New E23 owner....euro interest

[gartenmeister]

Picked this up in Cali over the weekend. One owner since 1985. Originally imported by her family. The transmission came in it from Germany. Stored the last 7 years. Won't pass CA smog, so now it lives in Idaho. Has been well cared for, but like any old car is going to need some things. I will be having a lot of questions, I am sure! (see my other posts)

I've always wanted a grey market car....and this thing is more German than German! I love it! Drove it 700 miles from Oakland....over the Sierra.....through the desert....to Twin Falls. Lots of power....rides nice....built like a tank!

Click here to see the album.

What do you think?

[06impreza]

That thing is beautiful.. Great find
take off M badge tho.. It's not a M

[KennyBlankenshp]

Is that a real 745i turbo with a dogleg transmission??? Wow you snagged a nice one...

[pawk72]

Very jealous.

[gartenmeister]

Yes, yes it is.

I was originally looking for a E21 323i when I stumbled across it. Had never given much thought to 7 series since I really didn't want an automatic....but obviously that is not a problem with this one.

Is that a real 745i turbo with a dogleg transmission??? Wow you snagged a nice one...

[CMG]

How much was it? How many miles? No M102 ever came with manual tranny so someone converted it. Your intercooler needs airflow thru that BBS valence. That's cool you can get it back on the road in Idaho. No 745i can be transferred to Cali nowadays so they just sit.

[gartenmeister]

It wasn't cheap, but it was half of what she wanted for it before it wouldn't pass CA emissions.

300,000km, but the odometer is stopped. Supposedly recently.

The PO swears up and down that it came with the transmission. She has owned it since 1985 and her cousin imported it for her. Although I have yet to speak with him directly, they both insist that the car came from Germany with the Getrag. For some reason (possibly influenced by her mechanic) they think that it was one of seven cars put together as prototypes to test the combination. They further claim that BMW decided not to offer this combination in production form since the driveshaft ends up on the loosing end of the deal.

I dunno. The car is marked 745i/A and I am well aware that a manual transmission was never offered. However, there are a group of people familiar with the car for over 25 years (PO, cousin, mechanics) who all claim it came from the factory this way. So who knows. I do believe (at very least) that it came to the USA as a 5spd. From the factory? Cool story, but I'm looking for more proof. It has been suggested that I try to contact BMW but I am not sure where to start.

How much was it? How many miles? No M102 ever came with manual tranny so someone converted it. Your intercooler needs airflow thru that BBS valence. That's cool you can get it back on the road in Idaho. No 745i can be transferred to Cali nowadays so they just sit.

[pawk72]

Whats the last seven of the VIN?

[johnnye23]

Well it appears to be an early E23 with a later Motronic engine to me.Thats why the airdam doesn't have a cutout for the precooler.Nice car ,what does the vin come up as ?

[KennyBlankenshp]

Johnny, how can you say that???

That's an L-jet turbo engine. Note the distributor at the end of the head (not the Motronic type distributor). I don't remember if the really early turbos had the L-Jet log manifold but before they went to Motronic in 1984 they used a Motronic intake manifold but also had a distributor. It was an L-Jet system. I know 1983 had this set up but since this is a 1981 car it must have been used for at least a couple of years.

I also believe that cutout at the bottom of the BBS spoiler is for the intercooler...

[pawk72]

The cut out at the bottom is not for the inter cooler. Its actually for the turbo cooler duct that fed cold air to the body of the turbo. I parted out one of these car a few years ago and it had a these pieces on it. They are placed in such a low spot on the chassis that I would think that many of them get torn off going over curbs etc. They also had a electric blower to help cool the turbo, look in ETK its there.

Before 5/83 the L Jet system was used, after that date they switch to the Motronic system. At least according to ETK.

They also only used the 11 61 1 276 396 intake, otherwise known as the 'Octopus' intake as shown on the car pictured above. I have not ever seen a factory 745I with the old style individual tube intake. So KennyBlankenshp your right!

Hey Gartenmeister whats the last 7 digits of the VIN???

[CMG]

I wonder if the car ever got a federal VIN. It has the lights in the rear panels but also has the euro cluster, so who knows what the Importers did to clear it. Do you have any of the paperwork from the import? If the PO was not connected with the bimmer community I don't know how you'd go about verifying if the manual is from the factory. First thing would be to look it over closely and see what the work looks like.

[batmobile75]

Very nice car, very uncommon without a/c.
I think it is not a prototype with manual tranny, as all were pre production car, and there is a really consistent rumor that were all crashed except for one.

[pawk72]

What??? this car has to have A/C! I ve never heard of a 7 not having A/C.

[CMG]

Look at the pics, no snowflake.

[KennyBlankenshp]

Yes, in the US cars with that HVAC panel, the left most button is actually two buttons with the bottom one turning on the AC compressor (snowflake).

It occurred to me I know the previous owner of this car who is named Bill. He's one of the 745i guys in Nor. Cal.

[frog 996]

Nice!! I have a 1986 745i from Germany!

Btw, there are 6 or so FACTORY 745i manuals that came out of germany, all special orders.

[pawk72]

Who cares about a snow flake on the panel, those will rub off with time. The question is, does it have all the parts on it from the factory.

[B10 BITURBO]

Nice!! I have a 1986 745i from Germany!

Btw, there are 6 or so FACTORY 745i manuals that came out of germany, all special orders.

The 745 was a blinding quick car back in the days,, jesus they were fast


we had 6 cars total here in Iceland,, there is 1 or 2 left

a manual must have been a fantastic one ,, do you have ANY info about these cars .. or pictures of them

Regards

[AnimatedZombie]

No leather?

[gartenmeister]

It occurred to me I know the previous owner of this car who is named Bill. He's one of the 745i guys in Nor. Cal.

Are you sure about that? The lady I bought it from has owned it since around 1985. I have her original California pink slip.

Btw, there are 6 or so FACTORY 745i manuals that came out of germany, all special orders.

The previous owner and supposedly her mechanics (H&B BMW, Berkeley CA) claim that the car is one of these 6.

Unfortunately there is no import paperwork, and no paperwork regarding the transmission. I have been through this repeatedly with her and the issue has been beat to death. She is more than a little perturbed that I and others doubt the orginality, but even she admits that there is absolutely no proof. Everything points to the car being an automatic, other than her word.

Is there any way from the car itself that we could judge originality? The only other thing I thought of would be to try to contact BMW with the VIN and see if they know anything.

As far as the other comments- yup, no AC and no leather. No front power windows either. My understanding is that these would not be particularly unusual features for a euro spec car.

The car is currently sitting as I try to decide what to do with it. It runs and drives but probably has head problems. I'm not sure if its worth fixing or not.

[pawk72]

WHAT IS THE VIN?????????????????????????????


There are many people that can help to figure out the history of the car but not without a little help from you. Thanks

[CMG]

Who has access to import bimmer history may I ask? Unless he has the import paperwork or something else there is no way to verify anything. Sucks it has issues now. My vote is to fix it and keep it.

[pawk72]

Many of the Grey market cars VIN numbers were entered into BMWs VIN system. IF they imported properly. It also helps to type the VIN into ETK, sometimes it will tell you what it came with.

[Pinaman]

As far as the other comments- yup, no AC and no leather. No front power windows either.

My understanding is that these would not be particularly unusual features for a euro spec car.

That would be correct.. many earlier euro spec models were configured this way.. same with Mercedes. The leather, ac, and fpur pwr windows was a big option for Europe but pretty standard for US spec cars of this era. Kinda like cup holders for the later cars.. it became a must-have for this market.