Here’s a deal for someone looking to get into a cheap German project: a running 1977 BMW 630CSI with a 4-speed for $2,977 here on eBay! While it certainly has cosmetic needs and brake work is a must before you drive it anywhere, the cost of entry is so low that it seems like a non-issue to me. The upgraded Alpina-look wheels are a nice touch, and the leather seats aren’t even torn up. Some sun damage has had its way with interior surfaces, but the typical dash cracking has been kept to a minimum here. The seller notes he has lost his storage arrangement and the car likely has some lingering fines from being unregistered in California, so it’s a great deal for residents of the other 49 states. These cars aren’t terribly expensive to work on and parts availability is generally good, so it’s worth a look if you’re on the hunt.
I have always loved the E-24 body style, I’d make an M6 clone out of it. That is also a great price for a 6 series BMW. They were hard to get for a while, and quite pricey as well. It would be mine if it were 1000 miles closer. It even sits straight, no squatty rear end, someone should snatch this up in a hurry. It should also have a lot of miles left on it, as 186K is low for a 6 cyl BMW engine.
Not a BMW fan but this seems like a no brainer for someone into the brand
These sharks are definitely one of the best looking coupes from the last century. The first BMW I remember seeing, other than a 2002, was a car that was exactly like this one, in a small BMW dealer’s showroom back in 1977 when the model was brand new. It was truly unobtainium for me back then, but it looked so good. A sign that it was a great design is that it still looks really good today.
A limiting thing about these first year sharks is the 3.0 engine, which had less power than the car looked like it had, so performance was more of the boulevard sort. But this car looks pretty good and would look even better after some interior and paint work. The 4-speed makes it even more appealing.
The miles are unknown but are no doubt high, so some mechanical work might be needed, but for a purchase cost of no more than $2.8K, mechanical work would not necessarily be a deal killer. My guess is that even with some money put into the car it will probably never be worth less than that money + the purchase cost since these will always be attractive to BMW fans. Makes me want to go for it, since my last car out of So Cal was also rust free and affordable, like this one.
And it’s a 4 speed, not an automatic – great!
Is this rust on the trip meter reset?
That I pretty common. I had that on several of my e24’s
this is clearly a deal! if it were not in CA I would hit that buy it now button! shipping is to much to get to GA, would look great next to my 850I!
“Here’s a deal for someone looking to get into a cheap German project”. Apparently you’ve never heard that there’s nothing more expensive than a cheap German car.
No, but when they are this cheap, it’s hard to go wrong. The reason that expression is spoken like gospel is due to people paying too much for crap cars to begin with.
There’s cheap and then there’s really, stinkin’ cheap, and in the latter scenario you can live with putting some money into it. Buying this car for anything more than the BIN would be a mistake.
this would make a great first car for my son who is in skool for auto mechanics. i’m sure they can fix all that is wrong with it.
Seems I am the lone voice of dissent in the crowd – run don’t walk away. I purchased a one owner 630 from the estate of the original owner of 28 years with 115K on it. The car was in great shape cosmetically, even the leather looked very nice. Original window sticker in the records showed a very expensive auto by 1977 standards which had been babied by its owner.
BMW made a lot of very poorly traced parts changes during those early days.Mine was one of the first 500 cars and the parts were neither easy to get (dealer did not enjoy my visits after a few months) or reasonable, the goofy emission control system (replaced twice by BMW during the original owner stint) was a fuel/power robbing joke, handling was not what I wanted or expected after extended exposure to several L6, M6, or 635 cousins………Poor A/C, constant electrical gremlins, thirsty, etc.etc. Finally after four miserable years I decided sharks belong in the ocean and ditched it – took six months to get $1200 bucks ( in 09 so not too many years ago) for it. I was driving a 2002 530i with a number of M additions during several of those years and that is probably the only reason the dealer and I remained on speaking terms. I gave the factory service manual away early this year – something I never do as my library has many factory or Bentley manuals from former cars – so that I did not have to be reminded of that vehicle. Running shoes on, ready, set, go….
Wow, sorry to hear about that bad experience. I guess these very early cars look a lot better than they actually are.
It figures that a big reason for the poor performance of the 3.0 engine that I’ve heard about and you experienced would be emissions strangulation. I remember that a lot of cars especially from ’73-on had problems like that, which became less over the years as engineers figured out how to make engines perform better and still meet emissions regs. The worst running car I ever owned was a ’73 with FI.
Maybe replacing the 3.0 with a later 3.5 would be a decent cure and worth the effort for someone with a rusty 3.5 or 535, and would get past those parts problems you had. But then you’d need to worry about the ECU and other parts that might need to be transferred over……. I think with complex European luxury cars from that era you sometimes end up with a good looking car that needs a lot of attention and $$ thrown at it to keep it on the road.
Originally silver – Polaris. Hints of mildew to compliment the rust trip odo rod. Me-thinks a u-boat in its former life.
Great buy. But you have to know how to work on them or it will cost you. I had an 88 M6 that had been abandoned because of a title problem. Bought it for 200.00. These are great cars. They do have problems but don’t all older cars have problems?