e21 Alpina C1 2.3 Automatic Transmission?

[TopCat]

yes it has both! with an Alpina VIN stamped on suspension tower

I will take a photo later

[Jeroen]

Just wondering how Alpina administered that, probably it was converted to/at/by Alpina at a later stage. As far as I know they got manufacturer's status in 83 so they were not allowed to issue chassis numbers before that date. If your car was converted in 83 or 84 for example, then this was the regular procedure as can also be found on E30's: BMW VIN with strikethrough, and Alpina VIN on the front strut tower.

[samer0214]

Can someone confirm that the last 7 of the VIN are also TYPICALLY the same as the engine number, assuming of course that this is a matching numbers car?

My understanding is that Alpina can verify the true identity of a car from the engine number, since ALL engines were converted at Alpina, even the ones completed by an independent dealer/shop such as Garage du Bac, etc.

[gerrit323]

The nr on all my bmw engines are always 7 last digits of the vin

Rgds

[Jeroen]

On BMW cars the engine number is identical to the last 7 digits of the VIN. As far as I know Alpina added a number to engines converted by them. As far as I know not all engines were built at Alpina. The info I have is that Alpina tried to keep track of all B6's built worldwide, but for the rest all the records they kept are limited to the C1's built at Buchloe. All other conversions are not in any file. So a C1 built at a dealer... Alpina cannot verify nor confirm. At least that's the info I got when checking with them some time ago. Perhaps some dealers kept records, dunno.

[TopCat]

Just wondering how Alpina administered that, probably it was converted to/at/by Alpina at a later stage. As far as I know they got manufacturer's status in 83 so they were not allowed to issue chassis numbers before that date. If your car was converted in 83 or 84 for example, then this was the regular procedure as can also be found on E30's: BMW VIN with strikethrough, and Alpina VIN on the front strut tower.

below are the photos of Herman's VIN codes- so it has a WBA VIN And an Alpina one designating model- NB matching build numbers.





I think it would be helpful if we could see the build number (blanked out in the photo on the VIN.

[samer0214]

What am I missing here guys? The car for which I started this thread and wanted to buy, just sold at auction today for $25,000!!

The plan was for me to bid on it as well, but the price shot up to $19,000 within a couple of hours and the auction closed at $25K. Is this crazy or what? The car as of yet has not proved to be the real thing.

[Jeroen]

Looks like someone was convinced it was a real one. Sofar I haven't seen anything proving it actually is.

Same with a good looking 320i turbo that is moving about in the US. It is being sold as a rare one off Alpina prototype but Alpina confirmed they never even considered a setup like that. Still its value is way up... I guess some people just want to be fooled. Glad it's their money not mine!

[samer0214]

Yes, someone obviously thought it was the real thing. But even if it were, there is no way this thing is worth $25K on its best day.

An authentic c1 2.3 with a manual transmission and in tip top shape sold for $20K last year. It was even California legal and registered here.

[Jeroen]

Well C1's are pretty rare, if it's one of the very few ones converted in Buchloe these would even do way more here, at least EUR 30K for a VGC example and that's a very conservative estimate. A very clean 323i does way over 20K already.

[samer0214]

I'm still waiting to find out (from Buchloe) if this is the real thing. I've sent them the VIN and waiting on an answer. I'd be surprised if this thing was built at Buchloe being an automatic.

[Jeroen]

Same here, let's see what info comes from Buchloe...