Alpina Market Watch

That silver one on Collecting cars looks like it’s sat outside uncared for, for a while, there’s algae on the underneath of the rear valance!

The drivers seat especially looks like it’s had a hard life for 33k miles.

Also, those factory mud flaps are PITA. Had them on a silver 3.0Si, they catch on speed bumps. Looked to remove them, but they are screwed on so would require paintwork afterwards. I’m always dubious if a Z4 has one Aero and one standard sill, suggests one has been damaged beyond repair and no replacement available. If that’s the case, what else was damaged?

Personally, I think modifications are ok, as long as the original parts are retained so the car can easily be returned to standard.
 
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MefiEcosse said:
It looks very interesting.
where do you start with questions for that one?
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I'm sure the car is in wonderful condition but there's an almost complete lack of servicing and, even if the car's laid up and unused, it's still essential to do things like brake fluid changes. Even though it's recently passed an MOT, I'd want to hand it over to a specialist garage for a thorough check and recommissioning.

Looking through all the documents, it appears that although the ad says 'first and only owner' it was first registered in Sept 2005 but sold as a BMW Approved used in Feb 2006 - so it was either an ex-demo or pre-registered so that makes them the second owner.
 
SterlingMess said:
Sorry to switch the thread to this black one at Iconic this Saturday, but is it known on the forum, and are there any red flags or things to watch (for a newbie), please? (I think it's lovely, btw.)
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It was previously discussed in this forum (here). The 'hardly any paperwork' part is a concern and the listing states a vague 'documented maintenance history'. However, the seller provided catalogue questionnaire states a 4/5 for service history, so there would be some diligence needed there.
 
I noticed there's also a £2k+ bill for steering from 2021 in the paperwork.
SterlingMess said:
Sorry to switch the thread to this black one at Iconic this Saturday, but is it known on the forum, and are there any red flags or things to watch (for a newbie), please? (I think it's lovely, btw.)
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It's presented as a well cared for car.
It's low mileage, doesn't have one Aero cill, or those horrible mudflaps like the collectig cars one had. I'd expect it to achieve a higher value.
I'd ask for visibility of service history.
Ask if steering column has been replaced, they are prone to sticky steering, which could be a £3k bill to replace.
It's also got a hardtop which should be worth around £1K on it's own.
If it's a forum owner, perhaps they can give you more info on the history.
Perry might know as he keeps a register.
 
MefiEcosse said:
I noticed there's also a £2k+ bill for steering from 2021 in the paperwork.

It's presented as a well cared for car.
It's low mileage, doesn't have one Aero cill, or those horrible mudflaps like the collectig cars one had. I'd expect it to achieve a higher value.
I'd ask for visibility of service history.
Ask if steering column has been replaced, they are prone to sticky steering, which could be a £3k bill to replace.
It's also got a hardtop which should be worth around £1K on it's own.
If it's a forum owner, perhaps they can give you more info on the history.
Perry might know as he keeps a register.
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Not a lot of info about #317 - last change of owner was in June 2020, and not a forum member here or on the Alpina forums (but that's not unusual).

From the photos, it looks fairly tidy (but photos can be deceptive), lot of crud in/around the engine bay and surprising amount of surface corrosion on the offside turret and firewall brace.

The wheels have obviously been refurbished and had rubber valves fitted, this was probably due to bimetallic corrosion around the valve/wheel interface which was common with the original style valves, Alpina released updated valves with a PTFE washer at the interface to avoid this and the new style valves are available fairly cheaply. Personally I think that the fitting of a set of Kumho ditchfinders is a sign to look for other areas where savings have been made.

It's a 21 year old car so there are bound to be a few cosmetic imperfections (such as the scratches around the satnav area), but as reflections on photos can hide an awful lot of paintwork damage, I'd want to see it in person and give it a thorough going over.

As far as service history goes... with low annual mileage, owners have a habit of stretching service intervals and, if they go by the indicator lights, this can mean missing the time-based service requirements. Unless mileage dictates otherwise, services on these should be 2 yearly and, after the initial running-in service (which should never be missed), should follow the pattern of Oil Service, Inspection I, Oil Service, Inspection II (and repeat), brake fluid should also be replaced every 2 years (max) even if the car is hardly used.


Oh and ignore the bit in the auction blurb that goes 'Purchased by our vendor from the previous long-term owners in a memorable transaction that began with viewing their house for sale and ended with buying the Alpina instead and doing annual Le Man trips since'

You can see from earlier in this thread that #317 was for sale by Romans (St. Albans) for over a year before it last changed hands (they were asking just shy of £20k inc. hard top)
 
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PerryGunn said:
Not a lot of info about #317 - last change of owner was in June 2020, and not a forum member here or on the Alpina forums (but that's not unusual).

From the photos, it looks fairly tidy (but photos can be deceptive), lot of crud in/around the engine bay and surprising amount of surface corrosion on the offside turret and firewall brace.

The wheels have obviously been refurbished and had rubber valves fitted, this was probably due to bimetallic corrosion around the valve/wheel interface which was common with the original style valves, Alpina released updated valves with a PTFE washer at the interface to avoid this and the new style valves are available fairly cheaply. Personally I think that the fitting of a set of Kumho ditchfinders is a sign to look for other areas where savings have been made.

It's a 21 year old car so there are bound to be a few cosmetic imperfections (such as the scratches around the satnav area), but as reflections on photos can hide an awful lot of paintwork damage, I'd want to see it in person and give it a thorough going over.

As far as service history goes... with low annual mileage, owners have a habit of stretching service intervals and, if they go by the indicator lights, this can mean missing the time-based service requirements. Unless mileage dictates otherwise, services on these should be 2 yearly and, after the initial running-in service (which should never be missed), should follow the pattern of Oil Service, Inspection I, Oil Service, Inspection II (and repeat), brake fluid should also be replaced every 2 years (max) even if the car is hardly used.
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Thank you, Perry. This is great information and advice. I spotted the turret corrosion too. I'm not afraid of some age-related recommissioning, but as I don't have time to view it, I think it's only worth a punt at the lower end of the estimate, given Iconic's relatively toppy fees. I will ask about the history and the steering rack.
 
v10m said:
Sold for £16,348 + whatever fees are!
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Yes, think the RS market is strengthening. That car had previously been rear-ended, had the front bumper resprayed and one side damaged with a substandard repair ‘visible in certain light’ - piecing together this advert and the previous one.

I think the fee’s are 6%+Vat. (EDIT - that might be collecting cars fee’s actually).
 
True-Blue said:
Yes, think the RS market is strengthening. That car had previously been rear-ended, had the front bumper resprayed and one side damaged with a substandard repair ‘visible in certain light’ - piecing together this advert and the previous one.

I think the fee’s are 6%+Vat. (EDIT - that might be collecting cars fee’s actually).
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When we were looking for a Z4, we looked at an Alpina roadster at the Silverstone classic Auction. IIRC it went for about £16.5k (probably plus fees). This would have been 2015. So similar money now for a tatty one is probably not too bad.
 
hong kong phooey said:
Back to the silver one #317 , says it's an s but no pop up screen ?
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All the E85-based Alpinas are 'Roadster S' - this is to distinguish them from the E52 (Z8) based Alpina Roadster (also known as the Roadster V8)

The Roadster S came in two versions std and Lux - amongst other changes the Lux had the pop-up satnav.
 
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