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Reader Find: 1965 BMW 1800 Ti

196-BMW-1800-Ti-barn-find

Doug M. has sent in his discoveries before, but this one was found a little closer to home. Many cars were parked in garages or barns when people stopped caring about them. These old cars weren’t “collector items” then. This 1965 BMW 1800 Ti is one of those forgotten classics, but luckily the owner has finally come around…

OK, this one is just a long shot! The BMW “New Klasse” appears to be coming into some significance. I took this picture a few years ago. I had owned this car since the 80’s and it is in my OWN barn!! It had gone unnoticed and unappreciated by me for years.

bmw-1800-interior

I have since sold this one (before I knew they were cool) but still have a matching one – 1966, that I am going to restore. The one I am keeping is a one-owner california car and has been in my barn for 25 years. It is the dark colored one. All the removed trim is inside.

1966-bmw-1800-awaiting-restoration

Sometimes the best finds are in our own barns. Please keep us updated on your progress Doug. We would love to see more photos as the restoration progresses.

Comments

  1. Avatar bj barbieri

    Hey there. I have a 67 2000 tilux barnfind that I’m re-doing. I have quite a few 1800 parts if you need some things. Contact me through my restoration blog at http://www.rustandtiluxation.wordpress.com. good luck with your project!

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  2. Avatar braktrcr

    I had a 67 Roadster Big Block Vette laying around somewhere… now where did I leave it?

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  3. Avatar ConservativesDefeated

    I don’t know………………I might have covered them and put them on jack stands on a concrete pad………….just saying.

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    • Avatar Horse Radish

      Like with the majority of these cars they are not put into PLANNED 30 year hibernation.
      They start of with little ailments that keep them from being reliable daily drivers, maybe a radiator leak, master cylinder going out or such…
      Then comes 1 year it’s been sitting, then 2 then 5 then 25…….time flies…
      VERY RARELY have I heard:
      O.K. this will be put in this garage ”til 2043, so I better cover it from nuclear fallout and put it on jack stands for use after that.
      BTW: the tires will be the same age, Round, but rotten.

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  4. Avatar Horse Radish

    These were and still are wonderful cars and the ‘Neue Klasse’ put BMW really on the map, edging out some of the competitors in the process (Glas, Borgward…).
    I had a 1800Ti long before I knew what it really was, and regret selling it.
    Then later had a craze with the 2000CSs (and still have a couple of those).
    And along came this running and driving, clean interior 2000 (4dr) that served me well as a tow vehicle .
    Being a Euro model) 1971 made it nearly impossible to import (from Germany) to the US, so the usable parts were shipped and I scrapped it. (and regret that too)
    Fantastic handling , good gas mileage and power.

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    • Avatar Dolphin Member

      And I thought I was a fan of BMWs. I never had a Neue Klasse or even one 2000CS, let alone a couple, altho I wanted to. I know that most people aren’t fans of the CS’s front end, but I always wanted one for the build quality (rust tendencies aside), uniqueness, and classiness.

      The biggest problem with cars from this era is getting obsolete parts, altho BMW is now supplying long unavailable parts through BMW Mobile Tradition. The 1800 Ti buyer likely could get some of the needed parts, altho I guessing they won’t be cheap.

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    • Avatar Don Andreina

      Horse, was the 4 door 2000 the one that had the rectangular headlights? We had a lot of 1800s and a few 2000CSs here but never saw the saloon with these headlights in the flesh.

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      • Avatar Horse Radish

        Correct, and that is what made the car unique and good looking, as opposed by the disfigured US version with SB Headlights. (Luckily I saved those and the corresponding different grille(halves)
        They did the same atrocity to the 2000CS model and worse, it gave it an awful look .
        The headlights made that front end what it was !!

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  5. Avatar John Cargill

    Really? You put away a BMW or any car and just forgot about it being in your own barn? Nice to be that well off.

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  6. Avatar Paul B

    I don’t think it’s a question of being well off; as noted above, sometimes it is the opposite, and then life gets in the way. I quit driving my great ’66 Saab 96 because it had become tough to get parts and it was no longer a reliable daily driver as a result. It sat at a friend’s farm for awhile and eventually I towed it to a shed at my place. Some more things had gone wrong then from sitting, I wasn’t making a lot of money, and it sat some more. Eventually I let it go to a young man with the time and energy to do a complete restoration. Do I regret letting it sit, and eventually selling it for a song? Of course. But the Corolla got me to my low-paying jobs for years, and parts were no issue. The 1800TI is a longtime favorite of mine and I’m glad to see these cars getting some attention at long last. It was a very exciting car when it appeared, like the Alfa Giulia Super combining practicality and zappy performance. The New Class models were absolutely the cars that put BMW on the map again and they should be preserved rather than forgotten.

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  7. Avatar rapple

    I hope he can resurrect it without being completely upside down. Horse Radish is right, these were great cars for their time, roomy, good ride and fantastic handling. I had three 1800s over the course of a few years back in the ’70s, all cheap used cars. The first was a standard 1800 that I bought for $75 because the Asian grad student who owned it didn’t put in anti-freeze and thought he had cracked the block. A new freeze plug put that one on the road. Traded it for a well-used 1800TI which I refurbished and drove with three friends straight through from Boston to the SCCA runoffs at Road Atlanta..and back with no issues except for a MD state trooper witha radar gun. Some months later I followed up on a newspaper ad for a 1800TISA with an engine knock traded in to a Peugeot dealer in NH. Bought it cheap, and secured the loose flywheel that hadn’t been properly tightened and lock washered after a clutch job. THAT car was a hoot with the Webers and 5 speed and one that I wish I still had.

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