The Lost Boys: FOUND! A Long Sought Baur in The Philippines!

Readers may recall my post from earlier this year in which we requested help in locating a number of Baurs, including the one below, that have been sighted in various countries all around the world, but not fully identified.

FOUND!

This Baur was reported to be in The Philippines.

The Lost Boys:
http://baurspotting.blogspot.com/2014/02/baurspotters-alert-can-you-help-find.html

Those pics all came from this Baur site in Germany:
http://bmwe21baur.npage.de/baur-tc1-suche.html
(And Baurspotting has located several others, btw)

Today we have some great news:  I have been contacted by Manny T. of The Philippines, who is the owner of the Baur in the pic above! Congratulations to Manny, and Welcome to our Baur Community!

Here is part of the email I received last night from Manny:

"Dear Tom,
This refers to your February 20, 2014 Baurspotter Alert where you asked for help in identifying the baurs whose pictures were posted in your website. I was surfing the web when I encountered this post.

One of the pictures posted there is from the Philippines. I am the owner of that 1979 Bmw e21 Baur. The last 7 digits of its VIN is 6547407. I saw it in a state of disrepair a few years ago with an engine of a Toyota in it. Its original 2.3 liter M20 engine can no longer be located (the e21 was obviously a 323). The picture there was taken when I thought of selling the car since restoration was getting too costly. But I changed my mind and I am again trying to restore the car with certain modifications.

The car now has a 2.0 liter M10 engine installed in it from a donor 1976  e21 with the following VIN - 3766487 . I am presently having someone restore the body, but because of difficulty in getting parts here in the Philippines, some of the mechanical parts are no longer original, an example are the shocks which I am replacing with coilovers. ........."

Restoring a rare car like this in the Philippines has its own special challenges, due to the distance and rarity of spares, and we wish Manny every success in his effort to save this Baur and get it on the road!  Like many of us, Manny will need to balance his project with the needs of his family and his work obligations, which we completely understand, and we look forward to hearing ---- and seeing ---- more of his work as his time allows.  

If there are any E21 or Baur enthusiasts in the area of The Philippines who would like to provide some support or camaraderie to Manny in this endeavor, please let me know.  

(I am thinking of you, Jimbo!)  ;)

There is no Baur Plate on the car.   Can we determine the original Baur number from the VIN noted in the email? 

 Jeroen?  Uwe?    :)

Here are some BMW car clubs that I found that could perhaps also be a resource for Manny:

http://www.autoindustriya.com/car-clubs/bmw-car-club-of-the-philippines.html

http://bimmercebu.com/

http://www.bimmerclub.ph/

Welcome to Baurspotting, Manny!  Best wishes for your project, and we look forward to hearing from you whenever you get the chance!