$200,000

This E9 was delivered new to Col Crawford BMW, Sydney, and then in the early ’90s it was purchased by BMW Australia as a ‘Heritage’ display car for its new factory showroom in Rushcutters Bay. BMW gave the car a full refurbishment including a new 3.3-litre M30 engine, giving it more power and reliability; a popular upgrade at the time. The car was subsequently purchased by a Kiwi living in Sydney in 1999. Eventually he, along with the car, moved back to NZ in 2006 where he continued to use the car as his daily driver. Fast forward to 2014 when I purchased the car from him in what can best be described as very average condition. The car was handed to a group of highly talented car restorers in Christchurch who had just finished working on a Maserati Sebring, with world-class results. They went through the BMW, and it was not good news — it was either more bodge work as had been done previously, or bite the bullet and start from scratch with a no expense spared, full nut and bolt, frame off restoration. The decision was made and the guys were given free rein to create something special. Countless hours had been spent, tears and sweat shed, and over $300,000 dollars invested, but after two years, arguably one of the best BMW 3.0 CISS in the world was complete. The car is truly stunning and has been shown on the BMW stand at Concours Ellerslie 2016 and used as a display vehicle by BMW NZ when the top brass from Germany came down to NZ for the opening of a new dealership. The car has had minimal use as part of a larger collection based in Auckland, and due to space issues it’s time to move this piece of automotive art to a new home.