m539restorations

I give you the holy grail!

Added 2025-01-20 22:01:27 +0000 UTC

Before you crucify me for pilling up another project to an already pilled-up list of projects, hear me out.

IT'S THE HOLY GRAIL ALPINA! The majestic E38 Alpina B12 with a 6.0 V12 engine! With 430 HP and 600 Nm / 443 lb-ft of torque, it's the largest engine Alpina ever built. This is the one, this is the dream example (for me) - E38 Alpina shorty (SWB). This particular example is finished in Oxford green over a Beige Alpina interior.

Last week I got an email from a subscriber and literally jumped out of my chair when I read the title: "Alpina B12 6.0 E38, maybe your next Project? :-)"

The voluptuous Alpina B12. They came in 2 flavors, prefacelift with a 5.7 V12 of which 202 were made, and the facelift 6.0 V12 of which only 94 were ever made.
I never thought I could afford one. They are stupidly sought after and when they do come up for sale, the price tag hits harder than a rod knock.

But, this one. This one is different. The car is (well, was) owned by Autohaus Cuntz in Neustadt. Yup, Cuntz. Nope, not pronounced like that.
They are the biggest Alpina dealer in Europe, 2nd largest in the world after a Japanese Alpina dealership. They have an astonishing collection of Alpinas and BMW M cars all in mint condition. This means that this one doesn't exactly fit into their collection as you can see from the pictures.
Fabian, who works as a mechanic at Cuntz, emailed me to see if I was interested in the car before it went up for sale publicly. I answered pretty much instantly with a big triple YES.

I went to see it today and the deal was made! I'll save the details of the condition for when the video comes, but I will say this - the previous owner was a special breed.
He committed a cardinal sin and desecrated this rare and beautiful car by installing an LPG system (Autogas). Now, if you are from the US, you might not know what that is.
Well, the fuel is expensive in Europe, always has been, so what people do here is either drive diesel-powered cars or convert petrol cars to run on liquefied petroleum gas, literal gas, as gas is cheaper than petrol. And as a consequence, drive with a bomb in the trunk in the form of an LPG tank.

I just can't comprehend that someone would spend a boatload of money on an ultra-rare 6 L V12 car and have fuel consumption as their primary concern. Then again, I did find a receipt for an oil change at an equivalent of Jiffy Lube for 25 euros!

All of this LPG hack jobbery that took place, plus some other things, and the fact that the car has been off the road since 2011, meant that this specimen of Alpina B12 was in my price range, and I had to jump on it.
One of those once-in-a-lifetime deals that I couldn't miss. And to be honest, I've been missing project Dubai. The Kingdom of Broken BMWs is not complete without an E38.

Long story long, that's why I added another project to 3346 existing projects. I think you can let it slide, no? 😄

Anyway, the B12 should reach the Dojo by the end of the week, and the plan will be to get it roadworthy, pass TUV, and just use it, so the video will follow soon. I'm so excited about this car I actually barely slept the previous night in anticipation of seeing it in person.
I'm so anxious to drive this Autobahn Stormer!

In other news, project Skovde is on its way to Poland. I stripped the chassis completely and it's going to MBL Classics for full underbody restoration and rust removal.
Also making good progress on E31, I had the LSD rebuilt by a very knowledgeable guy in the BMW community, and we filmed lots of useful and interesting info about differentials and how to rebuild them.

Much love to all of you!