1973 BMW CSL Batmobile
There's not many examples of cars where the unsubtle additions of front air dams, bonnet spoilers and of course the massive rear wing actually greatly improve both the overall look and increase performance. Well, the Batmobile does it with aplomb!
This CSL, Coupe Sport Lightweight with a weight saving of around 200 kgs from the standard car was one of just 167 ‘Batmobiles’ built. The BMW build sheet certificate says that chassis 2275501 was completed on 27th July 1973, finished in the classics Chamonix Metallic White. Soon after completion, it was exported to Walter Sauermann, the BMW dealer in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria island. One of only three Batmobiles delivered new to Spain, it was registered for road use in 1975 (theres still signs of an old 1975 sticker on the windscreen) by its first private owner, Emma Maria Sidler Balmer of San Bartolome de Tirajana, Las Palmas and staying there until 1985. The Bat was then sold to Hamburg, Germany and we understand it to have stayed in Germany until 2007 when it was featured in an article in the Spanish classic car magazine, Coches Clasicos. Whilst I don’t have a copy of said article, the author was so impressed by his subject that he bought it and returned the car to Spain. Whilst there, it reputedly received a complete service in Barcelona by a racing specialist with much attention paid to its glorious straight six, fuel injected, race bred engine.
The current owner acquired the car in 2013 and during his ownership has enjoyed the Bat on the occasional rally and tour. With a wonderfully enticing and refreshingly original feel and appearance, the Bat does not appear to have led too hard a life. Still wearing its original aerodynamics package and glorious original interior with remarkably comfortable black and terracotta Scheel sports seats. It also is still fitted with its original numbers matching engine with mileage showing just under 40,000 kms from new.
Preserve it, restore it, drive it. Whatever you choose to do, you can’t make a wrong choice. It's undoubtedly a great example. Whilst I’m a fan of the Porsche 2.7 RS that such a price gap exists between them is becoming harder to justify…