What are the going rates for 745i these days?

[youngbimmer]

I have the opportunity to purchase a 745i. It is black/black @ 140K miles, but it has the following problems:
1. US bumpers
2. Cracked dash
3. Flaky driver seat electronics
4. one of the window doesn't roll sometimes
5. AC leaks and has no charge
6. paint is damaged/primer exposed in several places
7. dings on passenger fender
8. Trans acts up and doesn't go into 4th gear/OD sometimes.

He's asking 7500, which frankly I think is way too much given the problems. What are your estimates?

link to ad: https://easternshore.craigslist.org/...423117728.html

[Hit Man X]

$250-15k.

[youngbimmer]

$250-15k.

I've seen a couple in my area sell for 2000-3000$ albeit not black, but I don't think its enough to more than double the price of the car. There is a manual swapped and turbo upgraded 745 that i've been tracking for years now and that's never managed to bring more than 9K in several auctions, and that thing is damn near close to mint

[motohunter4]

I wouldn't pay that much for a scratch and dent special with a bad transmission and semi roached interior.

Sent from my LGLS755 using Tapatalk

[Hit Man X]

I've seen a couple in my area sell for 2000-3000$ albeit not black, but I don't think its enough to more than double the price of the car. There is a manual swapped and turbo upgraded 745 that i've been tracking for years now and that's never managed to bring more than 9K in several auctions, and that thing is damn near close to mint

Because a manual swap hurts the value of these cars as do extensive mods. The Getrags are clapped out and not rebuildable basically. The ZFs are super easy to rebuild. Drive one that is dialed in with a recently built ZF and you will be surprised how well it shifts and interacts with the ECU.



I got the car in MD back running. ECU was dead. It is also chipped by me. Cooling system hoses are replaced on it now as well as the critical breather hoses.

- US bumpers is not that rare of a swap. I owned a car like that, seen it before. Maybe 15-25% of cars have it like that. Gross yes, but reverseable.
- Basically every E23 has a cracked dash, unless garage kept in a modest climate
- Seat stuff usually just needs use to start working
- Same with windows. Motor/regulator rarely die, switches can become dirty or corrode
- How many vintage BMW have working HVAC, let alone E23? E23 is easy to fix over a weekend. Stock Behr compressor leaks from the shaft seal usually, aside from that it is a decent compressor. $40 to reseal it. The hoses WILL leak if you use 134A or 152A, but why would you use nearly 40 year old hoses is beyond me.
- Tired paint is common
- Dings are common
- This car usually sticks in 2nd gear, I am very positive it needs a valve body. I told the owner to ship it to me for a rebuild and upgrade. But at 200k it would not hurt to just pull the thing and do valve body/case seals/performance A clutch pack/86-88 front pump/Teflon input shaft seals at minimum.

[mottati]

there's one that just went up on bring a trailer today. Looks reasonably clean.

[timgal1234]

I sold my car for 3k. Had semi working ac 3 working windows. A lot of dings and wavy body work but some shiny paint. Euro bumpers and lights. 3” exhaust diff swap and most regular maintenance stuff that goes on these cars already complete.

[youngbimmer]

I sold my car for 3k. Had semi working ac 3 working windows. A lot of dings and wavy body work but some shiny paint. Euro bumpers and lights. 3” exhaust diff swap and most regular maintenance stuff that goes on these cars already complete.

That’s what I thought would be a good range, 3000-4000 given its considerable defects

[timgal1234]

I think 3 is probably fair without seeing the car, if you really like it maybe 3500 but I’d be careful. Sounds like a money pit. But a 745 is a labor of love anyway.

[espoe]

This is a tough question. I bought Tim’s car because he had it mechanically sorted and cosmetically presentable. The price was more than fair and I was confident in what he was telling me not only because he is an upstanding guy, but he also posted all his work here on the board and made it easy to see.

For me, it’s not a question of making money because I really want one because I was bringing them in during the 80’s and never had a 745. At the same time I don’t want to get too far south in a money pit. If you have to sort out both mechanical and cosmetics that makes it tough. Tim has the vast majority of the mechanical stuff already done including all of the scary stuff like transmission valve body, diff swap, exhaust etc. So I was cool with the mechanical, and have still done some more maintenance upgrades like starter, vacuum pods, cruise switch etc. and that was another 3k. To have the paint sorted will be another 3-5k. Headliner was 1000, and will need to dye the interior again if the Buffalo is not far gone, in which case replacement.

So getting up to 10k invested is really easy. Would the car be worth 10? I’m pretty confident yes. 15k? Maybe, but it’s going to have to be special, but things are surely going that direction. So the lesson for me is to choose a car that is either mechanically challenged or cosmetically challenged, but not both. I think it could get out of hand quickly if you have to do both unless you have the talent and/or resources to handle it. As Tim said, it’s a love thing.

[timgal1234]

Yeah I paid something like 800$ for my car (now Eddie’s car) something like 4 years ago. Had dead paint, dirty interior hadn’t run since 2001, and had a dead possum under the hood that the po had named Elvis. I then sunk somewhere in the 6K range into the car. I replaced a ton of stuff. Plugs wires cap rotor a/f battery just for a start. There’s 500$ in about 3 seconds. Then came the consecutive breaking of every intake coupling or vacuum hose on the thing. Every time I looked at the car a charge pipe coupler decintegrated. So made some aluminum charge pipes, all new couplings from silicone probably 150$ and 2 sawzall blades lol. A new water pump, thermostat, tstat housing, fan clutch and s38 fan, 250+. A chip is 200$+ to keep from hitting boost cutoff aka, the biggest buzzkill ever. The seats have soaked up over 100$ of Lexol for sure. Then comes the suspension bust out another 1000$ easy, and then be prepared to break out another 500$ to get it the way you want it. The first was just to get her stable enough to drive. Then you have to rebuild the valvebody in the trans at the least to keep her running strong since most prior owners probably never thought of changing he fluid regularly. Don’t worry though now if she drives well you’re so excited about it you’re embezzling money from your joint account with your wife to buy the little stuff like window switches and seat switches and climate thumbwheels, and pushbutton. A new cluster with batterieless service board. A radio. Maybe some wheels and tires another thousand. That trunk spoiler you always wanted 500 plus shipping from Bulgaria (which takes about 3 months by the way). I think the first leg of its journey was by horse and buggy. And the car still has shit paint on it. Add countless hours of stripping paint and a 300$ Maaco paint job so I could drive the car in my wedding in a pinch. Then a diff swap and driveshaft center bearing. Exhaust rotted and repaired with 1.5” tubing up front had to be cut off. Car picked up 6psi of boost just from removing that nasty restriction. This is just a small picture of what I had to do. Then I gave up swore I didn’t have the time to work on it anymore and sold it to Eddie. Then I ripped the dash out for him replaced it with a beautiful crack free unit he had and repaired the heater box, put all new vacuum pods In repaired the recirc doors, put a b35 starter in, replaced all coolant hoses. In the process of tre performance single in tank fuel pump conversion. New front strut mounts were a pretty penny from bmw, I think something like 300$. So between Eddie and I we will have about $17000 dollars both our first born children and almost my marriage sunk into this car........ but I’d do it again, and again, and again, and again!

[youngbimmer]

It seems that the seller is adamant on at least 5500 so I don't think there will be a deal reached. If anybody has a black/black 745i in decent shape for sale please let me know.

[Freshbread]

Because a manual swap hurts the value of these cars as do extensive mods. The Getrags are clapped out and not rebuildable basically. The ZFs are super easy to rebuild. Drive one that is dialed in with a recently built ZF and you will be surprised how well it shifts and interacts with the ECU.



I got the car in MD back running. ECU was dead. It is also chipped by me. Cooling system hoses are replaced on it now as well as the critical breather hoses.

- US bumpers is not that rare of a swap. I owned a car like that, seen it before. Maybe 15-25% of cars have it like that. Gross yes, but reverseable.
- Basically every E23 has a cracked dash, unless garage kept in a modest climate
- Seat stuff usually just needs use to start working
- Same with windows. Motor/regulator rarely die, switches can become dirty or corrode
- How many vintage BMW have working HVAC, let alone E23? E23 is easy to fix over a weekend. Stock Behr compressor leaks from the shaft seal usually, aside from that it is a decent compressor. $40 to reseal it. The hoses WILL leak if you use 134A or 152A, but why would you use nearly 40 year old hoses is beyond me.
- Tired paint is common
- Dings are common
- This car usually sticks in 2nd gear, I am very positive it needs a valve body. I told the owner to ship it to me for a rebuild and upgrade. But at 200k it would not hurt to just pull the thing and do valve body/case seals/performance A clutch pack/86-88 front pump/Teflon input shaft seals at minimum.

This should be a sticky. The nonsense I've been dealing with selling my car has been mind boggling. I don't know about you guys, but I research, research, research before I even decide to embark on a new project. The time vampires I have been dealing with is frustrating.

[gixxerboy]

It seems that the seller is adamant on at least 5500 so I don't think there will be a deal reached. If anybody has a black/black 745i in decent shape for sale please let me know.

Price range?

[gixxerboy]

This should be a sticky. The nonsense I've been dealing with selling my car has been mind boggling. I don't know about you guys, but I research, research, research before I even decide to embark on a new project. The time vampires I have been dealing with is frustrating.

If your car is the white one FS, only serious buyers need apply. Very clean example indeed.

[youngbimmer]

Price range?

2500-4000 for one that needs work, 6000-8000 for a really clean one.

[espoe]

This should be a sticky. The nonsense I've been dealing with selling my car has been mind boggling. I don't know about you guys, but I research, research, research before I even decide to embark on a new project. The time vampires I have been dealing with is frustrating.

You got that right. Yours is a bargain at your first asking price. I think the issue we have seems to be there only a few interested in these cars at fixed up prices. Everybody wants cheap but To get a 3000-4000 car up to the condition of yours will have you at 10k before you know


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro