it floats started sticking in the carburetor where it was a two barrel and it caught fire twice in one day. It basically shot of flame up through the carburetor setting the air filter on fire once and the others time. It set the good liner inside on fire. That particular vehicle from the day I started putting it together. I carried a fire extinguisher where I had recently come up on an accident where a guy's vehicle caught fire and after that Carrying one around for several years. More recent vehicles I've had don't have room for one . i started out with a vehicle that I paid something like 200 for and used a couple of other GM vehicles from firmer's fields for parts. Bear in mind when I started it had no driveshaft no motor no transmissionin column no front and back bumpers no engine bonnet headlights tailgate windshield or interior such as seets. Spent around 1500 at the time between buying some new parts and doing things like putting a gasket kit and timing chain on the motor. We put in it. Carburetor was believe it or not still in the box from the 1970s. You find weird things when you go poking around old buildings and such. At any rate that thing would have given you nightmares. If you look at it but the vehicle was actually very reliable. One of the quirks it had was we used the fuel tank off of an 87 with a electric fuel pump the manual pump eventually got bad on the engine and being that little monster that I am I said screw it connected the electric fuel pump and used it that way for about three years without a problem initially tried putting a brand-new manual pump on went through three of them that wouldn't work and then use the electric one which we should've done in the first lace. Other weird problem at one point the wiring let go for the brake lights and I used a lane of outdoor extension cord and completely replaced the wiring running from the brake lights break down along underneath channel of the vehicle up to almost the dash. In its day it barely had an AM radio so i got what was left of a aftermarket radio that the tape deck, still work and basically hodgepodge that end of the vehicle. The truck had no radio antenna factory. Believe it or not and I never bother going to the trouble to put an antenna on and just use the tape deck, . The real disturbing part was the truck had a single speaker for a radio or at least a place for a speaker. Apparently there had never been one in it just the area for a radio to go with a plate over the whole. At any rate, what I used for a speaker would probably give most people nightmares and it worked. The whole time I had the vehicle and was located in the glove box was one of those things where I didn't feel like over complicating it was a extraoral speaker in a lasting casing with a metal faceplate that was all corroded and Rusty with two contacts on the back of what wires on it was in the glove box so nobody's seen it. And the thing work just fine. I should point out I replaced the entire brake system, including the lines and Ira placed the wheel bearings put fresh reran fluid in it. New seals in the transmission, and so forth. I never concern myself with what the vehicle looked like and just focused on the mechanical. Was originally only going to drive it in the winter for a year or two, and ended up driving it for five years full-time year-round. Only real issue was, it didn't have a proper choke. So, generally starting it in the cold was a real adventure. Once you got it running. It was fine damn thing was like something out of a postapocalypse movie. I should probably mention it had no heater. Not that a heater would've done you any good. There was no back window just a piece of wood, which generally didn't stay in it was the 1972 convertible version where the roof and everything else was fiberglass and it strictly had lap seatbelts. Even if it had a working heater. It wouldn't have mattered, like I said the vehicle was completely open as if you were driving a convertible. Although there was technically still a roof there where it was a fiberglass unit. Damn thing drove just fine and had a really short stopping distance. Ironically, probably because of all the aftermarket monkeying I did with the brakes LOL. Lots of torque and horsepower. Unfortunately, given the engine was out of the 1960s GTO and the transmission was under the 1980 something Firebird pace car edition no not one of the little V6 Firebirds it was out of one of the 350 Turbo edition . Had to have a special driveshaft made so everything would work. The way you guys are ragging on this car. It's like you're driving a $50 rack 5000 miles. That's actually a really decent car, the little joy box for the USB ports reminded me of my 72 only having a cassette player where I never bothered to properly connect an antenna for radio. That car with a little bit of work would be a really good car and I'd love to have one of those old BMWs but they're just too hard to get. Got lucky a few times on my second Mercedes would still be driving the first one except for the fact somebody sideswiped it. I like rearwheel drive cars especially for luxury cars. One of the other things that reminded me of my 72 was the seats in that car. I forget what the bucket seats were out of that I put in the Jimmy but they were similar to that . That poor thing used to get a lot of looks where it look like a prop from a Apocalypse movie, especially when you'd open the engine bonnet and everything under the hood just didn't match what the body looked like LOL.. Driving that car with no power steering, however, makes me a little bit uncomfortable. I wouldn't have wanted to drive that car any distance without working power steering. I'm assuming it had power-sharing factory and the belt or the pump isn't working. The bottles of fluids in the trunk and the extra belts and stuff are what we call a gremlin kit. Every vehicle. I've pretty much ever owned has a duffel bag somewheres with a couple of bottles of various respective fluids and the worst part is a couple the vehicles I've owned actually don't leak anything just paranoia on my part where depending where you are. There's no wares to get anything for a couple hundred miles. About a year and a half ago. I literally went from place to place for over an hour trying to get a bottle of brake fluid. Any one of those places should've had brake fluid and it was like the stuff had never been heard of. You shouldn't have to go to that many little gas stations and automotive facilities and not be able to find somebody with a bottle of brake fluid. Ironically the vehicle I was driving at the time cracked a brake line and the lines were only about six months old on it. The leak was very minor was mostly a matter of finding someplace to get a bottle of fluid to keep it topped up till I could get somewheres to put a piece of line in.
Junkerbunker i have a e12 and a e30 and a Friend said that he knows someone who has a bmw from 1970, but he doesnt know what Model it is. He said that he will contact the guy and send me photos. Hope it is a e9 or something in that direction
Funny how you americans always have cars overheating! It's because the tolerances between the block and the head in your engines are not good enough - I never saw anyone planing a head or the block before putting them together - just a new gasket on, and back on the road. In Europe and Asia the tolerances are WAY smaller, and that means foreign cars in America just don't overheat that much... The other problem you have are the ridicilously big cubics in American engines, which means a hell of lot of power, but no space for enough oil to oil the powerfull engine. European engines are opposite, less cubic, but bigger oil reserve. More oil inside the engine will grease and cool better, and a smaller engine will not run as hot as a very big, powerful one. It all add up to longer between service, lower running cost, and vastly better fuel economy...
