I am not your typical BMW enthusiast. My passion is for 70s race cars, with my all-time favourite being Baby Bertha. For those who don’t know, that’s worth a Google search, especially the driver, Gerry Marshall. Second to the mighty Vauxhall is the CSL with motorsports stripes, wide arches, and full Batmobile styling. Simply stunning!

Although I only bought my car last year, the model has been part of our family for a long time. When I turned 14, I purchased my Tamiya static model of the CSL number 25. It might only have been a 1/24^th scale, but it’s still in one piece and very much cherished!

My eldest Daughter, Libby, graduated from university designing and building a full-scale clay model of her interpretation of the CSL. This caught the eye of Jaguar-Land Rover, and they swooped her up into their SVR design team. As you can see, the CSL is special and made its mark on the family early on.

Missed auctions, scams, and Facebook posts on E9 forums eventually led me to the beautiful London town of Barnet one Sunday evening in April last year. Mr Lank’s pride and joy sat majestically in its garage in front of us, oozing the love and care he bestowed on his and his family’s cherished CSL. Sadly, Mr Lank passed away in late 2023, and after nearly fifty years of ownership by their late father, his family had the difficult decision to find a new home for the CSL. After so many years of fond memories, they shared the same love for the car, and it was important to them that they found another caring home over what it might raise in a sale at auction.

When you’re face-to-face with something you dreamed of as a child, all sorts of emotions come over you. Finding an example that is this close to original, complete, and roadworthy really makes it a unicorn car. I am pleased to say that the family agreed to the sale. I promised that if the family ever wanted the car at a special event, such as a prom or wedding, they only had to ask, and it would be there. We all know these cars run deep in our veins and what an imprint they can have on us.

That following Saturday, I drove home in our first E9, with my daughter behind in her cherished E30 318is. What a sight! Both were silver BMW models, and we were attracting attention from all kinds of petrolheads, young and old. The thumbs-ups and nods of approval were simply too many to count.

I have zero knowledge of BMW ownership; however, from the character and poise of the car, I knew this was a great purchase and will join my late father’s Silver Droopsnoot and my Silver Dunhill Vantage at our home. Since the E9 has been kept close to original for all those years, I decided to keep the CSL standard and focus on the cosmetics to make it as good as possible, all while ensuring the primary focus remained on driving and enjoying the car. I frequently attend classic car meetings locally, which support and raise money for the Rainbows Children’s Hospice. And since bringing her home, that’s exactly what I’ve done.

The car has been on our ramp for a full service, and a few small bits were replaced, namely grills and sun visor clamps, and all the electric windows received a fresh coating of grease. PAS, fuel, and vacuum hoses were also replaced, and we managed to source some original headrests. The coolant bleed screw was broken, and a complete system drain & new thermostat were required, which also led to finding some casting corrosion. The front spoiler has been painted, along with some localised smart repairs, and inside, we’ve had the front seats re-upholstered. I then spent a week underneath the car cleaning and inspecting the underside. Some work has been completed on the engine, including overhauling TPS and trigger points and testing some of the base settings, such as dwell, fuel pressure, and static timing.

With all the work now done, we felt confident taking the car to a few local shows, and wow, what a reception it received. I guess this isn’t surprising to any E9 owner, as CSLs are revered by many car enthusiasts.

Libby and I attended a closed event at Bicester for Designers in the Industry. Representations from Callum Design to priceless cars from various heritage centres were there, too. We arrived and parked up; I went for a coffee whilst Libby gave the CSL a quick detail. She came running to me minutes later at the coffee van, telling me I had to get back to the car, as an artist had decided out of all the cars there, he wanted to paint mine.  I hadn’t heard of Aran La, another well-worth Google search (www.aran-la.com); the young man is terribly gifted and travels the world to create his art. It goes without saying he has excellent taste in cars! It turned out to be another great event, and it was also the longest journey since we completed the work on the car. If anything, it proved an excellent shake-down for the upcoming main event of 2024.

In all honesty, all the work done on the car up to this point was intended for one event specifically: a weekend out that I had to share with my children: Oktoberfest 2024 and the Saturday tour around the Cotswolds.

What an incredible experience the 120-mile drive to the rendezvous was, let alone the tour itself, which followed the next day. It was great, and the car performed better than expected. Like all the other E9s participating in the event, the car quickly became the lead actor – whether driving through Bibury or parked at the Classic Car Hub – the response was terrific. Sunday came, and the E9 cars were all parked together, along with many other very special BMWs. It was a truly remarkable event that we shared with Club members and enthusiasts from Germany who equally enjoyed the beautiful winding roads through the Cotswolds.

Thankfully, the weather held for us all, and to make it even more memorable, there was one cherry on the cake still waiting for me. It was a huge surprise when the organisers announced that my CSL was chosen as the winner of the “Peoples’ Choice” trophy! I was mega surprised and still feel privileged, and it gave me huge pleasure to share that vote with the previous owner’s family. Hopefully, Mr Lank was looking down with a rye smile on his face.