Buying cream puff E38 is typically a BAD IDEA

[RVAE34]

In thinking about it, you are probably right that you could get a quality glass out respray for less than $10k if jams etc are left alone. But probably not less than $5k and only with little to no body work needed. Quality materials alone would be at least $1500. Sikkens, PPG DBC etc. With paint, you often get what you pay for.

[rslifkin]

The exact cost will vary a bit depending on the going rate for labor in your area, whether you're changing the color of the car, how much work it needs (depending on how straight the body is and what shape the old paint was in), etc.

[Hueristic]

Wow, and here I am unhappy with my $1,400 paint job Maybe it's fine for the money!

Wait until you find out that it was sprayed with low solids.

[clarkitect]

I just had a quality re-spray ( although I wanted a Black-Black, PPG, etc. not Bmw Black ) they completely took the car apart fixed every little ding and dent ( some I didn't even know were there ) beautiful job $6700.00 at a high end body shop. Actually a few places didn't want the job because they said there were to many parts on the car and just didn't make fiscal sense for them these guys were Great and had the car for 12 weeks .........

And yet, no pictures lol

[Narlift]

I just had a quality re-spray ( although I wanted a Black-Black, PPG, etc. not Bmw Black ) they completely took the car apart fixed every little ding and dent ( some I didn't even know were there ) beautiful job $6700.00 at a high end body shop. Actually a few places didn't want the job because they said there were to many parts on the car and just didn't make fiscal sense for them these guys were Great and had the car for 12 weeks .........seats re-done also ..... ( .Laugh that clarkitect )

am i the only one who thinks those black painted m pars look bad / silly ?

[clarkitect]

I just had a quality re-spray ( although I wanted a Black-Black, PPG, etc. not Bmw Black ) they completely took the car apart fixed every little ding and dent ( some I didn't even know were there ) beautiful job $6700.00 at a high end body shop. Actually a few places didn't want the job because they said there were to many parts on the car and just didn't make fiscal sense for them these guys were Great and had the car for 12 weeks .........seats re-done also ..... ( .Laugh that clarkitect )

Looks great! $6700 seems like a great price, I would have guessed $10k too.

[RVAE34]

[georgebest]

I just had a quality re-spray ( although I wanted a Black-Black, PPG, etc. not Bmw Black ) they completely took the car apart fixed every little ding and dent ( some I didn't even know were there ) beautiful job $6700.00 at a high end body shop. Actually a few places didn't want the job because they said there were to many parts on the car and just didn't make fiscal sense for them these guys were Great and had the car for 12 weeks .........seats re-done also ..... ( .Laugh that clarkitect )

Beautiful!

[COSteve]

Just when I thought I'd gotten a good deal I come across this thread and find I totally screwed up buying my '01.

[georgebest]

Just when I thought I'd gotten a good deal I come across this thread and find I totally screwed up buying my '01.

We should form a club or something

Though, I quite like mine. It was a terrible deal and I spent way more money on it than I care to admit, but it's running like a new car now.

[clarkitect]

Just when I thought I'd gotten a good deal I come across this thread and find I totally screwed up buying my '01.

I can take that off your hands, no problem.

[QUiKSR20]

I maybe the minority in this convo but I think BAT and most of the cars on it are a rip off / rape pricing on most cars listed.
I know its an auction but almost everything on it is way overpriced compared to other avenues for buying used enthusiast cars.

[clarkitect]

I maybe the minority in this convo but I think BAT and most of the cars on it are a rip off / rape pricing on most cars listed.
I know its an auction but almost everything on it is way overpriced compared to other avenues for buying used enthusiast cars.

It's a place for sellers, not buyers, that's for sure.

[RVAE34]

I personally would never buy anything on there unless it was something you just cannot find elsewhere. But most of their stuff does sell so plenty of buyers. I just wish I thought of the idea first! The owner is one lucky guy and sold off his personal collection to start the site.

[clarkitect]

I personally would never buy anything on there unless it was something you just cannot find elsewhere. But most of their stuff does sell so plenty of buyers. I just wish I thought of the idea first! The owner is one lucky guy and sold off his personal collection to start the site.

I take back what I said about the site being for sellers not buyers when it comes to your white car. That sold short of what I thought it should have gone for.

[QUiKSR20]

I personally would never buy anything on there unless it was something you just cannot find elsewhere.
But most of their stuff does sell so plenty of buyers. I just wish I thought of the idea first! The owner is one lucky guy and sold off
his personal collection to start the site.

It's a place for sellers, not buyers, that's for sure.

Agree with both of you guys!

[SpeedyE38]

I saw this car on BaT, read the seller's responses (and non-responses) and surmised pretty quickly I could not do business with someone like that.

I just went back and saw that I commented on this auction and my red flags were waving as in "watch out".

Based on what the purchaser noted, I wouldn't be that upset. Leaking valve covers and new struts, no big deal. But, buying from this seller after all those posts of warning? At a premium? With no PPI? Nah, I have no sympathy.

[BIMMERBOYZ]

By definition a low mileage E38 is Rare. Brandon’s car that sold for 58k$ in this market was a fair price. To say it wouldn’t sell in the Market in 2014 for the same price is correct. The car is now 5 years older than it was in 2014 and is now more “rare”.

What you’re discounting is the time/money/investment to build a car similar to Brandon’s. We have all heard the phrase “Time is Money”. A ton of people have more money than time.

Every car in this market is overpriced and overvalued to what we’re used to. It’s likely the market will fall and the prices/values of every collectible vehicle will follow. But when will that happen, have we reached the breaking point? Until you can state that as a fact, the car is worth what someone is willing to pay, and likely more next year.

[fratrickbateman]

The current fad (it seems to change every year or two) are these "Time capsule" "New mileage cars" Cars that in a normal market are only worth a fraction more than the garage queens. But in todays S-it show are somehow worth 3-5x the price of a nice car? So people are buying cars such as an E39 M5 which there is a decent demand for but by no means a classic yet and asking stupid prices for. One "new miler" went a few months ago for over 80 grand. That car wouldn't be worth a penny over 25 grand just three years ago. The people who are throwing these in collections and have money to burn probably don't care much, but for people who are well off but not gazillionaires, it's going to suck when your time capsule loses 3/4 of its value over night. It will happen, just a matter of when. Alot of people are looking at cars as investments right now, which is a big mistake. The mother of all, which was the 89 was so bad, and cars were falling in value so fast that people were setting garages and some collections on fire to collect the insurance because there were no buyers in sight. Hagerty was one of the only classic insurance companies left back then as many wouldn't go near insuring them after all of the tom-foolery that went on back then. History always repeats itself, and "it's always different this time." LOL

People will go out and find some crappy thunderbird from the mid 90s, that is a "rare edition" and then ask 20x the $1500 value because its gotta be a future classic. Comical.

[COSteve]

The current fad (it seems to change every year or two) are these "Time capsule" "New mileage cars" Cars that in a normal market are only worth a fraction more than the garage queens. But in todays S-it show are somehow worth 3-5x the price of a nice car? So people are buying cars such as an E39 M5 which there is a decent demand for but by no means a classic yet and asking stupid prices for. One "new miler" went a few months ago for over 80 grand. That car wouldn't be worth a penny over 25 grand just three years ago. The people who are throwing these in collections and have money to burn probably don't care much, but for people who are well off but not gazillionaires, it's going to suck when your time capsule loses 3/4 of its value over night. It will happen, just a matter of when. Alot of people are looking at cars as investments right now, which is a big mistake. The mother of all, which was the 89 was so bad, and cars were falling in value so fast that people were setting garages and some collections on fire to collect the insurance because there were no buyers in sight. Hagerty was one of the only classic insurance companies left back then as many wouldn't go near insuring them after all of the tom-foolery that went on back then. History always repeats itself, and "it's always different this time." LOL

People will go out and find some crappy thunderbird from the mid 90s, that is a "rare edition" and then ask 20x the $1500 value because its gotta be a future classic. Comical.

I was too poor in 89 to be in that market but I knew people who were. Cobras that were changing hands for close to $1M dropped to a couple of hundred thousand. I remember seeing an ad for a Dino for low teens with no takers.
Late 60s-early 70s Porsches are ripe for a correction IMHO, along with a lot of others. I saw Doug DeMuro did a "Cars sure to go up in value" video the other day. That feels like getting stock tips from your shoe shine guy in 1928 to me.

[Schroedog]

I didnt read all the comments but my thoughts...you buy on BAT you pay a premium and most of the time you are buying without seeing the car in person. Get a PPI or and know what you are getting yourself into or shut your yap. The stuff this dude is complaining about isnt unexpected for anyone here who are fixing these same problems all the time. You buy a 20 year old BMW you get the maintenance bills to go with it regardless of the mileage.

[Hueristic]

am i the only one who thinks those black painted m pars look bad / silly ?

Nope.

[SpeedyE38]

Wait until you find out that it was sprayed with low solids.

Low solids = ? I am not a paint guy but am curious. Is that the density of the paint?

[fratrickbateman]

The car is now 5 years older than it was in 2014 and is now more “rare”.

So 5 years made that big of a difference? They all disappeared in that amount of time? LOL. The only thing that has changed is the "investor graphs" being shown by these greedy auction companies. Once people see a graph with a line going north, they then jump on the bandwagon, it's all dollars and chasing profit. Until it goes the other way. Also take an E38 to pebble beach back in 2014 with 40k on it and start bragging about how clean and low mileage it is. NOBODY WOULD CARE. They would say "yeah that was a great looking body style, one of the best, pretty car." They would probably look at you like you were mentally challenged if you continued to obsess over the mileage. But you wouldn't brag about it back then because the "low mileage" fad hadn't begun yet, nor had the "early 2000s german car fad" started yet either. So what's your excuse going to be when the market tanks and the 40k mile e38s are $10k cars again? Is it going to be, the car became less rare? Can't wait to see the spin.

[Hueristic]

Low solids = ? I am not a paint guy but am curious. Is that the density of the paint?

Low solids dry thinner and will provide less UV protection and therefore break down faster and you will see this much sooner.