Dedicated to the BMW Baur TC1 (E21 1975-83) in particular, and Baur cabriolets in general. We hope to locate and identify all the BMW Baur TC1s in existence in the United States at the present time.
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.
Gracious thanks to the seller, 1960190sl, for responding to my inquiry and providing a pic of the Baur plate of this Baur! YES! It is indeed the long-sought US Spec Baur #4587! Here is the email that I received tonight!
Dear toms_cat1,
Hi there
Thank you for contacting me with the information in regards to the car WOW " i did not know that there are only 25 imported to us based on what you are saying the car is very unique Here is a picture of the plate car is solid with zero rust beside the fact thats its old car drive train is solid as well as the body paint is not a concourse paint job and if i was going to keep it i would remove the tail and give it a paint job ,
please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have
Thank you
- 1960190sl
Thank you, 1960190sl! And good luck with your sale! Are you SURE you want to sell it? :) I wish that I could buy them all, but..... I want to STAY married, if you know what I mean! :) Here is the link to the ebay auction. I really like this car! One of the few US Spec Baurs... potential collectible. http://www.ebay.com/itm/301258606358
It is basically an ad, ok.... but.... they did it right. How do I know that? It made me smile, and I was able to overlook the fact that they were self-promoting. OK, I am biased because it is a BMW 2002. But I am right!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrZrPND7yr4#t=10
And here is another old favorite, as long as we are on the subject of BMW '02 videos. This is a classic! And, btw, on a personal note, my first experience of a BMW was in 1974 in a brand new 1974 2002tii identical to this one, owned by a college friend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GddhYhV-yc#t=110
From "The China Syndrome".
This special Baur is back on ebay again. Thanks to Jonathan Bush for the heads up to the link!
this is Baur #4587, first spotted on sale in Mathews, VA, back in 2010, but subsequently lost for a time. Then it turned up on ebay in CA in November 2013! We attempted to make contact with the seller, but we were not successful.
Why is this Baur special?
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:
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.
We will again try to contact the seller for more info, so stay tuned!
Here is the link to the ad:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/301258606358
We have posted about this Baur previously:
http://baurspotting.blogspot.com/2013/11/long-lost-baur-4587-found-in-california.html
Of all of the reasons for traffic snarls, impending lane closures bring out a particularly brutal combination of road rage and etiquette confusion. Most drivers know the pain of approaching two lanes in this situation; the left one is backed up much further because the right one will close in less than a mile thanks to, say, construction.
Which lane should a driver pick in this scenario? Steer to the left as soon as you see a closure notice and you'll almost certainly go slower; stay in the right and you'll catch stink-eye, honks, and even swerving drivers. Everyone is upset that you're about to essentially cut in line—an act that will require a tense, last-minute merge of your own.
Most driving schools and transportation departments in the United States don't instruct drivers on how to handle this situation or whether they must merge within a certain mileage, leaving this kind of merge up to the grace of your fellow, angry commuters. This week, however, Washington state joinedMinnesota in sending a clear message to drivers: merge rudely. It's actually faster and safer.
“You don’t put your foot on the brake at all”
How to zipper merge.There's a name for it: late merging, though advocates prefer the term "zipper merging" because it doesn't have a negative connotation. According to Ken Johnson, a Minnesota State Work Zone, Pavement Marking, and Traffic Devices engineer, "We want people to merge at the point we’re asking them to, so it’s not 'late,' per se."
It works as follows: in the event of an impending lane closure, drivers should fill in both lanes in equal measure. Within a few car lengths of a lane ending, both lanes' cars should take turns filling in the open lane and resuming full speed.
If roads are clear enough that everyone is already driving close to the speed limit, zipper merging isn't as effective, but in the case of congestion, Johnson said that this method reduces backups by a whopping 40 percent on average, since both lanes approach the merge with equal stake in maintaining speed. "When the queue backup is reduced, the access points behind a work zone, like signals or ways to get on and off the freeway, those aren’t blocked," Johnson pointed out. "People have a better opportunity to get off or on the system at that point.
"I’ve been amazed at how consistent the flow is," Johnson added. "You don’t have to put your foot on the brake at all. You just coast ahead and take turns at the merge point."
The state of Minnesota began openly advertising the zipper merge in the early 2000s, even including its description in the state's driver's manual, but the measure didn't begin to widely catch on until a few years ago, thanks to a state-wide advertising campaign in both traditional and online platforms. Now Washington state has followed suit to encourage zipper merging as the result of highly publicized construction zones, particularly on bridges that connect Seattle to many tech offices (including Microsoft's campuses) in Bellevue and Redmond.
"There can be a weird idea going through people's heads of, like, 'Oh, these people are cheating, cutting in line!'" Washington State Department of Transportation representative Travis Phelps said to public radio station KUOW on Tuesday. "Well, it actually lets traffic flow if you can let folks in. Play nice. Treat traffic like a team sport. You gotta play the assist role. It's gonna help lessen the backups."
“People voluntarily leave a lane?”
Washington state has a ways to go to catch up to Minnesota's efforts, however. In particular, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has added sensors to key roads; when they recognize pile-ups and congestions, electronic signs turn on and tell drivers to fill both lanes and merge at a later point.
Johnson said that electronic, conditional signs have proven more effective than static ones, and he pointed to a study from 2010 which revealed that 80 percent of Minnesota drivers still considered themselves "early mergers." An advertising and public outreach campaign followed, and a follow-up study in 2012 showed a massive turnaround in thinking in which 73 percent of respondents thought zipper merging was a good idea after all. ("When we were starting the campaign," Johnson added, "we worked with an east coast advertising firm who said, 'Wait, you have people who voluntarily leave a lane?'")
The zipper's catch, of course, is that every driver on the road has to be aware of, and believe in, the style of merging before it reaches maximum efficiency. So long as enough drivers don't fill both lanes or intentionally block the soon-to-end lane in the form of vigilante car justice, the concept still has to contend with confusion, whether from out-of-town travelers or oblivious commuters.
"People have learned that it's polite to move over sooner," Johnson said, and that fact means his research and tweaking will continue for years to come to get his state—and hopefully others, as he's been consulted by other transportation departments—into a zipper-merging mindset. He encouraged other states to join in and advised them to try things like updated driver's manuals, public outreach campaigns, and partnerships with local law enforcement to stop lane-blockers.
This early on, at least, the results are clear enough for other states to take notice. The state's congestion reduction is easily measurable, and while crash reports can't be easily pinned to zipper-merging zones, Johnson is confident that "when both lanes travel at the same speed, we have fewer crashes across the board."
Thanks to Leon Muller and Michael Vogt for sharing this video in Facebook today. It was shotnear Alfstedt, Germany. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=781465608562688&set=vb.100000977674717&type=2&theater https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQBhjmgNMJa0tPud&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-vthumb-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhvthumb-ak-xfa1%2Fv%2Ft15.0-10%2Fp526x296%2F244451_781467605229155_781465608562688_1635_475_b.jpg%3Foh%3Db56e7bd6e585e9530b736c4b58ef0c98%26oe%3D5435556A%26__gda__%3D1414470225_6b45899ee28dc844af6bcf15f5926825&jq=100 Check it out..... count the Baurs!! :) Thanks, Leon and Michael!
I have some friends who have asked me to help them locate a pre-1962 car for an independent short film they are working on. As part of that effort to find period cars, I attended a car cruise in a neighboring town tonight... and I actually found two cars whose owners are willing to participate....for no pay, etc! And I had a nice time in the process.
However, while returning home from the car cruise (top down, of course!), I heard an awesome noise ahead of me! The unmistakable roar of a powerful engine entering the highway .... somewhere ahead of me! I could hear it, but I couldn't see it.
Well, I am sure you know how THAT goes: I HAVE to see what is making all that racket! So I sped up.... and I could just see something very unusual way ahead of me:
Huge roar every time he hits the gas.... but what the heck IS it? I put the pedal to the metal..... I am gonna have a look at this guy up close, if I can catch him!
Meantime a beautiful newish BMW 6 series convertible in white comes FLYING past me, top down, four occupants leaning out looking at that car ahead.... they are after it too! And the chase is on!
There is a fair amount of traffic on I-95, -----keeping things from getting tooooo crazy!-----so I soon start to catch up..... the white BMW cabrio is right on his bumper in the passing lane so...... zooom ...... I slide over into the travel lane, pass the BMW convertible (much to THEIR surprise, no doubt!) and pull up alongside this strange roaring monster! OMG, it is a Pantera! I have never seen one in person before, and I am now flying down I-95 as his wingman! Very Cool!
Now the tricky bit! As you can see, Baurspotting is hot ON THE CASE! I am shooting pics with my iPhone. I wish I could have gotten a video to capture the awesome SOUND of the Pantera but...... it was all I could do to manage these few shots. Don't forget.... we are not doing the speed limit here! I am well over 80mph to catch this guy! And that is all I am gonna say about THAT! ;)
We are getting a little closer now..... I really want to get a readable shot of that decal along the rocker panel!
Bingo: PANTERA! (Italian: The Panther!)
Wow! Made my day! Look at the size of those rear wheels! The sound of that thing was just incredible! Needless to say, I never would have caught him if he hadn't had to slow for traffic. This pic was taken in East Lyme on I95 tonight about 6:30pm..... by my hand held iPhone over the steering wheel at 80+mph! Gotta love my BMW 323i Baur! ;)
I want to extend a personal thank you to Donna DiNovelli, because if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have gone to that car cruise tonight, in search of her Holy Grail, and I would have missed out on this totally serendipitous, but awesome, little experience! Thanks, Donna! ;) Things happen for a reason!
Thanks to Matt Davis in Facebook for posting the link to the r3vlimited forum with this thread. Thanks, Matt!
The car is owned by jrod125 in California, and I am afraid he is not getting very good information about his
Baur in that thread. I am hoping that he will join our Baur community where he will benefit from the knowledge and resources available to him in sites like this, and the Baur sites in Facebook, etc. I pm'ed the owner tonight. I do not have his Baur plate number yet.
UPDATE: Baur # B42738-13. It is NOT listed in the International Baur Registry, so it qualifies as a NEW FIND! We will post a pic of the Baur plate when we have it.
So stay tuned. :)
Got the pic of the plate!
Welcome to our Baur community, jrod125! Welcome home! :) And thank you Matt for the link!
Body Style: Targa / Convertible Condition: Excellent Interior: Black Exterior: Gold
Location: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States
Description:
This vehicle is part of the Ed Ullom Collection and will be offered at no reserve.
Recent Re-spray, Removable targa top/convertible, 4 barrel carburetor.
