Undiscovered rarities - the Bertone-BMW Coupé 3200 CS from the sixties
03/01/2014
Of course, the BMW 3200 CS is no stranger. But it is also not one of the standard classics at classic car events or auctions. And most people know relatively little about it; if it didn't have a kidney grille, they would probably think it was an Italian Gran Turismo.
This would not be so wrong, because the steel bodies were actually produced in Italy by Bertone and the design was one of Giorgetto Giugiaro's early works . The BMW 3200 CS succeeded the 503 and 507 sports cars, which were no longer built, and was shown for the first time at the IAA in Frankfurt in 1961 .
The car was very expensive for the time. When you could finally buy it in 1962, it cost DM 29,850, and with full equipment (leather, car radio, sunroof and the like) it could quickly become DM 34,000.
At least you got electric windows and front disc brakes as standard, as well as a powerful V8 with 160 hp. Not too many customers could be persuaded to pay six times as much as for a VW Beetle or twice as much as for a Mercedes Benz 250 S during the production period up to 1965 and so only 603 examples were made.
There is much speculation about the number of Bertone-BMW coupés still in existence today, but a sixth of the production probably survived, perhaps a few more. According to the BMW V8 Club, 63 3200 CS were registered in Germany on January 1, 2011, and just one in Switzerland.
The BMW 3200 CS is therefore rare, it looks good, has thoroughbred technology and is also still easy to drive today, so everything points to rapidly rising prices.
Compared to a less rare Mercedes Benz 300 SL Cabriolet from the early sixties, however, the BMW is downright cheap and while the BMW 507 has now drifted into seven-figure spheres, its eight-cylinder successor remains in the five-figure range for the moment. At least that's how the market observers at Classic Dataand Gooding & Company seem to see it, as the white coupé shown here will be offered at their auction in Amelia Island on March 7, 2014 for a moderate estimated price of USD 65,000 to 85,000 (EUR 47,450 to 62,050, CHF 57,850 to 75,650).
As soon as we have the opportunity, we will be happy to devote an extensive report to the elegant coupé.
