B12 6.0

[Knut]

Hi all,

I would like to seek your advice regarding the potential sale of my B12 6.0. I listed it once previously on mobile.de, and had it up for sale over the summer in Sweden when I was visiting family, and the level of interest (Nigerian princes aside) has pretty much been zero. Is there no market for these cars? Or are recent price levels (as seen on mobile.de or the RM Sotheby's auction) simply not realistic? I've owned the car since 2019 and would like to move on to something else, possibly electric (I have an E34 M5 for my "combustion engine kicks" and the road taxes in Belgium for a 6.0 V12 are getting boring). Some details of the car are set out below.


E38 B12 6.0 #55
First registered in Belgium 6/2001
First owner was King Albert II of Belgium (I have the original pink slip and the car features in Alpina's 50th anniversary book). The car was then sold to a well known collector in Belgium, and I purchased the car from him (three owners in total)

Options (not full list)

- Cosmosschwartz metallic
- Black extended lavalina interior (including back of seats, parcel shelf, steering column, dash, speaker surrounds, tool box in trunk, edges of carpets etc.)
- Double glazed windows front and rear
- Fully de-badged from the factory inside and out. This came at an additional cost in the options list and includes velour carpets with no logos, no logo on the font spoiler, no alpina stitching on the seats etc.. Aside from the plaque, Alpina logos are limited to the dash, steering wheel, inside of door sills, and a small logo in gold on the passenger side wood trim)
- Electric rear sun shade, electric seats front & back
- Innovation package (PDC, electric rear trunk, xenon lights etc.)
- Price when new excluding VAT was EUR 118,000

Service History

The car just ticked over 260,000 kms as I drove from Sweden to Brussels over the weekend
- Engine was rebuilt at 225,890 kms by Alpina in Germany
- Gearbox rebuilt at 231,630 kms by ZF in Belgium
- New front suspension (including EDC shocks) done last year
- Inspection II done June of this year, including new batteries and new tyres (Michelin Pilot Sport 4S)
- Full Swissvax treatment in June of this year. I also refinished all 4 wheels as the rears had some curb rash after my father borrowed the car for a weekend
- Fully stamped service book since new, and invoices of all repairs / service work. All repairs / service work undertaken by specialists that I trust. Full set of keys and instruction manuals in original Alpina case. In other words, the car has been fastidiously maintained by me and the twobother owners

So to the big question: what is a realistic price point for the car, and would any of you be interested in it? I realise that 260,000 kms may put off some collectors but given that the engine, gearbox and suspension are essentially new, I would have thought it would be an attractive proposition to those wanting to actually use the car (as I have).

Look forward to your input.

Best regards,

Knut

[Bob]

I don't follow the wider European market to any great degree but I can tell you for the UK the few E38 B12's that have been for sale/sold in the last 18mths or so are:

B12 5.7 [E38] #006; FQ95-3965 - ALPINA Blue II/* Grey Leather; 1996_N; £12.5k; 234k miles; Private; Removed Mar-21
- Sold, now undergoing a ground up resto on YouTube. Turned out to be missing it's original engine, having been fitted with a 5.4 many years ago

B12 5.7 [E38] #130; 317 - Orient Blue/N9AT - Anthracite Nappa w Black Leather; 1998_R; £25.0k; 163k miles; Trade; Removed Apr-21
- Now exported to Australia

B12 6.0 [E38 LCI] #031; 359 - Mora (Sonderlack)/N9CM - Champagne Nappa w Amethyst Piping Leather & Amethyst Carpet; 2003_52; £40.0k; 96k miles; Trade; Removed Apr-21
- Sold, was for sale a very long time, suspect it didn't ultimately sell for the asking price

There is also Simon13's LWB B12 5.7 #045 which was sold a few months ago ... I don't know a price as it wasn't formally advertised to my knowledge, although knowing Si, it would've been realistically priced for the fact it has 240k miles and was cosmetically tired.

I believe you were asking €60k last year which i guess you can see, is way over where the UK market has been. #130 sold around the same time with a similiar mileage for £25k-ish so maybe that is closer to where the market may be. Granted your car has some exceptional specification and an interesting history, but does that plus LHD add £30k to it's value?

[Knut]

Thanks for the insight Bob - interesting to hear of the differences between UK prices and advertised EU prices. That said, I would discount #006 from the discussion as I watched the early youtube videos and that thing was pretty much a write-off (no disrespect to the current owner who appears set on a full restoration)

[simon13]

I sold my LWB 5.7 just a few weeks ago with 241,000 miles on it for £10,500 it was no.45. Probably the cheapest running useable B12 sold granted but also probably the highest mileage and needed work cosmetically mainly and a bit more mechanically also

I'd love yours Knut, mileage doesn't put me off and its had the big stuff done

I think the car would also be subject to import tax and VAT now if brought into the UK because of stupid Brexit

The market for these cars is very niche as the market for 20 year old V12 bmws is in general, add Alpina into the mix and the 6.0s somewhat unjustified reputation and its quite small i'd say. Other people may think otherwise but i've never seen them fly off sold when advertised. I expect a fair few of these change hands without being advertised also, which makes it hard to track values of what people are actually paying

[Knut]

Thanks, Simon. Fully agreed that Alpina is niche but thought that the general uptick in classic cars would apply here too - I see a lot more 80's BMWs on the road these days than say 10 years ago. Not looking to make a profit on the car but the price point needs to be reasonable given the investments made.

[Bob]

Have you considered using a specialist dealer to market the car on an SoR type model or one of the larger auctions to get greater exposure?