There are big days and there are small days at Classic Bahnstormers, and 27th of March 2019 was a big day. I agreed in principal to buy nine E28’s, ranging from lowly 520i’s to a dogleg manual M535i, and everything in between. Yes that’s right, nine! In the same place!
In 2015 a friend of mine was approached by a BMW enthusiast and asked if he knew of anyone who might be interested in buying E23 parts. He gave him my number and when he got in touch it transpired that this gentleman had quite a few old BMW’s. Naturally I tried to strike a deal for the whole lot, but as it happened, it was not to be.
We got on well, ended negotiations on good terms and we have talked periodically since then. On such an occasion in March he mentioned that he might want to sell a couple of cars. I said I was interested to buy anything he wanted to sell. A couple turned out to be nine. This time it was clear that he was ready to part with his hoard and I was very happy it had come back round to us. A deal was struck, and over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend my trusty crew and I set about moving the nine cars back to some newly acquired storage close to the workshop.
Moving the cars in itself was quite a logistical operation and on the first day I was lucky to have the help of a friend who made a few runs back and forward with his trailer. We got some looks going up and down the motorway that day with these dusty old relics on the back. We settled into a rhythm and actually the loading and unloading was really quick thanks to the lads cracking on. The cars had literally been parked wing mirror to wing mirror so I hadn’t been able to fully assess what I was buying, so every time we pulled one out I had to fight the temptation to give it the once over. Ultimately we got the whole lot moved in two very long days, which was well ahead of my anticipated schedule.
IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTACTING US!
Classic Bahnstormers is growing. For the last few years I have been testing various different business models, and we have arrived at a formula that appears to have good traction in terms of public interest, and provides excellent results in terms of the work our happy team produces. We are looking to scale up and therefore I have felt the need to consider what to do with this haul of unexpected stock before making it public knowledge. What strategy would best serve the business over the long-term? After some deliberation I have decided that the ideal outcome for us would be to sell these cars to people who want to pay us to restore them. I have decided that I am happy to sell the cars at very attractive prices to those that will then commission us to work on the cars going forward. This doesn’t mean that I want to tie people in to full nut and bolt restorations (although we are happy to undertake those), it is just that there will be a mandate for a reasonable amount of on-going work. People wanting to pursue this option will be given preference over those wanting to simply purchase. We have made full assessments of each car and can give estimates as to how much it would cost to get the car to an MOT, to a ground zero position, to a good restored standard or to as close to concours as possible. The cars are as follows, and we will be posting a video walk around of each car between the 18th - 26th May here on the blog. We have completed basic HPI checks on each car which show that the cars have not been subject to a colour change, been stolen, scrapped or subject to a total insurance write off. It does not confirm if they have been partially written off as category C’s for example. Please make your own checks if you wish, the last 7 digits of each chassis number is supplied so HPI and equipment checks can be carried out.
