Has The Time Finally Come

[Simon B]

I cant believe I am posting this but I am wondering if the time has finally come after 17 years to sell the B3S. We bought number 71 when my son was 4 (he is now in his final year of Uni) and my 13 year old daughter didnt exist. She has never known her mum have any car other than "The Alpina"

I am still not sure if we will actually pull the trigger and let her go but I suppose all good things have to come to an end at some point and Mrs B has had her as a daily driver since 2007.

Obviously if we do decide to sell then I would love her to go to someone on here who actually appreciates what they are getting. Over the years several people have PM'd me asking me to sell but I have always said that we never would. I am sure they have gone now but happy to hear from them if they are still around.

You can see the recent cosmetic work I have done over the last couple of years on a different thread. (Not sure if the link below will work)

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=24703

I would welcome any views on value and wont be offended. There are a couple on Autotrader one with 92k for £12k and one with 72k for £17k. I have seen them going for anything between £10k and £25K. Ours has 72k on it and as you can see from the thread above its had a few quid spent on it recently

I am having second thoughts already just from typing this

[Cooknerkid]

I think the prices vary wildly on these. I missed one at £10k with 78,000 miles and a hardtop included but there are others at £28k without a hardtop which is totally unrealistic. I have looked at a few and there are a lot that have been rough round the edges. If you are serious about selling, please pm me. I am looking at one on Saturday hopefully, but let me know. Thanks

[Simon B]

Hi Cooknerkid

Thanks for you interest. I think we are serious about selling. I will add a bit of detail below but let me know if you want anymore info.

The car Is Carbon Black with Champagne Leather. It does have a factory hardtop with a cover for when it’s stored. You can see the condition from the thread I did when we did some cosmetic work on it recently. It is worth reading the thread (if you haven’t already) so I won’t repeat all of the detail of what I did on here, and it has some pictures of the work being done. The biggest part was the 2 new OEM front wings and the bonnet re sprayed at the same time.

I haven’t done the wheels but they are ok. Not kerbed (might be a small one on 1 Wheel) but I was going to do them when I found someone I was confident could do them properly. It has all of the books and mountains of history and invoices since we have had it. I even have original brochures and stuff like that which I will let go with it if it goes to an Alpina enthusiast.

The Last MOT has a few advisories but the MOT tester who works for our local garage is “enthusiastic” not to say they are wrong but I haven’t noticed any issues.

I will put some pictures up at the weekend when I have cleaned it properly

I do think the colour combination is the best there is but I appreciate that’s a personal thing.

I will PM you my details

[Fast3000]

Sad to hear this Simon. Wish this goes to an enthusiast given the time you have had her and the work/ effort that has gone in the upkeep. Goodluck.

[Simon B]

Thanks Fast3000

It hasnt gone yet 🥹

[Howiez]

I think it looks fantastic, very tempting

[Simon B]

Found these today

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835F0AC6-A354-4E55-847D-7FAEF1467008.jpeg (729.87 KiB) Viewed 1235 times

[Simon B]

I think it looks fantastic, very tempting

Thanks Howiez

[Fast3000]

Simon here's a recent story..

Met up with some old uni mates last weekend, it was in a nice pub...and dry weather...turned into a mates chatting cars in the car park...
Sat in a brand new i4 grancoupe. It was a lovely thing, very tech heavy - superb fit and finish. Let the guy who owned the i4 sit in my b3s and start her up....I've never seen someone with such a childish grin on their face given the cold start and exhaust being that loud....anyway....there are many more memories with mine but I hope this doesn't make you selling yours harder

[Simon B]

Simon here's a recent story..

Met up with some old uni mates last weekend, it was in a nice pub...and dry weather...turned into a mates chatting cars in the car park...
Sat in a brand new i4 grancoupe. It was a lovely thing, very tech heavy - superb fit and finish. Let the guy who owned the i4 sit in my b3s and start her up....I've never seen someone with such a childish grin on their face given the cold start and exhaust being that loud....anyway....there are many more memories with mine but I hope this doesn't make you selling yours harder

Nice story

To be honest we are looking at changing for a Mercedes C43 convertible. It’s more modern, still a bit special but not too in your face, goes quick and sounds very nice and even has a “loud” button. It’s the first thing I have found that can even get me to this point of being able to consider selling. When I showed Mrs B the YouTube clips demonstrating how nice it sounds she said “very nice but dosnt sound like the Alpina”

Then today I found a picture I had as my screen saver (It is from 2007 but still looks nearly as good now)

BEB46F3F-5CA6-46D3-B9C1-3953199FCB7D.jpeg (818.77 KiB) Viewed 1221 times

It’s not making it easier

[Simon B]

I have tried to reply to a couple of PM messages on here and they show as still being in my outbox so I am not sure if they have gone through.

If you have sent me one and don’t seem to have had a reply then let me know.

[Simon B]

I have tried to reply to a couple of PM messages on here and they show as still being in my outbox so I am not sure if they have gone through.

If you have sent me one and don’t seem to have had a reply then let me know.

These messages still seem to be stuck in my outbox but basically all asking the same question about price so I thought I would put something on this thread to answer them

I am not really sure exactly what its worth but it has to be somewhere between £15k and £20k. If I am realistic £20k is probably ambitious but If it’s not worth more than £15k I will keep it.

It’s not perfect but it is pretty good for a car that’s 19 years old. I am going to give it a good clean at the weekend and put some current photos on.

If anyone seriously interested wants to Email me directly rather than PM at barstonlita@gmail.com or call me on 07768 597339 that would be great

Thanks

[B10BRW]

Good luck with the sale, but unless Alpina convertibles have suddenly shot up in price you will struggle to obtain the price you want.

My late 2002 B3 3.3 Convertible was in excellent all round condition, rare colour, Techno Violet and wanted for nothing, and had the same miles as yours.

It took a long time to sell and I only managed to obtain £11K

[Simon B]

Good luck with the sale, but unless Alpina convertibles have suddenly shot up in price you will struggle to obtain the price you want.

My late 2002 B3 3.3 Convertible was in excellent all round condition, rare colour, Techno Violet and wanted for nothing, and had the same miles as yours.

It took a long time to sell and I only managed to obtain £11K

Thanks B10. As I said I dont really know what they are worth and wont be offended by peoples views. There is a B3S on Autotrader today with the same miles on as mine and nowhere near as nice for £16995. I am still not 100% that I want to sell it at all and at anything less than £15k I definately wont. Thats dosnt mean its worth that in the market of course, but its worth it to me.

[DogWagen]

Hi Simon

From what I've seen, yours is definitely one of the better specified and better condition B3s in a cracking colour scheme. Importantly it is used regularly. I'm not convinced that a more modern machine will offer the same smiles per mile - or the exclusivity. It's also a lot simpler to maintain than more recent vehicles and the principal differences (and difficulties) from my recent experience with new Mercedes V-Class are in the Navigation/Audio etc. I'd be tempted to update the audio with an E46-specific Alpine unit and then enjoy it for as long as I can! For what it's worth, that's what I plan to do with mine!