10k: Like New Six: 1972 BMW Bavaria 3.0, Minty Clean
The BMW E3 generation sedan was known internally as the “New Six” and was later badged as the Bavaria (when equipped with larger engines) for the US Market. The E3 was available with several versions of the torquey M30 big-six and today make for great classic drivers. Prices for nice examples are still reasonable for a classic European sedan. Find this 1972 BMW Bavaria 3.0 for sale in Charlotte, NC currently bidding for $11,300 with one day to go.
The Bavaria shares its classic BMW shark nose styling with the New Six coupes as well as countless subsequent BMW vehicles like the E12 and E28. It wasn’t until many years later that the classic forward-leaning shark grill was abandoned and turned into the upturned and misshapen proboscis that makes a contemporary BMW look like any number of Mercedes, Hyundai or Kia.
This Bavaria is powered by a 3.0 liter carburetor equipped inline-6 putting out 178 (SAE gross) horsepower into a 4-speed manual transmission. The driving experience won’t be exhilarating, but it won’t be excruciating either – it should be a decent amount of fun for the buying price.
The inside of this Bavaria is in exceptional condition – and to get a basket case up to this level of cleanliness will take much more than the current bidding price.
Black isn’t a good color for concealing paint issues or dirt, but it does look nice when new and freshly buffed…which brings us to the Elephant in the room…is this car sold by a flipper? The seller makes no mention of how long he has owned the car and only references that he is “running out of space”…whatever that means. These are the questions that need to be asked face-to-face before you put any money on this black beauty.
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I bought a 1970 2800 euro-spec version of this car (pre-we-need-to-call-cars-by-names-for-Americans) in March.
Best purchase I've ever made car-wise. This car is made to drive and run. I've put a few thousand kilometers (no idea in Miles, 5? 30,000? Who knows?) since then and it is by far the best driving "vintage" car I've ever had.
It will cruise at 85mph all day long, even with a stock 4 speed and beg for more. 140kph (about 87 mph) has it only at 3200 rpms and red-line isn't until the 6000s.
Yesterday I took it from Imperial Beach to Julian (its third trip up that way) which goes from 0' elevation to 4000' elevation in about an hour – and 30 minutes of that are pure twisties on two lane roads up through the mountains. I beat every car on the Interstate because it just cruises so easily and I don't drive in the left lane which, apparently for California, is the slow lane. The right lane is where it's at.
In the twists it handles perfectly, great car to up and downshift in and my companion, well she had to ask me to slow down a few times, and there were some motorcycles up there who were likely wondering how a car could keep up with them and be on their rear tires pushing them to go faster. One actually pulled over to let me by.
I don't understand how the values of these are so low but one day they won't be and those who got them cheap will be the real winners. Trounces a Tii all day long.
And at Bimmerfest at the Rose Bowl two weekends ago mine was the only one there.
Congrats on the car! I have to admit to being slightly jealous, but I console myself by knowing that my car has an M30 under the hood as well.
What's the harm in flippers? I've done it quite a bit (with bicycles mainly), and a lot of times all it takes to get something in good shape is to make up for a bit of neglect. There isn't anything wrong with making a profit- though it is contrary to my standard practice of buying high, selling low.
I hope someone actually did buy it at that price, which is a bit more than I paid for mine, but mine is a completely original Euro-spec imported from Germany in the 1980s. About time these started getting their due.