In 1976 the Sbarro factory in Switzerland built 80 recreations of the 1938 BMW 328 roadster with only ten made for export to the United States. This particular car is number six of the ten and can be found here on eBay with a current bid of $27,200. Located in Seminole, Texas, the ad has no car description except photos. There is a photo from the Sbarro factory (apparently a Certificate of Authenticity?) and a description of the car from a Barrett-Jackson auction in 2006. Apparently, the seller bought the car at the B-J auction back then. Take a look.
The engine is a 2.5-liter slant four with dual Weber carburetors and is backed by a 5-speed manual transmission. According to the Barrett-Jackson paperwork, the car was on display in a Seattle museum for many years. This contributed to the rubber seals dry-rotting and being replaced in 2005.
Back when the car was sold in 2006, it says the car had 15,000 original miles on the odometer. Well, after 17 years, the car only shows a little over 500 miles more! Hopefully, the car has been taken care of and it won’t need much work to be road worthy. As mentioned before, there is no information from the seller regarding the current state of the ad.
Overall, this car looks like it could clean up really well. The leather hood straps are a classic European touch and the car appears like it would be really fun to drive. Hopefully, it will get a new lease on life. What do you think about this one?
Looks like it’s fun to drive and very well detailed. Knowing the suspension and many more pics would help considerably. Now at 30k….
This one would be cool to have for sure.
In the late 50’s I was in the 9th or 10th grade a friend of my brother in law’s was restoring one of these. We would go over to his garage and help a little. I really didn’t understand the significance of the car. It wasn’t a 32 Ford, so it meant nothing to me. I think it took him 20 years or more to finish it. He is in his 90’s now. One of his son’s is a good mechanic and knows its significance. I am not sure what will happen to it. Several years ago the son brought it to one of my car shows. I finally realized its pedigree and a lot of others did too.
That could have only been an original then! Sbarro started building these replicas in the ’70s (I worked on them). They are cool indeed and much easier to own and drive than the 10-20 times more expensive original!
I love this body style, so unlike the beemers of today.
One thing is for sure, Seminole is west Texas, very dry weather (I used to live just south of there), so rust is not going to be much of a problem.
It’s fiberglass anyway.
Could of been cleaned but with 2hrs left it’s at a little over 32k.
World’s shortest ebay ad copy! My neck is sore from looking sideways at pics too!
These are very well-known and respected. $30000 is way below value.
Now I know where that crappy mall pizza comes from…Sbarro. Another answer to a question no one asked.
What a waste and a shame this car has not been “driven”. Just sat in a museum.