BMW E9 3.0 CSi - the 50 year old classic coupé | Tyrrell's Classic Workshop
2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic BMW E9 3.0 CSi coupé. Iain delves in to the history of this model and shares some of the wonderful design features that would be a staple of BMW for years to come. This particular lovely example is in for a service, so Iain gets stuck in with his tools before taking her out on the road to enjoy the fruits of his labour.
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IMAGE ATTRIBUTION:
Neil (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „BMW 3.0 CSL (43993422401)“, crop by TCW, creativecommons.org/licenses/...
János Tamás (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „Sports Car Museum Lány - BMW 3.0 CSL - 002“, crop by TCW, creativecommons.org/licenses/...
nakhon100 (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „BMW 3.0 CSL (4895193166)“, crop by TCW, creativecommons.org/licenses/...
nakhon100 (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „BMW 3.0 CSL (5710918729)“, crop by TCW, creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Jeremy from Sydney, Australia (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (15538996050)“, crop by TCW, creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Andrew Bone from Weymouth, England (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..., „VW Beetle Karmann Cabriolet (23019214991)“, crop by TCW, creativecommons.org/licenses/...
In 1975, I sold my 911 and bought a 73 CSi, lime green and a 4 speed. Drove it to the 76 Monaco GP. Slept on the beach. Got into the race without tickets. Watched the race at the hairpin exit. After the race, our hair was covered with rubber from the F1 cars. Ears were ringing for three days. What a trip!
Most excellent! What a memory :-)
Ian Tyrell and Harry Metcalfe .... kings of Sunday afternoon ❤️
Yep,sure is :O)
Considering adding retropowercars for a complete English car craft Sunday.
Iain
Both from Wirral too.
Iain being the more mechanically minded of the Sunday afternoon kings!!
“Brakes are pulling over to the right; we’ll have to have a look at that” This, my friemds, is why people weite big cheques (I hope) to Mr Tyrell. He’s like a bespoke tailor or better yet, an 1870s London gun maker. Hell, I should be writing him a cheque for this content.
It’s a great Sunday when I wake up in the US and start the morning with Mr Tyrrell.
This is the most relaxing channel I know. Iain is an absolute gem.
hello
Man, this videos are half an hour and feel shorter than a TV advert. What an amazing job.
I mean, if you love retro mechanical works you can hardly find someone on par with this gentleman here. It's simply sheer pleasure listening to his walkthrough on this car and driving experience.
Thank you!
Additional respect for covering visibility, Iain, we've lost a lot in the past thirty years for the reasons you describe. Also I note your correct passing of people on bikes in a number of your videos, always 1.5m plus. A simple skill that too many drivers seem to lack.
Thank you indeed!
Oh boy what a beautiful car. I was lucky enough to own its little brother the E21 323i in Henna red with Alpina wheels. As a self employed salesman back in the day, My sales figures went down for a bit as I preferred driving the car to talking to customers, Happy Days. Thank you Iain for a fantastic video.
Thank you for your memories!
It's good to see you covering this car again Ian. Often forgotten these early BMWS Including the E3...E12...E24. Hope to see more.
If Mr Tyrell were a University Professor, he'd be the most popular Professor on campus (hands down). Thank you for another greatly educational and entertaining video, Mr Tyrell.
Just for fun I determined a few things about a nanosecond. Mr. Tyrrell used this term around the 27 minute mark. Paraphrasing "Things could get out of sorts with the rear suspension, and tire contact in a nanosecond". Here are my results; In a nanosecond the car would travel .000001056 inches. The crankshaft would rotate .000018 degrees. The pistons would move .00000035 inches. SO WHAT DOES THIS SHOW US? Well it confirms that I am both a nerd, and a dweeb, and that I am full of useless information, while missing the forest for the trees. Thank you for another wonderful video. I hope you could find the above amusing.
I had one of these as a loaner from my mechanic back in the early 80s when I had my 73 Benz 280S in for service. It was a lovely car and I was rather sad to exchange it back for my car. Great vid Iain, as always. Also as a cyclist, happy to see Iain give that one rider a WIDE berth on the road. Proper manners all around.
Would you rather have an E9 CSi or a W123? ; )
I was liking you till you said you were a cyclist ! Stay safe.
@@martinmcdonald4207 what's wrong with being a cyclist? I'm a former pro level racer.
@@davidhunternyc1 CSi all day long.
@@johnandrews3568 I get you. The CSi is one sexy car. The W123 is a living room on wheels. But for sitting in bumper to bumper traffic and repairability I might take the W123. Plus you can drive the W123 around and no one will give you a second look. I live in NYC. Driving a CSi would say, "Mug me now."
Still my favorite BMW design.
I really enjoy watching this channel. Not only for the insights it delivers on these old cars and their technology, but also for the opportunity to study proper English.
Trust me, one of the pleasures for an English person watching Iain Tyrrell is to listen to someone speak proper English. It’s become a horrible, slang-ridden, cannibalised mutation of what it once was. Tyrrell and Metcalfe are a dying breed and it’s very sad. Think of the likes of ‘Yanni’ for example, and the way he speaks and delivers his version of English, that is the future unfortunately.
@@camwat5193 That's proper English that is, innit?
My parents had the almost identical vehicle as a newlywed couple. My father reportedly shed a couple of tears when they traded it on a Opel Rekord station wagon when my mother announced she was pregnant with twins.
My Dad T00!!! Pale yellow
My Dad had one of these, GPH 400N, in metalic Garnet Red with Black vinyl sunroof, which leaked in rain the first weekend of having it. He was furious and hearbroken at the same time. It's sunroof was fitted at the dealer rather than factory. He swore he'd never have anything non-factory option after that. It was new November 1974. Beautiful car. Went like a train. I saw it years later, after he changed if for the saloon, in Fulham, whilst waxing lyrical about it to a passenger friend, then boom, there it was at the side of the road! Amazing. A quick search suggests to me it may no longer exist. I'd love to have it now!
Dear Tyrell, Well, here we are: You, across the pond, in the U.K., me here in mid-Atlantic Virginia, USA. Both of us, older, not as fit as we were 40 years ago, both needing reading glasses, both loving old magazines for their history. And BOTH of us tremendously interested in GREAT workmanship. So, I say thank you, and then I say thank you, again! David Pearce, Fredericksburg, Va. , USA
This car was my favourite car in my teenage years back in the 1970‘s.
One of the best ever BMWs, along with the M635i, sexy cars
I agree 💯 beautiful bmw fantastic car
there was the 635 CSI as well , the Cherry on the cake
@@BlueHopi144 Ah the 635 what a car, reminds me of a shark.
Exactly the same two favorites for me, as well - great minds think alike.
@@coyote5735 oh yes , u are right .
Another beautifully made and presented clip from Iain. He really does give a really warm feeling with his enthusiasm and knowledge.
very strange and kinda boring
Enthusiasm and knowledge , yes, boring ? No…
@@jidofole I feel rather sorry for you.
When I was a teenager back in the early seventies & an apprentice tradesman in a small West Yorkshire town one of our customers was a well dodgy local business man who one day turned up in his beautiful metalic blue BMW 30cs (or csi). I'd never seen anything like it & was totally gobsmacked by it & I've never forgotten it. 👍
#28 BMW E9 3.0 CSi The wife and I had a 2001 325 Ci. Great car, the handling and the brakes were really impressive. Anyway, not this beut. Loved it since I became aware of it. Now to learn something, thanks Tyrrell.
This guy has the secret. Not sure what it is or even what it is concerning but I want to quit my job and go work for him. He is amazingly centered and projects peace and unity.
Born again Christian apparently
I saw one of these when I was about 10 years old and instantly fell in love.
Love these old BMW's. I would love to have a 2002.
That's not old tho.
@@norsevikingsir4932 that car's about 45 years old.
@@philosophyoftrucking A 2002 is 45 years old?
I know how old a 1976 CSI is lol
@@norsevikingsir4932 look up bmw 2002 , its from 1974. 2002 is literally its name
I like the one that came after that, the 635CSi. That's an absolute stunner!!!
Performance was certainly improved, the body style was not quite as unique as the E9. It was a more stiff chassis though.
I remember driving a friend's 3.0 SI manual. Very nice car for long distances. He told me that the instruction book said to rev it to 6,000 through all the gears after a period in traffic. He reckoned that included top gear, so a bit over 130 mph, from memory :-)
The styling of BMWs from this period was classy and sublime. The 3.0 cars were real matinee idol lookers.
You have to have the highest respect for a man who built his own paradise, not only with work, no, with A LOT of passion, too. I'm loving it! Never stop.
As garage apprentice circa 1980 my boss sold his immaculate white/blue vinyl roof / blue velour trim 1973 3.0 CSA to a customer. It was my job to polish and prep the car for sale. The price was only £4500, I fell in love with the car it was beautiful and pristine. I was absolutely horrified to find out the customer rolled the car and wrote it off within 48 hrs!. - thanks for a great video again
I have never seen any BMW CS with a vinyl top in the USA, thankfully.
Regardless of power/speed i simply love the look of the car. the rear light design, the side windows that over-lap, all great looking ideas. Silver seems to suit the car most. Back in (or around) 1978 - 1982 my step-father owned a nice looking gold coloured BMW E9 3.0. I recall the black interior seats being some sort of black deep velvet material, complete with chrome fittings. The shade of gold on the body work was not a light gold, but a reddish gold, which looked rather good, and that's coming from something who does not normally like gold coloured cars.
I love these cars...and I am far from a Beemer fan. But the old CSI's...just gorgeous. My mate had the next shape and back in the day it was the best car I had ever driven. And, I think, remains so! My brother asked me the other day about the old "what would you buy if you won Lotto?"... one of these thanks. Iain should be added to the list of National Treasures for your green isles. Cheers from NZ
I remember as a kid being in awe of these Beemers. Still love them today. When my Dad came home in his 2500 auto sedan (red of course), I was over the moon as finally I felt we had a real drivers car in the family. Still love the looks of the sedan be it s 2500 or even a 3.0 Si. Would love a manual one if I could find one. Alas I have a E90 323i which is nice but somehow doesn’t have the same feeling to me of the BMWs from the ‘70s. Your right re the original 323. My ex wife had one of these when we first met. Such a cool car.
hi David how are you doing today 😊
I was privileged to own one of these for several years in the nineties. I can echo everything Iain mentioned regarding the joy of driving them. Not a race car but a peerless GT. Windows down motoring was a beautiful experience. Also, in the wet, you didn't need wipers if you were out of stop-start traffic. The airflow over the windscreen was sufficient to clear the rain. I had to sell it when we moved to a house without adequate waterproof car accommodation and I wasn't permitted to put it in the lounge room. I miss that car even today.
I loved the story about the youth club and car acceleration experience.. it triggered a memory for me when a similar event happened to me! but it was a bmw 323i.. the first time I'd ever seen one 1978 ish... I reported back to my dad who eventually bought one .. pbt 92t... thankyou for such informative enjoyable programs.. david..
Those 3.0CSi's were glorious - my Aunt had one brand new after her Datsun 240z. They were very quick in their day and super comfortable. I can remember blasting through the Surrey countryside with all the windows down. I was very disappointed when she traded it in for a Mercedes 280CE, which was nice, but not a sports car.
Mr Iain Tyrrell causes way too much Vic Reeves thigh rubbing with his videos. Effortless presentation, fabulous to watch, thoroughly engaging and he brings these wonderful machines to life in so many ways. Thank you once again.
It’s the look on Ian’s face as he gives it some beans,priceless.
Back when BMW actually cared... thanks a lot Mr. Tyrrell!
They still do, but the public all want HGV-sized vehicles and that's where the money is. I've a simple BMW 3-serie F30 and the attention to detail, like the suspension, is still rather good. But the sheer number of different vehicles make it all rather difficult. But this is in another league and I thank mr. Tyrell enormously!!
@@JJVernig the 3 series is bigger than older 7 series and it's a luxury car now. the starting price for a 4cyl clearly shows that. it's as expensive as a Camaro with the same engine and the Chevy will be more tunable, which is the opposite of what it used to be. don't get me wrong a 3 series is a better car in most aspects but the fact that I can import a muscle car and pay like 20% extra for shipping tolls etc and still come out not paying more than for a garbage-spec 3series, that shows how expensive BMWs have become. and the money goes to the marketing department, they make the engineers engineer infotainment systems, useless gadgets and obnoxious vehicles like the M8, I've been to the factory and I can tell by observing the brand for a few decades, the marketing department now runs that company. that's not what german brands especially BMW stand for.
@@user-hr2zy7ct8h Yes, they like to sell sizzle while the steak is quite mundane.
@@JJVernig they are all too low to the floor now. Its crazy your sitting on the floor pretty much.
@@davidmg1925 I don't believe that low thing is true, yeah they're much bigger, but a E9 is juch 136 cm tall, and a E23 143 cm . A F30 is als 143 cm high. I don't think it's a big difference in that. Gone are the big glass area's so they seem different from within.
Just Took My Breakfast @ My Fav.Rest While Watching Another of Lain's Outstanding Videos.Wish I Could Find One Like This,W/ Left Hand Drive ,Here in USA in as Good of Shape as This One.Had A Datsun,as it was Called back then280 Z That My German Mechanic Taught Me the Importance of Adjusting those OHC Valves Every 15-20,000 mls.
I just can’t stop watching these videos. It’s my childhood cars being presented. And in such an amazing enthusiast way.
I remember clearly, the first time I saw one of those. I was walking home from high school, and it was parked on a side street. I had to walk over and go around it. What a beauty!
I had one of these in the same specifications, and Ian is not wrong about the rust. It was so stunning to look at, but one day , I slipped on the accelerator and my foot went through the floor so I could see tarmac. My feet would get wet. I sold it to someone who spent a fortune restoring it. I still have the csl steering wheel I couldn't part with.
Slow in fast out , fast in brown out !
If only cars today were made with such love of detail and feel.
The E9 CSI is one car I have lusted over for years. Life gets in the way and now when I'm in my (LETS SAY) upper years these cars are a premium here in the STATES. I'm looking and love your auto input.
There's so many people on yt babbling about things they don't have a clue about. Listening to someone who really knows what he's talking about is a pleasure... I hope one day to see you in the 635 you mention. That was a dream car of my era, as I'm just a little younger than you... Keep up the great work...
Surely, I cannot be the only one to have noticed the small dent on the right front fender right below the beautiful vent. It's driving me insane. I would also appreciate that no cars i already can barely afford get any more of this wonderful advertisement. Please stay especially away from any 240z's. Love the show, Cheers, Matt
I owned an E9 for 13 years...much of it as my daily driver. I owned it from 1988 to 2001. It was for me also a car that I’d that I wanted since a little kid and I bought it with my savings and first months salary after qualifying from University. It was a one owner 1972 car. It was a Manual CS carb version (quite rare in that format). In the end, I just couldn’t keep up with rust bills! Hahaha. It could actually do 130 mph How much did pay for it? £1500
Thank you Iain for reintroducing the 3.0liter CSi. When 19 my new 2002 needed its' 600 mile service. Appointment had me there a Monday morning first thing. I'd wait for it walking their inventory, etc. Instead, the entire staff mustered to collect a spectrum of new '73s displayed at the Richardson, TX mall during weekend. The manager asked if I'd assist bringing back the fleet. As we arrived, being young, the low man on the totem pole, I expected to pilot the 2800 Bavaria sedan. Surveying the lot, the manager instantly tossing keys "here you drive this one if that's alright". Yes, the only 3 liter CS , Aztec Gold, having done 18 miles. He must have been a mind reader in his spare time!
All the 'shark-nose' BMWs were (and still are) distinctive; they are still stunning pieces of modern industrial design. I didn't know Karmann built these E9s but, given the attention to detail that you point out, it doesn't surprise me. Thank you for (yet) another absorbing video featuring a car that (while not in the 70s supercar league) was fast and fabulous.
After mine rusted out from under me (not uncommon in the '70's), would later read E9 bodies were seen with rust on them outside Karmann before they even went inside for assembly. 1 design flaw was sheet metal box behind driver's wheel well, it would trap road kick-up (wet grass, dirt, gravel) & eventually corrode fuse box, which was in front of driver's left knee. Last time I drove mine fuse box started smoking when I used left turn signal, no wonder BMW drivers are notorious for not using them! Wonderful car, though, cut my Toronto-Ottawa commute by half, even with automatic & only 170 bhp. Leather still smelt great even a decade on, worn & torn.
I have just found this channel minutes ago and I have already subscribed. What a refreshing change to listen to very interesting content presented in a calm, clear way. And thank goodness, no irritating, grating music. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am going to watch many more of these.
We had an engineer, Mike Hargreaves in 1978, who bought a new CSL and that was £7k + which to most of us at that time was an excellent annual salary! I immediately fell in love with the shape and thus many, many years later when I could afford such, I looked at several with intent to purchase, but rust was paramount throughout on each and every one I looked at, eventually rendering my quest unfulfilled.
Aah, somebody talking about the balance & weighting of the fundamental controls! Nice to hear this guy's mechanical explanations and understandings. Just the sort of things the late great LJK Setright would write about.
I have always loved this car, I almost bought one in the early 80s, but even then the only ones I could afford a Were Starting to rust , I was impressed how quickly they were. And always loved the bubble top look, I think became the six series in later years, but more beautiful than the six series , for me, the best looking Bmw.
There was one of these a few years back at a little foreign auto dealer I pass all the time. I was totally obsessed with it, downloaded the pics from the website and set them as my desktop. Such a beautiful car. I knew I had never seen once before or since, but didn't realize it was quite that rare. I love the forward rake of the nose. I can't imagine that would pass pedestrian safety regs now! Probably not great aerodynamically either, but man does it looks cool. I also love all the glass, this car truly has a greenhouse.
Between you and Harry it makes me proud to have been colonised!
My favourite car of all time. "Doesn't cost a fortune". We clearly have very different concepts of what constitutes a fortune. A really good one will cost into six figures.
Read Ron Wakefield's accounts of his E9 ownership, new it cost more than the competition with less hp., he eventually sold it on BaT for multiples of original retail.
Ford famously used an oil spray bar on the Pinto engine too.....the combination of poor oil technology, lack of maintenance & extremely poor pattern parts meant they used to suffer from horrific valvetrain wear (no street scene was complete without the soundtrack of a Pinto with a worn out cam in a Transit/Cortina/Capri in the 1980s!). I'm sure I read that a number of the big oil companies used the Pinto as a reference for oil performance testing as the valvetrain gave the oil such a hard time. The BMW & Porsche versions of the theme were a little more nicely executed although a crossdrilled cam makes more sense to me!
20w50 oil on a cold day in a Pinto 😱
Great storyteller!
💯👍
I was worried he wasn't going to show the rear glass roll down but of course Tyrell wouldn't miss such a thing. Excellent vid as always.
Curious as to the regulator mechanism, as the glass drops, rotates, and drops again.
@@oldanslo BMW had to do that to get it to seal against the front glass vertically.
Guten Tag Ian, i must say i am very pleased to listen to your knowledge about this cars of my youth. I was born 1959 in Bremen/Germany and when young i was able to identify every brand of car just from its sound. Wasn´t difficult these days i must admit. All that Beetles, Opel, Ford, Borgward, all that twostrokers i hated because of their bad smell. And yes, the BMW´s. The E9 shows very rare in our street, feels like Jesus comes down. Only topped by a single Miura based in Bremen leading to hurt my head when hitting the window of the tram i am sitting in. Gearbox with four speed, i remember the sensation when you shift into the fourth gear in the 1502 of the driving school. This ol zerotwos had the same glassy feel when driving like the E9 you presented, a feature i really miss on modern cars, but i remember that safety issues are one of the reasons to evolve to the later 3 Series. By the way, it was 1978 i have been 4 weeks on the other side of the runway of your location at British Aerospace in an apprentice exchange leaving a deep sympathy to your country…. Cheers Peter
This channel is bed time stories for petrol heads. Lovingly read by a well-spoken man with an enormous wealth of knowledge.
The first one I recall ever seeing in person was on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe, 32 years ago - just a quick glance, but it struck me as one of the most beautiful cars I had seen. The boldness of simple lines.
This is one of those channels where I thumb up video as soon as I open it. Then I actually watch it. Awesome channel!
When living in Dusseldorf a few years ago, I used to rent cars from a Sixt location inside a BMW dealership. One day I was there and a CS was parked after it had been serviced and I looked at it very closely. It is a very pretty car but what is astonishing is the visibility compared to modern vehicles. A great safety feature now overlooked in car design. And I was very happy to see the CS featured here as not all interesting cars need be mega-priced. Ah, but that demonic rust!
While living there did you run into col.Hogan , Shultz or col Klink ?
@@charlie1832 Since Hogan's Heroes was shown regularly on German television, along with a lot of other old American television programs, it would have been easy. I was never clear on what the German reaction was to the series.
@@Sprocketboy1956 I’m actually genuinely surprised that was shown regularly on German tv, I never thought of that before because I never thought that would’ve been shown on tv there but now I’m really curious what the reaction was / is to the show
The mention of modern car A pilars is a very good point, its caught me out a few times with visibility.
My father had this in Light Blue Met. and he would drive it pedal to the metal, chain smoking on unfiltered Gitanes. He always had fantastic machines and my memories of his drives are epic.
First car I drove when I was 16.... no wonder I have a 440 at 54 :) Thank you for the trough back
My first car had this same engine block. A 1990 535i with the M30B35. Alpinweiss, with BBS wheels. It was truly glorious, and I still miss driving it. It rusted away from my wallet at around 300 000 km.
Elegance is timeless..just lovely.
Nothing wrong with a blue vinyl roof on an E9. I love it on mine!
When warming a car up keep the heater off until normal temperature has been reached. Speeds warm up and saves engine wear👍 Great video as usual, the best on interesting cars🇬🇧🇬🇧👍👍
Living in a cold climate always leave the heat off until the engine is up to temp just blows cold air on you and does take longer it seems to get the engine up to temp
When I was a teenager in the mid 70’s My dad passed, on buying a second hand 3.0 Orange CSL.I remember the salesman was boasting the sophisticated aerodynamics,with the windows open,pillar less like the Jag coupé.I was so disappointed.He got a 3 litre Capri in the end!.But a friend of my da,came round one day with a V12 E type jag,smoked the tyres out of a junction with me as a passenger! What a great experience.
This is One of my favourite cars of all time . Just stunning ❤️
Just great, and the whole dash and the dials are better looking than pretty much any modern car.
The wood panels and the VDO gauges were both magnificent and perfect . No way to improve either.
That was always in my top 10 production cars. Absolutely gorgeous.
Didn't begin that way, facelift of ugly duckling 4 cyl. 2000 CS.
It’s funny the things that stay with you from childhood. I recall being on foot near the entrance to Silverstone and seeing a chap in a grey E30 M3. We made brief eye contact and then he nailed the throttle and accelerated away from me. That sight and sound still stays with me today and is one of the reasons I love the E30 M3 so much. I actually had a 3.0CS a few years later and an E3 3.0si which was great fun and felt properly quick. 40 years on and I still drive an old BMW. #bmw16v02
I remember Birds Garage Gerrards Cross. We used to live on the Uplands located on the Dukes Wood Estate from 1975 to 1979. When your a kid you take this kind of area for granted and think everyone lives like this. When you have to make your own way in life reality is a rude awakening.
Please do one on the BMW M635CSi !!! Another legend...(Not the USA e24 M6 please)
As always, I shared the obvious pleasure Lain gets (like most car folks really) from being out driving something sweet on a back road on a summers evening. I learned a little, got to see around a rather nice, classic looking 1970s 2 door pillar-less BMW and shared the pleasure as it's straight six got given a little run, thoroughly enjoyable and it's left me feeling pretty good about the world, which can't be said about everything I watch on KZhead. Just think, if Harry hadn't gone to Lain to get his Espada sorted we might not have any of the Tyrrell's Classic Workshop vid's to watch online, good on Harry I say, n thanks as always Lain ;).
Had a couple of 635s. One was expensive One with 18 grands worth of receipts ! Loved that one. Went to a 325 sport after and two of my friends after driving mine bought one. I looked at a csl in auction many moons ago it made £500 pounds, lots of rot. If only I would have bought a crystal ball 😆
Another memory..... we had a trip out from a local collage to west mercia police head quarters. This was in the late 80s. They had in their fleet an elderly BMW (plain clothes) which would prob ahve been a 4 door saloon version of this. They took us out in it.The man heading the talk said " we WILL be doing 100MPH". As I owned at that point a rusting vauxhall chevette there were speeds Id never heard of. Like you, that statement was one that stuck with me.
Hi, I had one of the lesser versions of these back in the 70s - a 3.0 CSA which really went like the proverbial clappers but it had a major weakness. As it was an Automatic with carburettors on a cold morning the engine idle speed was quite high and the route out of my house took me down a steep hill. Because the engine was idling quite quickly there wasn't enough vacuum for the brake servos and stopping at the stop sign was a bit of a lottery. Even after a overhaul of both servos the problem was still there. Once the engine warmed up the brakes were OK. But as you say overall the car was one of the very best I ever owned.
Those oil feed tube banjo bolts loosen up reducing oil spray to cam lobes. Proper crush washers and tightening of the banjo bolts is crucial to check every 12,000 mile valve clearance check. Great demonstration. What other classic car presentor actually performs repairs as part of the video 👍👍 . This a much simpler chassis compared to M-B 280 SE Coupe. In a crash I'd rather be sitting in the M-B. For driving quick and cornering, the BMW. Happy Healthy 2023 new year. Cheers from New Hampshire 👍🇺🇲
I love how Ian wears a polo and an Omega while working on cars. Classy dude. I bet his prices are classy too. Worth it though.
As ever a terrific video. It would have been fun to have a modern, large grilled BMW stood next to the CSI and Iain standing for a moment saying nothing, for nothing needs to be said about the comparison.
My Dad loved the 3.0 CSi. I wish he was here and I could buy him one!
Thank you very much Iain, cup of coffee and a slice of lemon meringue pie, can’t get better 👍👍👍☕️🥧.
Mid to late seventies my parents took me visiting friends in Germany and Sundays after church and Frühschoppen we went to a dealer who had almost new csi’ s in reseda green or solver or blue what a treat for us………….thank you Ian for bringing back these memories with your video 💚
In the 1980s, I had a 3.0 CSA four door, which I drove around the Monaco street circuit and Saint-Tropez. I then bought a 2800 CS and 3.0 CSi, none of which are still around today. Not many cars around at that time could keep up. Wish I still had one of them.
Probably the best looking BMW of all time in my opinion. A good friend of mine back in the early eighties had one of these fantastic car to drive and to be driven around in.
My Fave Bimmer - 3.0CSi !! I learn much from each Tyrrell wkshp. Very informative, clear, intelligent & nuanced observations. I like the point about c. 70% of an engine's wear occurs in cold start-ups. I've honored this point & would never over-rev or 'load' a cold engine. Rather to wait for a few miles before accelerating. Another great workshop - Thank you Mr. Tyrrell!
Great episode - thank you. When I was a know-nothing teenager we had a family friend who was a 70s BMW fanatic. He was always restoring one and his house was a minefield of engine blocks, transmissions, heads and other bits and pieces, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering family. For the life of me I couldn’t understand his love for these upright, boxy, blunt-nosed machines and I think I offered that opinion unasked more than once in that delightfully sensitive way teens have of expressing themselves...Well, thirty-five years on I get it...I get it. So sorry, Bill - wherever you are watching this from! 🙏
I dislike the fact that I can't hit the like button any more times. These videos really are fantastic, thanks for making them for us.
Great video of a true classic Iain. A few points: 1) The 3.0CSi are VERY expensive classics in Australia, probably due to their rarity. 2) The SOHC setup was always very finicky re valve clearances. I used to set them up slightly loose as too tight valve clearances resulted in poor idle and a lack of power. They seems to 'spin' more freely with a slightly loose valve clearance. 3) My personal preference was the 3.0Si. The 4 door was just as good as the 2 door, looked better, was nearly as quick - a real 'sleeper' of a car. Love your work - makes me wish I was still a mechanic!
I remember back in the early 1980s being so wonderfully surprised how amazing the alignment was to perform on those 1970s BMW. Shocking how those square box handled. Thank you for giving me a 40year memory.
There was a continuity of the way things that you touched felt in BMWs all the way from this through the 635CSi, E28 all the 80's cars up to the E36 and E46. I bought an E91, it just didn't have the same feel as the older cars and I hated it. Smiled the day I sold it. We've had "peak BMW" and it was some time ago.
The first BMW I fell in love with. And still am. Along with the late ‘80’s V12 750il. 🤤 ♥️