RUMCars Forum

General Category => RUMCar Mart => Topic started by: Alastair on March 22, 2012, 04:36:29 AM

Title: BMW 700
Post by: Alastair on March 22, 2012, 04:36:29 AM
Hi
I'm in the middle of the restoration of my BMW 700 saloon (still at the stage of igniting my overalls with welding and grinding sparks) but looking ahead, I'm looking for glass for the rear nearside window. It's for a LWB model and it's the hinged type.
Can anyone help with that or any other parts that they might have in stock?

Alastair 
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Bob Purton on March 22, 2012, 08:47:07 AM
Hello Alistaair. I cant help you with the BMW 700 glass but have you tried posting your needs on the Isettaworld forum, I know some Isetta owners have 700's. Just a thought.  Caught my trousers alight last week grinding a certian chassis so I know that feeling! :D
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Alastair on March 22, 2012, 07:06:44 PM
Hi Bob

It'll be a long shot finding one in the UK as I think as most of the 700s imported were SWB so I'll certainly spread the net wide.

Alastair
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Big Al on March 22, 2012, 07:26:36 PM
Lost track of BMW 700 activists. John Bannell is into a Coupe and will have researched the area for parts I expect.

Beards are tricky chaps when the heat is on. I lost my fav old cap to the angle grinder as it had so much oil soaked in it. Spontaneous combustion of hats is rather alarming as you only notice when you bonce gets hot and/or you see the reflection in the window at the same time think god was turning you into an apostle.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Bob Purton on March 22, 2012, 08:19:20 PM
Ah so the glass is different in the long wheel base model, I didnt realise that.
I take it you have tried these people?
http://www.oldtimerteile.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=a1j40dsd8pui8b1r2jp0cvsf26

There are some on this page but probably not the one you want.
http://www.oldtimerteile.net/search.php?PHPSESSID=a1j40dsd8pui8b1r2jp0cvsf26&searchword=window&group=4&search=Start+search...
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Alastair on March 23, 2012, 06:44:45 PM
Thanks for that. I did contact them when I first bought the car and they had second hand glass in stock so I'll not be totally stuck but the transport costs were going to be high so I thought I'd cast my net over the UK first.

Alastair
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Bob Purton on March 23, 2012, 07:39:10 PM
Something to fall back on then. I only wish it were that easy doing Inters! :D I look forward to seeing it when its done or at least a photo. One turned up at Jeans open day last year, I was quite taken by it.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Big Al on March 24, 2012, 10:13:44 AM
Something to fall back on then. I only wish it were that easy doing Inters! :D I look forward to seeing it when its done or at least a photo. One turned up at Jeans open day last year, I was quite taken by it.

Thumper can cross the road and go and look at his flat twin mate.

Thumper and Clapper? Go on, get one. There are several Coupés around for sale, not so sure about Saloons. Did not know they did LWB of them. There is a SWB coupé. The Martini performance cars were these I believe.

The very shortest SWB was a generator pack. See them at Mannheim. Nice and tempting but more things you do not really need.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Alastair on March 24, 2012, 12:51:25 PM
I'll perhaps regret saying it but I wouldn't mind a coupe if you know of one for sale.
Perhaps I should finish what I have first but having panel beaten a complete new floor for the saloon the masochist in me is up and running!
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Bob Purton on March 24, 2012, 09:43:42 PM
AH!! For some reason I thought we were talking about the coupe. Sorry, not paying attention. It was a coupe that was at Jeans last year and it was for sale too! I also like the NSU Prinz sport. Still as Alistair says, one project at a time.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Alastair on March 25, 2012, 05:21:40 AM
I saw a photo of the one at the open day in RCN. I thought it was a saloon. I contacted Jean to see if she knew who owned it because I'd have liked info/photographs of parts of it but no one had any contact details of the owner. I saw it mentioned later in Practical Classics as being for sale at Beaulieu.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Big Al on March 25, 2012, 09:34:04 AM
The guy with the Coupe at Jean's open day was the same chap who sold the Blue Schmitt resto cheaper to my bud after all present told him it was crap. I think his price on the Beemer was bonkers but then I do not want one. I also do not know which model it is. It does make a difference as the twin carb SWB would be very desirable.

Dave Morgan had a twin carb road worthy standard Coupe for sale I believe. It will be up near Merthyr Tydfil, there. This is the one that Mike Webster used for a few seasons and it went very well. I think it did a few foreign events. Not sure on price but it was more reasonable than the other one based in south London suburbs towns. I think the chap lives very near DREWS so a quality area.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Bob Purton on March 25, 2012, 07:35:32 PM
Not true Al, the blue schmitt was a good basis for a restoration, I didn't hear anyone disparage it and I wanted to buy it! When I asked how much he wanted for it he said mega bucks which silly for one in that state, as more asked the question it got cheaper and cheaper until your chum bought it! Just show is not always beneficial to be the one to ask first!
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Big Al on March 26, 2012, 09:21:54 AM
Not true Al, the blue schmitt was a good basis for a restoration, I didn't hear anyone disparage it and I wanted to buy it! When I asked how much he wanted for it he said mega bucks which silly for one in that state, as more asked the question it got cheaper and cheaper until your chum bought it! Just show is not always beneficial to be the one to ask first!

Not the impression that the seller gave. He was thinking he was dropping a hottie on selling it to chummy for more than I would have bid, which is why I stood down. Well until people started 'phoning him offering more money as he come to deliver the car after accepting a deposit a few days before. Clearly, then, for what ever reason these guys did not offer enough on the day and revised their bids to a point that he was offered incentives to renege on the deal with chummy.

I think if you really wanted a car on site you put you bid in with details and follow up at the end of the day, with additional set of details, to check where things have got to. Not sure you were really wanting another Schmitt as a planned purchase, Bob, so I am talking of others. We all want a bargain but the seller has to sort out those who do not want to pay his price, those who are 'messers' and will not come through and those who are serious. In this case he put himself in a weak position as he had not done his homework so was bluffed down on the day, the pack sensed it and it was a question of who followed up best. However even though I was not present I got my chum lined up on it after deciding I did not want it myself. Like a greyhound he saw and chased it down first. I find that amusing.

Since then one suitor has sold off a clutch of cars, so he really needed it, another bought a Schmitt unseen but does not like them and a third got enmeshed in a bit of a situation with some other cars he agrees he does not need on the rebound. None of these guys admit to being miffed nor are they dealers of course. It is pure chance they always have a car to sell. I find this very amusing.

There is still an official condition rumour doing the rounds on the blue car and there are many experts on it in the marque Clubs that have never even seen it. That is the most amusing bit of all. The joys of ease and widespread coms to spread the dirt. Hee Hoor! You either believe it or you do not but not playing is no longer really an option unless you sell up.

I remain happy I did not buy it and can confirm that someone in the Schmitt world was well ahead of us all in having an option to buy and turned it down as it 'was to much work'. He is having the biggest laugh of the lot having made money out of not buying it! Brilliant.

The only help this is for the Beemer is that if he still has it the car might come for a reasonable price. However unlike the Schmitt I know nothing about this car so cannot comment.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Kabine on March 26, 2012, 08:02:32 PM
So the blue one owner 1960 Schmitt - The truth here is that the owner listed the car on a well known UK classic car web site soon after the visit to the open day.

I happened to be on the web site just as it was listed and the owner had reduced the price from what I was subsequently told was high by people who had attended at the open day. I called and was told that the car was an un-restored one owner car. The seller remarked that the dome had an area of damage but that the lower price included a new unfitted blue dome which dated from the 80s (the original owner purchased it but it was never fitted) - that is in mint shape. Judging by what else has sold that has been on public view I am pleased with this purchase. Finding a Scmitt like this at the price I paid is a hard thing these days.

What amazes me is all the folk that say they could have done this and are glad they did not buy it and its benefitted them or their friends by not buying it or that its not this and not that etc. Its all very boring and I think its called self promotion or self justification. What happened is simple. The seller listed it for sale at an attractive price no one had known about until it had been sold.

At least Bob tells it like it is. Thanks also to the kind person who provided me with an original black face clock for it. Nice to have it with the car.



Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Bob Purton on March 26, 2012, 09:37:11 PM
Well done Kabine! It was your turn that week to get a bargain!
Actually I get this all the time at antiques fairs, I get in early as dealers do and inevitably I see something I want, the seller is a part time amateur [sadly the antiques world attracts more of these than any trade I know} I ask how much is it, the reply is, what do you want to pay? I reply I dont do free valuations! Are you going to name a price?  No!  If I were to give a price they would not take it anyway because half of them have no idea and all they are doing is trying to find out what its worth, after they have pulled the same stunt on half a dozen people some of which have pitch in an offer some lucky person strolls in at the end of the day and gets its for its right price.
Basically thats what our motorcycle dealer friend did at the open day, got a free valuation from us lot and then offered it for sale else where, don't you just luv em! Still that's the way the cookie crumbles!  Good for Kabine being in the right place at the right time.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Kabine on March 26, 2012, 10:51:33 PM
Hi Bob - what you describe seems to have become modern practice!
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: richard on March 26, 2012, 10:54:22 PM
nice one kabine -in a couple of weeks i will be listing an original ashtray from  a messerschmitt on ebay ( shameless bit of promo for my item in advance )  ;)
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Big Al on March 27, 2012, 08:43:45 AM
Of course the web does offer an even easier way for everyone to be a dealer egged on by various TV shows. The thing is there is more to being a Dealer than just flogging stuff for a profit. The part I liked is/was the Dealer community where a trade was done by a nod with the actual transfer of cash and goods later. It must be very much more difficult to do this when there are so many folk wheeling and dealing, cutting each others throats. How do you recognise the Dealer from all the dealers and be sure that the item is secured by word.

As example back in the day I had car Dealers offering me trade in small cars they did not want on their forecourts. I would bid on the description blind and underwrite the car. If the deal was done with their customer, you then honoured the deal on the basis the description was correct. Clearly this was a source of cheap cars and why it was worth doing. The thing falls at the first hurdle if the description is incorrect or the price inflated beyond the obvious.

A Schmitt is a simple car to value within 15% of market value so the only excuse for being way over is greed. Interestingly many dealers care terribly what the next guy makes on selling. The trading Dealers tend to be happy with a margin and not worry about what the next guy makes but just to note pricing for future reference. It is easy to see therefore that there are two systems at work. The one of known associates with an element of trust and the other where it is open season to get as much money as possible however possible. I leave it to you to work out in who's interest it is to pretend to be who, but that is what has gone a bit wrong I fear.

Was this not the whole reason for two way feedback on the original eBay. Feedback is now one way and not related to honesty but to service which is not the same thing. But then eBay itself was sold to a wideboy so what does one expect. It is only interested in turnover now.

Just as an aside the 135 by 12 tyres I put on failed to sell on eBay. However a 'phone call from a Micronaut of old standing to discuss the suitability for a Berkeley and a deal is done for when he returns in a months time to deal with it. The old system is so much more civilised isn't it?

I would point out that the reason I thought the Schmitt was more than I wanted to pay is not because I thought it was not worth it but because I am a tight git mode. Probably makes the thing more sense.
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Bob Purton on March 27, 2012, 09:46:11 AM
Yep. I remember when I first started up in the seventies and the saying was "always leave something in it for the next guy"  A practice so out of mode now that its laughable! And yes, the TV shows have done nobody any favours other than the sale rooms and insurance companies, giving the public the false impression that everthing old is worth lots , all dealers are crooks and you can only trust the Big sale rooms, as it as been proved by countless court cases the auction rooms [the big four] are the real crooks!

Boy are we off subject, anyone want to talk about BMW700's?
Title: Re: BMW 700
Post by: Big Al on March 27, 2012, 05:52:56 PM
The 700 saloon is one of those unhappy cars that seems to fall into the not kewt, not big enough, not small enough area of light cars. Along with DAF, NSU Prinz, Simca 1000 and such. Therein lies some cheap cars with great character and interesting engineering. While no fan of the Beemer flat twin it does seem to have a reasonable reputation save for rust in the front wings. Such is the cold shoulder over the years that a solid survivor now must be quite a rare thing. It seems they are pretty easy to tune up should that be desirable. There are certainly worse things to own. If you want one I can sell you it.