1982 BMW 323i Baur

1982 BMW 323i Baur
Memorial Day 2010 First Drive 1982 323i BMW Baur Lapisblau M20 5 speed #4154 of 4595 made. The car was imported to California by Dietel Enterprises. I have since changed the wheels, installed the clear turn signal lenses, and I am in the process of installing a new cabriolet roof. I have to do something about those bumpers, too. :) I love this car! To see one of the reasons why, check my post "Score One For the Good Guys" on 6/26/2011.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Long Lost Baur #4587: Found in California! Thank you, Artur and Scott!

The info on this Baur on ebay was sent to us by our friend, Scott S., this morning.  Originally posted by Artur T.  in Facebook.  This is an important find!  Baurspotting has been searching for this car for three years!

Thank you for the link, Artur and Scott!  Co-Baurspotters of the Week!



Is this car in California (currently on ebay, sent by Scott)..........



.......................this car, shown for sale on craigslist in Mathews, VA about two years ago?
The car immediately above has been previously identified as Baur #4587, and it has been listed on the International Baur Registry for at least several years.  

The answer is:
YES!
Here is a pic from the ebay ad for the car at the top of the page:

Bingo!

Proof positive that the two cars pictured above are, in fact, one and the same!  

Thank you for the link, Artur and Scott! 

That is not all, folks!

You see, Baurspotting has had a strong interest in finding this car since we first saw that ad back in 2010-2011.  

Why such an interest?

Check out the list below.  This is a list of 25 BMW E21 Baurs that were imported to North America.  You will notice that they are all listed as 320i, which means they are all US Spec.  Most are listed as having the destination of "Kanada", with 3 coming to the US.    Five others do not give a specific North American destination, so we are not sure where in North America they eventually ended up.  

 This list was given to us 12/13/2010 by Baur Guru, Jeroen Janssen of The Netherlands in this bimmerforums thread: 
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1566814-Baur-TC1-in-the-US/page3&highlight=TC1+baurs+in+the+US .

See Post #67 on page 3 of the thread.

In the chart above, you will see in the second column from the left near the bottom, a green highlighted number:  74587.   That is the Baur number for a US SPEC BMW E21 320i Baur imported to North America.  


This one!

This car is one of only 25 known BMW E21 Baurs imported by BMW into North America.  The rest of the E21 Baurs that we have located are all "Grey Market' cars:  cars that were not officially imported by BMW, but rather were brought into the US by private individuals.  
Here is the VIN from the ebay ad:  WBAAG3306D8386800

If you look at column 3 in Jeroen's chart,you will see that that number matches the VIN for Baur 74587.  I ran that through the BMW VIN decoder, and that too checks out:  a 320i US Spec E21.

Chassis number8386800
Vehicle code1733
SeriesE21
Model320i
Body typesaloon
Catalog modelUSA
Production date1982 / 07
EngineM10
TransmissionManual
SteeringLeft
CatalyzerNONE

We have now found the following US Spec E21 Baurs from Jeroen's list of 25:

72482 Los Angeles CA
72581 Atlanta GA
73264 Los Angeles, CA
73374 Los Angeles CA
74587 Santa Ana, CA  (30 miles south of LA)












Four of the 5 US Spec Baurs that we have located are presently in the LA area, and one in Atlanta!

More pics of Baur 4587:





























Thanks again to Artur T. and Scott S.!

Stay tuned for more!




2 comments:

  1. Hi Great Article. I believe i have one listed on the list of 25 E21 Baur to North America. Baur # 72129. Vancouver Canada

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are exactly correct, Peter! Your Baur is on the list of 25 US Spec Baurs brought to North America by BMW! Congratulations and welcome to Baurspotting! Please send us some pics and info! :)

    ReplyDelete