Thursday, January 23, 2014

Can you name the vehicles below?

Karosserie Baur was founded around 1910. They have done coach building, cabriolet conversions and other work for a large variety of car manufacturers, including, but not limited to, BMW.

Some of the vehicles that have been built by Baur are shown below. All of them were built by Baur.

Can you identlfy them? :)

Some will be very easy to identify. Others, perhaps.... not so much. :)

Good luck!

Full disclosure? OK, I had trouble with a couple of them! So don't feel bad if you miss some. We are all learning!

;)

BAUR vehicles

http://www.100jahre-baur.de/

OK, you are probably looking to see the answers down here, right?

I'm not THAT easy! :)

But, soon come!

Baur TC2 Advertisement

Thanks to BMW Baur ix (BMW E30) and TC Baur for posting this advertisement in Facebook today.

Here is another famous ad, which we have posted in here before:

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Ron Perry's E21 Alpina Tribute Baur Is Back On The Market!

Ron Perry has informed Baurspotting that his beautiful 1979 Alpina Tribute Baur is back on the market. We are reposting this post from last fall to mark the occasion, with the addition of a bunch of pics.

This has got to be one of the most desirable, if not THE most desirable, Baurs in the world! Baurspotting's hat is off to the beautiful job that the inestimable Ron Perry has done here. It is just gorgeous.

Ron is asking $16,500. That is a bargain for this car. Try to build this car this way for that amount of money. The simple answer is: you can't. Neither could Ron: he has about twice that in this car. Some buyer out there may end up with the Deal of the Decade on this.

OK, I am biased.
1) I love the E21.
2) I love the E21 in white.
3) I love Baurs.
4) I love the work that Ron Perry does. The CSL he did recently was featured in Bimmer Magazine!
5) I love this car.

OK, so much for full disclosure. Other than the above, I am a completely objective, cold-blooded 'killah' when it comes to evaluating this car. Did I mention that I love it?

;)

Just buy the damn thing. You are gonna love it! This is one of 90 E21 Baurs that we have found in the US. It is arguably the BEST one. One of the rarest BMWs in the US, restored by Ron Perry. Yeah, Ron Perry! The Baur Top Cabriolet styling is a unique historical artifact: it tells a story. An E30 Baur has just been added to the one of the largest Automobile Museum Car Collections in the United States.

Its rare.
It was restored to a VERY high standard by Ron Perry.
It is an historical artifact, a car whose unique styling was in direct response to an historical phenomenon: an anticipated ban by many governments, including the US, on convertibles due to a perceived safety risk. Hence, the Baurs have a built-in roll bar.
It is a convertible, an EXTREMELY rare bird in 1979. You can look it up!
It is a flat-out blast to drive.

I do believe that it is destined to become a collectible.

If it gets any better than that......

.....it doesn't. Buy this car. Trust me on that. ;)

The text below was taken from the ebay listing for this car last fall, when it first went on the market.

The words are Ron Perry's:
1979 BMW 3-Series Baur Alpina tribute

1979 BMW 320/6 BAUR CABRIOLET ALPINA C1 2.3 TRIBUTE

I bought this car in February of this year as a rolling shell. Originally a 320/6 it came with four wheels and a really nice paint job. I had a blank canvas with a really low mileage car. My first thought was to but an M30B35 in it, but received a call from a good friend that was selling his e28 with a 2.7 stroker motor in it and decided since he only had about 5k miles on it, that it would be a great power plant for my project and I wouldn't have to re-invent the wheel. It took a bit to go from carbs to Motronic, but got away with a really clean job. We were even able to use the air box holder and welded it to the e21 chassis for a really clean look. The exhaust starts with Ireland Engineering headers to e28 down pipes, to an e21 323i center muffler and then all stock 323i pipes and mufflers (all NOS!). For the exterior, I purchased all NOS new tops and header, all new window rubber, and all new window trim (someone had attempted to fake shadowline the old stuff and just made a mess!)-not an easy job, either. Aftermarket Alpina Deko Set, aftermarket Alpina style front spoiler, and a Zender rear spoiler. All new NOS rubber was added to the soft top and hard top. Now on to the suspension...while the car was on the lift, I removed all of the suspension and sent the following to be powder coated: Front and rear sub frames, new Ireland sway bars (in red), swing arms, fuel tanks, strut housings. Everything was then re-assembled with all new bearings, struts, shocks, fresh cadium plated hardware. All driven to a 3:46 Limited Slip diff. I did use the original rack, but added new boots. Completely rebuilt half shafts too with all new bearings and cadium plated hardware. For the wheels and tires, I was able to source a set of Ronal Alpina wheels 6&7x15" with all new tires. For the interior, I used a set of Recaro front seats and covered both front and rear with aftermarket Alpina style cloth (please DO NOT ask me where to source this as I will not tell you). I found a correct dash and it had one tiny crack by the front windshield, so I had it sent out to be re-covered in leather. Sent out the instrument cluster to have the correct Alpina fonts and the needles painted. I also found a period correct center console with cassette holders! The rest of what was added, including fresh door panels and rear parcel shelf are all visible in the photos. The only thing I forgot to add was the rebuilt close ratio (dogleg) transmission which coupled with the motor and the rear end, makes this car just a kick in the pants to drive. I have not run the car on the dyno, but I also have a real e30 Alpina B6 2.8 with 218hp (rated) and this car is much quicker! This is like a new car from top to bottom and no expense was spared in the build!!!!

1985 BMW 323i Baur TC For Sale in Puerto Rico

Thanks to our friend and fellow Baur owner Ron Perry for the heads on this TC2 Baur for sale in Puerto Rico. Thanks, Ron.

I am going to check but it looks like the Baur that belongs to Harry B.'s friend.

1985 BMW 323i Bauer TC - VERY RARE EUROPEAN VERSION

This Classic BMW 323i Bauer TC is in very good condition, just have a few dents and few scratches in the paint, but don't have rust. This is an original European Version, everything is manual and the interiors are original fabric.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-3-Series-323i-Bauer-TC/121259514415?_trksid=p2045573.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D27%26meid%3D4301194003894678603%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D1011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D121259251305%26

Update: we can now confirm that this is the Baur that belongs to Harry's friend. Here are some pics of this car from our files over the past year or so:

N.B. It appears that these Alpina rims, although they can be seen on this car in some of the pics here, are not included in this sale.

1981 323i Baur in Australia

UPDATE 2/24/2014:

Thank you for the pic, Mesrine!

Mesrine sent me an email today with this pic:

"Here's the baur plate number for the kastanienrot 323i I bought in January. Not sure what will be the fate of the car as it is in a lot worse shape than i thought. Carpet is shot due to clutch cylinder leaking, engine is seized, it was in a crash and the engine bay was not repaired properly so the bonnet doesn't close, doors are rusted through.... Might just take it apart to get my other non Baur going. But I can't decide what to do with the body of the car!"

Any suggestions?

UPDATE from Mesrine, the new owner of this Baur! Congrats Mesrine! Mesrine states that the Baur number is 2235. Thanks, Mesrine, welcome to our Baur World, and good luck with your new purchase! Please send a pic of the Baur plate number and I will add it to this post! My email is in my profile of this blog in the sidebar.

And I have just checked the International Baur Registry, and this Baur is NOT listed yet! This is a NEW FIND! Congrats, Mesrine!

Thanks to SVD115 in Bimmerforums for posting this 1981 323i for sale in City Beach, WA, Australia. Blown head gasket. Asking $2000 negotiable.

Date Listed:: 22/01/2014

Last Edited:: 22/01/2014

Listing Type:: Private seller

Make:: BMW

Model:: 3-Series

Body Type:: Convertible

Year:: 1981

Kilometres:: 250000

Transmission:: Manual

Drive Train:: Rear Wheel Drive

Fuel Type:: Petrol - Unleaded

Colour:: Bronze

Air Conditioning:: Yes

Registered:: Yes

Registration Number:: 6HJ 648

Registration Expiry:: < 1 month - 12/02/2014

Much-loved Baur-conversion targa top convertible. Always garaged, but not run for past 4 years while overseas. In daily use to work prior to that. Restarted, but blew head gasket, so needs an enthusiast to fix, and I don't have the time. Rest in good condition inc. wheels, bonnet, tyres, roof (totally rainproof).

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/city-beach/cars-vans-utes/1981-bmw-3-series-convertible/1036927618

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

323i TC2 from Texas on eBay

Thanks to fellow Baur owner allan633 in bimmerforums for this link to a "convertible" in Texas on eBay. Allan points out that the ad makes no mention that it is a Baur!

Hmmm. Opportunity knocking? ;)

Thanks, Allan!