The previous owner operates a reputable independent BMW repair shop, which he opened 18 years ago. He is a founding member of the national BMW repair specialists group, BIMRS. He's worked on BMW cars for the last 25 years. His wife did not care for this car, and that is why he sold it to me.
I have asked him to describe the car mechanically (he is a perfectionist) so all bidders have as much info as possible and he said "valve guide seals are old style rubber units, can cause car to smoke. It has 15w50 Mobil 1 in the crankcase now. BMW switched to Viton Seals later, and it would not be too hard to change them. 2nd gear a little slow on the sync action. Gets better with use! These transmissions were Porsche style syncros, and I would just switch it to a later style trans. New clutch has been done. Taillights need to be wired up using the converter in the back of the car (he had changed the lights to a more appropriate style). Speedo was not original to the car, and I know it cannot have very many miles on it".
I cut the reserve price to substantially less then $20,000 and the buy-it-now price has been lowered. My loss will be someone else's gain. Also, the color in the title shows as 'black' because I had filled out the eBay form and thought a question was about 'trim' color and so I put in black. I did not notice it at first, and once there were bids, eBay would not let me edit that. Thanks!
I keep forgetting to mention....one of the leather outside bonnet hold down belts/straps is torn, so the new owner will probably want to have an upholsterer fabricate two matching replacements, because it is so prominent.