Category Archives: History

1800, Events, History, Projects

Saga of the Fraudulent TiSA 995193

Replicas, Tributes, and Clones. Oh My!

Forged or faked copies of valuable collector cars has long been a problem in our hobby. An auction expert recently told me about the MG K3 race car made in the 1930s. Only 33 of these cars were produced by the factory, yet today there are over 100 “survivors” that he knew about. 

Creators of these imitation cars can be motivated by several things. Perhaps they just admire a certain car and want to have one like it. The less scrupulous are often driven by greed. When a 1973 Porsche Carrera RSR is worth $1.75-$2.0 million dollars there is a lot of incentive to take a 911 chassis and  turn it into a gold mine.

There are legitimate classic car replicas and tribute cars that sell for far less than their authentic counterparts, and there’s nothing wrong with buying or selling one of these, as long as it’s priced accordingly and the buyer knows the car is not a genuine example.

Problems arise when someone claims a replica is an authentic example of a valuable classic car and tries to sell it for the high price of that original. Unfortunately this has happened too many times.

BMW Group Classic has tightened up their requirements for a certificate.
We had to jump through a lot of hoops to get ours.

To date BMW’s have been mostly immune to this issue. That is not to say that there have not been any problems in the BMW community. There have been quite a few cases of counterfeit 328 Roadsters made from a 319 chassis. Finding a third party VIN plate is not difficult, and getting a “Zertifikat” from BMW used to be much less rigorous than it is now. The result is that many of these fake roadsters can “look” genuine at first glance.

Regrettably I have run into this problem twice in my years as a BMW collector.

In the early 2000’s I was looking to buy and race a CSL. In my search I found a car that the seller claimed was a genuine Alpina racer driven in period by none other than Hans Stuck. It had a VIN plate that carried a correct CSL number. 

As further proof of its authenticity the seller showed me a photocopy of a WAGENPASS with the VIN of the car hand written in it and a race meeting entry listing Hans Stuck as the driver. It was a poorly done and blatant forgery. Plus a simple check of the records showed that Hans Stuck was driving a different car at that particular race.

There was also a stack of paperwork accompanying the car. Upon inspection of these papers I found a receipt for the roll cage installation dated 1992, along with a bill for building the race engine dated at about the same time. The clincher was a receipt from a European car repair shop in California for a service dated in 1990 that had the car’s VIN listed on it.

What became clear was that the car had been a street car until the early 90’s when someone had converted it into a race car.

When I confronted the seller with these receipts he just shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Why he had kept these papers and allowed me to look through was either stupidity or an act of immense hubris. He did continue to advertise the car as a genuine Alpina race car for another 6 months with a correspondingly high asking price.

Here is the fake TiSA that was being offered for sale. Lots of sexy race history comes with it.

More recently I was made aware of a car being auctioned in England claiming to be a genuine TiSA. As an owner of a TiSA myself I am always interested in these cars and the value they achieve at auction. So I followed the link and looked at the car.

I was impressed as I read through the glowing description of the car:

“— Acquired by Scuderia Bavaria (Dieter Quester) in the late eighties and one of four totally rebuilt for BMW’s semi-official entry to the FIA Historic Touring Car Championship in the early 90s

— Much success in ’91/92 with Dieter Quester winning the FIA Championship in ’92

— Owned and raced by our vendor since 2004 

— Expertly run and developed by marque experts, Laranca Engineering for Richard Shaw and Jackie Oliver 

— Triple European Touring U2TC Championship winner. Multiple class wins and impressive results between 2004-’17. FIA papers valid until 2026. Winner of the 2011 Goodwood St Mary’s Trophy

— Years of investment, time and hard work have gone into this car to make it probably the most developed and successful genuine Ti/SA out there. Recent fresh engine and gearbox”

Wow! It looked on paper to be a great car with a lot of provenance.

Then came the punchline:

“******  *********(name withheld intentionally) from Scuderia Bavaria had purchased a number of cars prior to the ’91 season including four of the genuine #995 prefix 001 to 200 chassis-plated original cars for Quester to prepare (our car today #995193 was one of those). They retained the car’s centre steel hull but, we understand, very few of the original panels remained in place. All four were prepared to the original spec to comply with the FIA regs.”

What caught my attention was the VIN given in the ad- 995193. There were several pictures of the car, including the VIN plate showing 995193. 

That happens to be the same VIN as my TiSA. I was dumbfounded.

The shiny new VIN plate on the fake TiSA. You’d think a 56 year old VIN plate on a race car would be just a bit more worn.

I immediately shot off an email to the auction company informing them that the car they were going to offer for sale was not the genuine TiSA #995193. To substantiate my claim I included photos of my car, its VIN plate, matching engine block stamping, matching VIN stamp in the radiator shroud, and the certificate of authenticity from BMW Classic.

Genuine TiSA VIN from 1965. It looks the part.

I also told them that my car had been one of the 54 TiSA’s imported by Max Hoffman, a fact almost unknown in Europe. It was sold by the BMW dealer in Portland, OR in 1966. I told them that the car had remained here in the Northwest its entire life with a documented chain of ownership from new.

The auction company had an obligation to pass my email on the the owner of the car. They said he was shocked to find out his car was a fake.

I don’t know what story he was given when he bought the car. Nor do I know how much research he did into TiSAs and how to verify their originality. Neither do I know what he paid for it 17 years ago. But given the high estimate listed in the auction description ($117,000-$138,000), he clearly hoped to benefit from the sale based on the claim that the car was an original TiSA with a lot of sexy race history.

Fortunately the owner realized he had a problem and wisely decided to withdraw the car from the auction to spend some time contemplating his options.

I think there is a lesson here for us. As the values of rare BMW models such as 328 roadsters, CSL’s, and TiSA’s start to climb there will be an increasing temptation for less scrupulous people to make a proverbial silk purse out of a sow’s ear. 

Right now you can buy a nice 1800Ti for less than $25,000 and with a little work and a few readily available parts you can turn it into something that may pass for a $100,000+ TiSA to someone who doesn’t know much about the cars.

The VIN stamp in the radiator surround is very hard to fake.

Let the buyer beware! If you intend to invest in one of these rare cars from BMW do your homework! Know who you are buying the car from. Know where to look on the car and what to look for to verify its authenticity. Check with the BMW community for helpful information about and verification of any rare BMW you may want to buy. A great place to start is with the BMWCCA!

I don’t know if the story of #995193 is over yet or not. I have written several posts on the various BMW forums to create a digital record of the story. My hope is that any would-be buyer of the car will do an online search and so find the information, should the car be put on the market again as my car.

2002, History

New Car Coming!

I must be crazy. At a time in my racing career when I should be finding good homes for my cars and slowing down I purchased a new car.

The car I found is one of the 3 GS Tuning Team cars from the 1976 DRM series in Germany. The DRM (Deutschen Rennsport Meisterschaft) was the predecessor to the current DTM series. It began in 1972 as a series for Group 2 touring cars and Group 4 GT cars. Races were divided between over 2 liter and under 2 liter divisions, with separate championships for each.

Jörg Denzel piloted the car to several top 10 finishes in the 1976 DRM season.

The car was driven during the 1976 season by Jorge Denzel. Jorg began racing in 1970 and moved to the DRM series in 1975 driving a BMW 2002 and finishing 10th in the championship. For 1976 he hoped to build on his success and so he moved to this BMW 2002TI prepared by the well respected GS Tuning company.

He had an up and down year with several DNF’s and several top 10 finishes. His best finish was 3rd at the final race of the year at Hockenheim. He ended up 15th in the championship. You can view the results from the full 1976 season here: http://touringcarracing.net/Pages/1976%20DRM.html

After 1976 the FIA changed the rules for Group 2 so the car was put into long term storage. It was seen again in 1995 when it was sold out of the collection of Mr. Klaus Rath to Mr. Rudiger Julius. Mr. Julius began a restoration and had a new Wagenpass issued for the car in 2004. The car was sold again in 2002 to Christoph Haas who drove it in a few hillclimbs between 2003 and 2012. In 2015 it was sold again to Christian Traber who commissioned a complete restoration of the car. Mr. Traber raced the car a few times between 2016 and 2019 and vintage racing events at SPA and Monza.

The car has its original M12/7 engine developing just over 300 HP.

I saw the car advertised last year in Switzerland. When I first saw it the price seemed a bit high so I didn’t pay much attention. A few months later I saw it again and the price had come down to the point that I sent an inquiry to the owner.

I also began to research the history of the car and the more I discovered, the more I became interested in adding it to my collection. After some back and forth negotiation we settled on a fair price and the car became mine.

The car still looks great from its restoration in 2015-16.

The car is currently sailing up the west coast of Baja California headed to Long Beach. From there it will sail up to Seattle and should arrive the end of February.

The car came with 2 sets of wheels and a few spares. It also has a current FIA HTTP. It has several unique features including axel driven alternator, 4 wheel disc brakes, rack and pinion steering, and 10X15″ wheels. It weighs 895 kg, or about 1900 pounds. The M12 develops about 320 HP so it should be quite a quick car.

The axel driven alternator set low in the car to lower the center of gravity.

I hope to race it 4-5 times this season. I have entered it in the Rolex Reunion races, as well as the Sonoma Speed Festival. Hopefully you can come out to one of these events and see the car in person.

History, M3, Races

E30 M3 Arrives


My new E30 M3 arrived on Friday February 2nd from Australia. It was loaded in a 20 ft. container and shipped up to Seattle, with stops in Aukland, Fiji, Honolulu, and Vancouver B.C.

Jim Froula, from Racecraft, met us at the shipping company’s office with a trailer. It was quite a thrill to walk back into the warehouse and find the car sitting there ready to go.

The car is beautiful! It is nicer and better prepared than we had imagined. Hats off to Eric Bowden and his crew.

My new E30 M3 sits in the Racecraft shop after we picked it up.

This car was raced in the Japanese Touring Car series from 1988 through 1993. It raced for 4 different teams during those years. Its most successful year was 1993 when it powered Anthony Reid to 3rd in the drivers’ championship.

In 1991 the car was raced by the Cherena Team in this striking blue and white livery.

Following its time in Japan the car went to Malaysia for a few years before coming back to Switzerland where it ran some hill climbs. It then sat for several years before going back to Australia where it underwent a complete restoration back to its 1993 red/white/blue Valvoline livery.

Here’s a link to the full back story of the car:

https://drive-my.com/us/social/stream/item/10938.html

I am very excited to get the car on track. From the in-car videos I’ve seen of the previous owner racing the car down-under it looks to be fast and fun!

CSL, Events, History, Uncategorized

Luigi Does the Amelia Island Concours

Hans Stuck drove Luigi at the 1976 ETCC race held at the famous Nurburgring.
Hans Stuck drove Luigi at the 1976 ETCC race held at the famous Nurburgring.

We had the privilege of attending this years Amelia Island Concours and bringing along Luigi. He was driven by Hans Stuck in 1976 at the famous Nurburgring in the ETCC race, and since this year’s honored driver was Hans Stuck we got the call.

Friday night after cruising the displays of trophies, auction cars, and vender tables all at the Ritz Carlton, we attended the BMW dinner in honor of Stuck.

Saturday morning we unloaded the car in time to catch the end of the Cars & Coffee before heading off to the BMW Drivers seminar.

The panel of drivers for this seminar consisted of Boris Said, Bill Auberlin, David Hobbs, Brian Redman, Hans Stuck, and John Fitzpatrick. It was a spell-binding 2 hours of funny stories, friendly banter, and great BMW history.

Luigi was a part of the official event photo honoring Hans Stuck's great racing career.
Luigi was a part of the official event photo honoring Hans Stuck’s great racing career.

Following the seminar we had too get back to the car and drive him out on the field for the “Cars of Hans Stuck” official photo shoot. The group included the BMW X5 with the 700 HP Le Mans winning V-12 in it that Hans drove around the Nurburgring in under 7 minutes.

We then parked the car in its assigned spot on the concours field and headed back to our motel for the night.

By 10:00 the event was packed. It was difficult to even walk around to look at the other cars.
By 10:00 the event was packed. It was difficult to even walk around to look at the other cars.

Sunday morning came with a threat of rain. We were told that all events would be wrapped up by 3:00 in hopes of beating the rain. The crowds poured in at 9:00 AM, and by 10:00 it was packed! I was told that over 35,000 people attended this year.

We had entered Luigi to be judged in the “Cars of Hans Stuck” group. Our judges included German driver Jochen Mass, former Porsche racing director Norbert Singer, and Steven Pastiener.

Luigi won an Amelia Award in our group!
Luigi won an Amelia Award in our group!

Needless to say we were floored when we were awarded Amelia Award for our class. This is a real tribute to the work of Jim Froula, Terry Forland, and the rest of the skilled guys at Racecraft.

Both Mary and I were thrilled to be a part of this spectacular event. It was a weekend full of wonderful memories.

Me and Stuckie
IMG_3873

Here’s a video of our weekend:

CSL, History

Update on Luigi CSL Restoration/Prep- Part 2

The reassembly of Luigi is coming along nicely. Jim and his shop have been on top of every aspect of the rebuild. They do such a great job! Here’s some shots of what is going on presently:

102_1193
Jim and the Racecraft crew are hard at work putting the Luigi BMW back together. Our target race is the Sonoma Historics in May.

Here is the new fuel cell. The one that was in the car was a hill climb can, and didn’t have enough capacity for circuit racing, so out it came. We decided to not plumb up to the inlets in the deck lid for now, but that may be changed later.

102_1195

Here’s what’s going on inside the fuel cell. The picture is taken looking down from the top of the can. There’s is a catch tank that holds fuel under cornering and braking forces, a low pressure pump moves it from there into the black swirl pot which fills up and has a 10psi relief valve on top to provide a constant column of fuel available for the high pressure pump to draw off of so that air bubble free fuel goes up to the injection pump on the engine.

Jim Froula - inside of CSL fuel tank

Finally, the gauges are back from the rebuilder. The car had a stack panel that was installed during the rebuild of the early 90’s. We wanted something more authentic, so we decided to replace the stack panel with a fiberglass dash and then re-install the proper gauges. Yes, I know they are ‘P’ gauges, but that was what they used back then:

102_1196

History, Willis

Willis Wonder- Part 5

Willis BMW
Here is the car sitting in the Customs Warehouse at SeaTac, waiting to be picked up.

I became the current custodian of 51203 after I saw it offered at auction through Coys Auction House in January 2013. I have never purchased a car this way before. I have always approached a purchase in the traditional manner, looking carefully, researching, talking with experts, etc., before making any offers.

When I saw the car something deep inside me just clicked. I had only 2 days from the time I saw it on the ‘Bring a Trailer’ web site until the day of the auction, so I couldn’t dilly-dally. I did as much Google work on the car as I could in that time, and called a couple of people I thought might know something about the car. The more I learned about it the more intrigued I became.

I decided to take the plunge and submit a bid I could live with.

I contacted Coys and worked with Nick Wiles, who explained the various ways I could bid on the car. He was extremely helpful. I decided to make a commission bid, which means I sent them the highest price I was willing to pay, and they kept bidding in steps up to that amount. I filled out the paper work, scanned my passport, gave them a CC number as a performance deposit, and then waited until the following Saturday for the auction.

The UK is 8 hours ahead of us here on the left coast, so by about 2:00 PM, when I had heard nothing, I figured I had not made the winning bid. I was a little disappointed, but figured it had all worked out for the best after all. The idea that I would bid that amount on a car I had never seen in the flesh sank in, and I was almost relieved that providence had seemingly protected me from some horrible mistake.

But providence had something completely different in mind, and low and behold, when I got up Sunday morning and checked my email I found this from Nick:

“Hi Steve,

Congratulations you successfully purchased the BMW. Your high bid of -xxxx successfully bought the Willis. My colleague Valerie will shortly be sending a full invoice to you via email.”

Needless to say, I was stunned! I guess I never really thought I would win at the figure I offered, but I got it for something less than my top bid. I was ecstatic, and my wife was even more excited about it than I was. Now what do we do? Oh yes, get it home!

Coys works with a transport company called Cars UK. They contacted me and began the process of transporting the car to the Northwest. I decided to go ahead and have the car air-shipped, as I was concerned about having it locked in a container for 6 weeks in the salt air. Cars UK was wonderful to work with, and I would highly recommend them. The folks in their Atlanta office were absolutely tenacious when it came to dealing with the folks at US Customs.

We are back at Racecraft with the car. It started right up and I drove it up and down the street!

There were a few hitches, but just 2 and ½ weeks after the auction my wife and I drove up to SeaTac Airport and collected the car. We then took the car to Racecraft in Woodinville, WA where Terry Forland and Jim Froula operate a restoration, fabrication, and race support business.

We unloaded the car in their shop and all stood speechless for fully 5 minutes just looking at the car and soaking in its charm and character. It is truly a special car. My guts had been right. It was worth all the uncertainty.

We checked everything over on the car, filled it with race fuel, turned on the ignition, pulled the choke, and pressed the starter button. A few seconds cranking and it rumbled to life! I can barely describe the feeling to be sitting in a car with all this history and having it running happily, and best of all, knowing it was now mine.

After letting it warm up, I slipped it into gear and drove out of the shop and south down the Woodinville-Redmond Highway. It burbled a little below 2,000 rpm, but once it got to 3,500 it just came alive. Torque, amazing amounts of torque. How that little 6 makes all that torque I can’t understand. It just jumps up to 6,000 in a heart-beat. Of course the fact that it weighs only 820 Kg certainly helps.

After a couple of laps up and down the highway I drove it back into the shop and sat there in the car for some time just enjoying the moment and letting it all sink in.

Then Terry and Jim got all practical and we began to lay out a game plan for getting the car race prepped for the coming season. The only thing my wife insisted on is that we add back the roll bar that was on the car when it last raced in 2004-2005. So Jim stuck a brain bucket on my head and measured me and the car for a new roll bar. Fortunately we discovered all the openings for the previous bar were still present, and were covered with temporary covers.

Spares? What do we need for spares, and where do we find them? Campaigning a car this old presents certain challenges, not the least of which is spare parts to keep it running. We made a list, and Terry volunteered to start searching.

Finally, after several more hours of planning and talking my wife and I needed to head back to Oregon. Reluctantly we got back in our car and headed south down I-5.

But wait, there’s more!

Willis@Monterey_2
I will be racing the Willis up and down the West Coast at events like Monterey Re-union and the Sonoma Motorsports Festival.

When we got home from Seattle late that night the box of historical photos, trophies, letters, invoices, and articles that came with the car was waiting on our doorstep. My wife began to rip into it before I had my coat hung up.

Every item that came out of the box was just amazing, and a real tribute to the engineering and creative genius of R. C. Willis. The old pictures were particularly fascinating, as well as a couple of old race programs, and letters from R. C. Willis and Charles Bulmer about the car and its history, along with a collection of 22 cups won by the car back in the day. Many happy hours later we fell into bed emotionally exhausted.

To look now at the little car and think about all the history that has passed under its wheels is inspiring and a bit humbling. To try and accomplish what Willis did in this day would be incredibly difficult and expensive. It would be the equivalent of taking a BMW Z3, modifying it, and competing successfully in one of the current feeder pro series. My hat is off to you, Mr. Willis!

My plan is to continue to add to the storied history of the car by campaigning it in vintage race events and BMW events here on the West Coast. Come on out to a race and cheer this wonderful old car along.

CSL, History

Update on Luigi CSL Restoration/Prep

76stu
Here is the car at the Nurburgring in 1976 during the German round of the European Touring Car Championship. It sat on the pole but had an engine failure during the race.

We have begun the restoration/race prep of the Luigi CSL. We have decided to return the car to the same livery it wore in 1976, the year it won the European Touring Car Championship.

The first order of business was to remove the wide Group 5 fenders and the front air dam that were installed in the 1980’s.

Castrol Green
Grinding down through the old paint and bodywork revealed all the old layers of paint from former days. Automotive archeology at its finest.

It was interesting to grind down through the old paint and bondo and find all the old layers of paint the car wore through its racing career. Down at the very bottom we found the black/green/red paint from its original Castrol livery.

When we removed the front air dam we found that the front valance was in need of some repairs. We want to make the new air dam removable to aid in loading/unloading the car from the trailer and need a solid base to mount it.

Valance Repair
Here is the finished valance repair.

The old valance was cut out, and a new one was grafted in.

Once the old fenders were removed and the valance repaired, the engine was taken out and shipped down to Terry Tinney for a freshening. The car was then taken to the painter’s shop.

Jim Froula from Racecraft, visited the CSL recently at the painters.

He said that there is not too much progress to report except that they have stripped all the paint and filler from both sides of the car and it’s in amazingly good condition underneath all that mess that was there. No rust and only the slightest indication of contact at each front corner.

The fiberglass parts turned out to be a real disappointment. They are nowhere near close to fitting.

Trying to fit the disappointing fiberglass parts.
Trying to fit the disappointing fiberglass parts.

The rear flares are about 2″ narrower than the fronts, but the shape is okay so making them a little wider will be easy.

The front flares are just wrong in every way. The good news is that the fiberglass guy we have on the job can make anything so I’m confident it will look right in the end it was just a hurdle we didn’t expect.

The main reason for Jim’s visit  was to get really detailed about how the flares need to look, how much gap to allow around the tires, how far they need to protrude from the fenders, how they need to be attached, etc.

Luigi Castrol RR 3
Here is the look we will be trying to achieve. This is the #3 Luigi car from the race at SPA in 1976.

They  reviewed a whole bunch of photos, made a bunch of notes and measurements and they now have some clear guidance on how to proceed. More importantly they are still confident that our schedule is realistic and promise to meet our date for the Sonoma Motorsports Festival in May.

Jim has have allowed a month after painting to reassemble everything and maybe even get it out to a track day before we head south with it.

On the engine side of things. The injection pump and injectors are out to the specialist that will thoroughly clean them out and make sure they are flowing properly.

Terry Tinney should have the motor disassembled and inspected early next week so we’ll have more information on any issues there might be there.
About, History

How This Blog Came To Be- Part 3

LkPhalen
Jerry Orr leading the pack at Lake Phalen. Notice the different driving styles based on drive wheel location.

While participating in an auto cross event held at Brainerd International Raceway during the summer of 1970 I met a man named Jerry Orr. At that time Jerry was the president of the International Ice Racing Assocation. The IIRA held a series of races during the winter in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and southern Ontario.

He told me about how much fun it was, and how much I’d learn about car control, race strategy, and car preparation. Mostly he talked about the fun.

I decided that I would give it a try with my trusty NSU.

The IIRA ran 3 classes broken down by engine location and drive wheel location. The fastest cars were front engine/front wheel drive. There was also a class for front engine/rear wheel drive, and rear engine/rear wheel drive. These were further divided by engine size, making a total of 6 classes.

The rules governing tires were very strict. You were allowed to run studs, but only 13 studs per foot of tire circumference. But there were studs, and then there were studs. Needless to say, the studs you used were a critical factor in how fast you went.

Regular street studs were not competitive. A tire shop in St. Paul, who were also running a Corvette in the series, had developed a conical stud that worked much better. They had a lot of power to put onto the ice, so they worked hard at developing the studs, and then selling them to the other racers.

ArcherBros
My arch nemeses, the Archer brothers and their Renaults.

The NSU would run in the rear engine/rear wheel drive class, along with an assortment of VW’s, Simcas, and a couple of Renault Dauphins driven by a pair of brothers named Archer out of Duluth.

At that time there were fairly large fields, and the races were 2-3 hours long. My first event was in Brainerd, and it was cold! How cold was it? Air temp was -25, and wind chill was -35. We left our tow vehicle running all night outside our motel so we would be sure to get to the event on Saturday morning.

StartingGrid
This is the starting grid from the event at Brainerd in 1971. Quite a mix of cars. Notice the studs on the out-turned wheels.

The NSU was air cooled, and in the interest of weight savings I had removed what little heating system it had to offer. I regretted it that day! I finished 3rd in my class and won $15 which about covered my gas bill driving to the race.

I ran in Duluth (DNF), and the biggest event every year, the Saint Paul Winter Carnival race on Lake Phalen. This race always drew big crowds. We had been running the NSU with a single carb, and decided to switch to the dual 38 mm Webers from the autocross engine.

JerryHanson
Jerry Hanson was very successful in any type of racing he ran. Here he is at Menominee, WI in 1971. Lots of understeer.

What a difference that made! I was able to motor by the Renaults down the straight, and that caused the Archer brothers some apoplexy. Unfortunately these carbs also had a problem with icing up and I ended up DNFing while running second.

G3_066
The start! Just follow the taillights in front of you and hope he stays on track.

That spring I sold the NSU, something I still regret.

Here’s a link to the current IIRA web site. To get an idea of what this racing is like, take a look at some of the videos.    http://www.iceracemn.com