For $7,500, Does This 1988 BMW 635CSi Jump The Shark?

CSI isn't just the name of a glitzy but ultimately insipid police procedural, it's also that of today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe BMW. Let's see if this 635's price means it can't get even arrested in this town.

Yesterday's 1977 Lancia Beta Scorpion may not be the cheapest mid-engined Italian you could buy. Then again, it could very well be as prices on Fiat X1/9s continue to climb and even duffer Ferrari Mondials are now generally out of reach. That could go a long way toward explaining the Lanica's solid 60% Nice Price win. Then again, it could be that it's just a damn-fine looking automobile and who wouldn't want something so funky to call their own?

Okay, so you could go down to Funkytown in the Lancia, or you could enjoy the stoic but still cool Wagnerian opera that is today's 1988 BMW 635CSi.

We generally assign the E24 6-series the same ardor we hold for the smaller E30 3-series. Those two offer a snapshot of a period when BMW was seemingly in its prime; its hot college years as it were. The company had just had a dalliance with mid-engined greatness with the M1, a car that would set the stage for the marque's sporting fare for decades to come. It was also the era when BMW produced some of its best-looking products, a fact exemplified in this seemingly tidy example of 635.

Now, the E24 replaced the Karmann-built Neue Klasse CS and CSL coupes in 1976. The model was originally based on the E12 5-series, but in the early '80s switched to the more modern E28 front suspension. That made for a car that handled in a more contemporary fashion but didn't look significantly different.

This is one of the latter, and in fact from the model's last year of production. Being that year of 635 it rocks a 208-bhp/225 lb-ft 3,430-cc SOHC M30 straight six. This one benefits from backing that up with a Getrag 265 five-speed manual. The ad claims that the car exhibits "NO MECHANICAL issues at all."

Being one of the last of the E24s, this one also has the body colored bumper snoods front and rear, instead of the black ones on the earlier cars. That goes a long was to lighten the looks. Here you get a duck tail aero aid on the back and some deep dish BBS alloys. The latter shows evidence of some curbing (or kerbing to you Brits) but look recoverable. The paint holds a shine, but also shows some war wounds here and there. And over there. Also it's shy at least one fog light so plan on staying out of the fog.

Addressing the interior, I must say that on first glance I thought the car was occupied by a pair of escaped Manta Rays. Those it turns out are a pair of aftermarket seats. Those look okay but make you wonder if the multitude of seat adjustment buttons on the console are now there exclusively for show. The rest of the interior seems to be in good shape and you do get a sporty three-spoke M wheel to hang onto when you're in there. Lucky you.

The ad says that the car has been garage kept when it was not racking up its modest 92,544 miles. The paint seems not to be original (there's overspray on the sunroof seal) and there's no pics of the boot so we can't tell if all the factory tools are intact, a factor for the OCD among us.

That all may be a moot point however seeing as the price tag for this 635CSi is $7,500, an amount that many might be able to swing. The question of course is should those swingers get it on with this car? What do you think, is $7,500 a seemingly good deal for this shark nosed big coupe? Or, is that price reason to leave this shark in the ocean?

You decide!

Baltimore MD Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!

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