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Re: Bavaria
It is nice to find someone else who is restoring a Bavaria. I happen to
have two of them that I purchased in Austin, Tx in '90 for $600. One was
intended to be the parts car, but it wound up being daily transportation. It
looked badddddd when I picked it up and even worse when my father and I
delved into it to see what was up but, all it really need was a new battery,
fluids change, some new rubber, fresh fuel, new hoses and belts, and some
paint. It fired right up on the first try. I was told by the seller that it
had sat around for at least 2 years before I purchased it. The other is
still sitting in my backyard partially disassembled. I am waiting for enough
covered space and some more money to complete the resto. When I purchased
the cars, the seller skipped town on me without giving me the titles. He
said that he would give them to me when I went to pick them up, but then told
me he could not find them. Have not heard from him since.
I tried to use a title search agency to find the orginals and get them,
but they went out of business before that could happen. Six months of
looking and calling and mailing finally turned them up in Florida. Once I
found them it took a call to their congressman to get the govt agency to send
them. They said that they would look into it. After three weeks of
waiting, my father called the congressman and had them fedexed to me.
I have a '73 which is running now and a '74 which is not. I rebuilt the
engine in the '73 about 2 years ago and it cost me around $1200 in parts
alone and with a jobbers discount. I paid 5% over cost for my parts. I
rebuilt it my apartment parking lot and had to change the crank as well.
But, for the most part, I have really enjoyed the car and I feel that it is
one of the best driving cars that I have ever driven. It is so smooth. I
currently have a '94 T-Bird SC and I feel that the Bavaria drives better.
One of the problems that I encountered with this car is in finding the right
part. I could find a part, but getting the right one proved frustrating,
especially the engine parts. I have a 3.0 in mine and some of the parts are
for a 2.8 and some are for a 3.0. Unreal, but I now have a supplier that
knows my car and will get the right part for me about 95% of the time. Plus
I get a discount and technical expertise as well--I know and used to work for
the owners of a shop in my city that specializes in foreign cars especially
German. I got to know them because they are the only place in town that I
can get my parts. One thing that I would recommend though is to replace the
points type ignition with a quality aftermarket electronic unit. I went
through two sets of points in one 100 mile trip! Not fun.
As for my plans for these two cars. I plan to build the '73 into more of
a sports car, and the '74 into a luxury sedan, both with fuel injection.