Journal: Ironically, The Market for Happiness-Bringing E9s Remains Depressed

Ironically, The Market for Happiness-Bringing E9s Remains Depressed

By Alan Franklin
June 24, 2013
8 comments

Our love for the E9 is well-documented, and who can blame us? This graceful, refined, and downright gorgeous pillarless coupe arguably represents the Zenith of GT cars from a Gran Turismo Golden Age—there’s simply nothing on four wheels built since that approaches the E9 for sheer elegance and pitch-perfect style.

When the E24 was released in 1976, E9s were dumped en masse in favor of the newer coupe, and as a result fell into less than sympathetic hands. Throughout the eighties, many languished in less than ideal conditions, and as a result of their poor rust proofing, a large number simply rotted away—Hagerty once called the E9 “the prettiest moisture trap ever created”. For several more years, values sank deeper, exacerbating the attrition rate of a machine that wasn’t exactly commonplace when contemporary.

Today, market conditions are further complicated by the fact that almost all unrestored examples have some extent of rust repair needs, which in combination with expensive restoration costs, continues to depress values—it’s quite tough to make money bringing a haggard E9 back to glory, leaving this right and honorable task to those who view it as a labor of love, beyond even what most restos already are.

It can’t be escaped, though—E9s are stunningly beautiful, capable performers that carry with them the allure of their Munich pedigree, all of which points to a severely underappreciated model in the opinion of our expert friends at Hagerty, who speculate that the next A-1 condition example to be publicly auctioned will likely crack $100,000. For example, look to the recent Don Davis sale to see what a nice, albeit modernized example can bring.

With all that said, the E9 market has remained flat for the past five years, excluding a small bump in value about three years ago, and immediately following a 20% hike in 2007. Until that pristine 2800CS breaks six figures at a marquee venue, we’ll occupy ourselves browsing the internet to remind ourselves just how rusty is too rusty.

For a clearer picture of E9 values over the years, please check out these helpful Hagerty Valuation Tools: 1970 2800CS and 1973 3.0CS (see graphs below).

Petrolicious gives many thanks to Brian Rabold at Hagerty Insurance for his invaluable research and help with this article.

Image Sources: e9forum.com, e-24.ru 

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Gary Stokley
Gary Stokley
2 years ago

I think to bring happiness, you need to have it in abundance. I can’t imagine how you can share what you don’t have, this also applies to love, including. Recently, I’ve been in a state of no resource and I feel pressed down. I decided to seek help from online therapy https://www.facebook.com/CalmerryTherapy/ I hope that this will help restore my balance and become filled with the best emotions again.

mike mc allister
mike mc allister
10 years ago

I had a 2800CS which I bought in 1977. It was subsequently plagued by rust. It also had enough
flex in the frame [in comparison to a modern car] to be nicknamed “flexible flyer”.

But it had a wonderful engine and great transmission. The dual carbs were a total pain to synchronize, but
I did not put on dual webers as I finally learned the full drill to synchronize them.

A comfortable and beautiful interior, and tediously slow electric REAR windows [fronts were hand cranked].

But such a beautiful car. I still get the yen to have another.

mike

Franco Marinotti
Franco Marinotti
10 years ago

Any one knows where I can find grey velvet upholstery for 2800 CS ??

Shaun Doherty
Shaun Doherty
10 years ago

My first car was an E3 Bavaria, which looked great from 10 feet but had otherwise been destroyed by rust lurking underneath in all the wrong spots.

As a college freshman, I saw this really cool looking coupe parked on campus that had some characteristics of my old Bav. I hopped onto the internet and found what it was- an E9. In turn, I found both the Senior Six and CS Coupe registries, made contact with the owner of the E9 on campus, and got a nice long ride in it…just like heaven!

I keep telling myself I’ll eventually get another E3 or ideally an E9- when the kids are older, when I have a bigger garage, etc. I fear by the time that rolls around there will be none left.

By the way- GREAT book Rob!

thehackmechanic
thehackmechanic
10 years ago

There are three chapters in my new book “Memoirs of a Hack Mechanic: How Fixing Broken BMWs Helped Make Me Whole (a memoir with actual useful stuff)” (Bentley Publishers) about the 1973 3.0CSi I have owned for 27 years. Judging the true rust condition of even a pretty, shiny E9, and dealing with rust that’s trivial on other cars, is risky for four reasons. First, if there’s rust at the bottom of an E9s’ front fender, the fender can’t simply be removed and a new one bolted on, like on a 2002, without removing the windshield and cutting the fender where it is lap-seamed and brazed at the lower corners of the windshield. Second, the E9’s inner front fender contains a moisture trap that can eventually perforate the firewall, and because of the way the fender is attached, you can’t simply unbolt it to check the condition of what lies beneath. Third, what appears to be a rocker panel on an E9 is actually a nearly four-inch wide piece of trim held on with a dozen tiny Phillips screws. You don’t know the true condition of the rocker panel beneath it unless you remove this panel, and that’s a pretty tall order to ask an owner, since if the panel has been on there for 30 or 40 years, the screws typically strip or snap. Fourth, the rear shock towers are obscured by 40-year-old plastic “alligator skin” covers. You won’t know the condition of the rear shock towers without removing these covers, and they’re so brittle that they easily shatter when disturbed, so, again, taking them off as part of a PPO is a tall order. For these reasons, many people have bought pretty, shiny E9s only to find out that the rust situation is far worse than they thought. Some sellers intentionally obfuscate, but some honestly don’t know. I tell people they shouldn’t believe an E9 is rust-free unless they see photos of a stripped car undergoing a recent restoration or purchase one from one of the handful of experts whose word is gold.

Matthew Lange
10 years ago

Assuming you are excluding the CSL version. This one was listed for £130K last year although not sure what it finally sold for? http://www.4starclassics.com/BMW-CSL-Batmobile-For-Sale/

Shane Elliott
Shane Elliott
10 years ago

E9 coupes just ooze class. One day…

Johnny02
Johnny02
10 years ago

Love the E9, but it was priced out of my league years ago! Now the best Tii’s are as well, I think now is really the time for snagging an E24 M6 or E28 M5. For the money you’d spend on a condition 3 E9 you could have a condition 1 of either, but act soon, these tides will rise as well. E30 M3 anyone?

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