This proves the old saying, ‘Money follows money’ is true. Only a rich man could afford it new, and only the rich can afford it now. But could we have swooped in and bought one when it was cheap? When it was the old BMW that our dentist refused to pour more money onto to keep the V12 running?
This is a neo-classic. Fact. A large, two door, V12 Bimmer is cool. The same car with a factory stick shift - now that’s the stuff of car nerd wet dreams. I am personally not much of a BMW guy anymore but I do appreciate the rare and unique ones. This one is near the top for any modern-ish examples from Bavaria.
The question we should be asking right now is: WHO is going to pay over 60-large for a near 25 year old German car with questionable reliability?!!! Apparently many people will. As a collectors car I understand the appeal. As a car you’ll actually drive... I don’t.
I will not admit to be any BMW expert but I did spend some time working for an independent Bimmer shop. This meant everything I saw was used and never much newer than 3 years old. So I played around with a couple V12 cars in my day, but always under the hood of a 7-series.
If my recollection is correct, the BMW V12 of this vintage is a headache. It was essentially two straight sixes welded together with separate computers, wiring, and sensors for each bank. I remember one come in that was running (poorly) on just the left bank of cylinders. We made a killing on the repairs, it cost the owner thousands, but he wasn’t the guy to worry much - he had THREE 750il cars.
I really enjoy seeing these cars in a well maintained state. Someone had to spend some serious cash to preserve this car for us to see in excellent condition today. Even when you don’t drive them, there will still be maintenance costs (read: leaks, batteries, seals, tires, etc.).
I wish I’d had the foresight to pick up one of these when they were worth the 15k range. Another missed opportunity... of course after maintaining this thing the owner is probably just trying to break even!
The bidding is currently over $60,000. I’m guessing it won’t go much higher.
My guess is $61,500.
What’s yours?!!!