Whats your story?

[CraigMillwardCroft]

Originally Posted by khooni

I was looking for a track day car in 2013 after selling my boxster spyder.
Always regretted selling that but I wanted something safer to do track days in with a proper roof.
Lo and behold a csl came up with 67k miles but a fully weld in cage, proper suspension mods, stripped out interior, spg recaros and all round APs so I took the plunge.

AT the time I was a manual shift only kind of guy, the CSL changed my opinion of SMG and I never looked back. It's a veritable workhorse on track and I look forward to many more years of trackdays in it. Too bad I don't see other CSls on track nowadays.

Mine gets out at least once a year but only to Europe

[J13NY S]

Back in Easter 2006 a few friends and myself were going for a one time only trip to the Nurburgring. A few weeks later we were back again, a mate and myself were chatting about how we’d need something more suitable for the job.

We’d booked track tuition and one of the instructors didn’t show up. I over heard the other two instructors that had shown up saying “I wonder would this guy (who was standing 20ft away) stand in?”. I can’t remember his name but he raced Le Mans 24hr. They asked him, he agreed and he jumped into the van we were in. He asked everyone what they were driving, some guys said they were driving Scooby’s, some in Evo’s with twice the HP they left the factory with and he responded with ok so nobody has something quick like a CSL or GT3. I looked at my mate and words did not need to be said. The hunt for 2 CSL’s had commenced.

There’s a post on here somewhere about my buying experience but even before that, my friend had already sold his Evo so he was first on the look out for the right CSL. The first one he looked at was being sold privately here in N.Ireland. From memory it was clean but had zero options which he didn’t like. I think that car was bought by someone in England who later sold it to a Merc Specialist (who is on this forum). My mate later looked at one down on the south coast of England that had been badly sprayed so it was a no-go.

He eventually bought one in Yorkshire, I went with him to collect it. Even before we were out of the industrial estate, if I didn’t already need more encouragement I’d a real lust to get my own. The drive home, over the Pennines’ and up the A75 to the boat in Stranraer is one of the most memorable.

So now it was my turn. The first I inquired about was in a BMW dealership. It had 12k miles if I remember correctly but the front bumper and bonnet was pebble dashed. I missed a clean one being sold privately with 2200 miles. I also rang about one owned by an M Torque forum regular. His secretary answered who told me her boss had left it with her to sell the car, I asked her a few questions, which she couldn’t answer, so I asked could I speak to the owner. She put me through to this arrogant so-n-so and after a few minutes I told him to stick his car up his ***. Next, I enquired about a CSL that was owned by a race driver who spent the whole time telling me how he cut the life out of it and how BMW wouldn’t replace parts because of the treatment he’d given the car - and the car only had 3k miles on it.

Maybe 6 weeks had passed and I’d started to lose hope. But one Sunday morning I was flicking through the net and spotted this CSL on the BMW used car website that wasn’t there the night before. I rang about it and spoke to this guy who said we have no CSL’s in stock, I said you have one on your website, he responded with I’m the sales manger here and if we’d a CSL in stock I’d know about it - and we left it at that. A few hours later I got a call from him saying, “we do have a CSL, it was traded in yesterday when I was off” which is why he hadn’t known. He went on to say the problem was that there was a guy on his way from Aberdeen to have a look at it. I replied with here’s £2k deposit and tell yer man not to bother coming. I couldn’t get a flight for some reason so my mate and I booked a boat and drove over. 11 years later, 12 trips to the Ring and almost every UK track later, that car sits in my garage. Times flies when you’re enjoying yourself.

[ChagaC]

I was lucky enough to have a windfall earlier this year so with a pocket full of notes (ok a plastic card!) I went to buy a 997 GTS, but lurking in the shadows at the back of the garage, right next to a Ferrari Enzo, looking all mean and aggressive was a SG CSL. Needless to say I didn’t even bother driving the Porker jumped straight into the Beemer and it was love at first engine rev!

Got to admit I didn’t even notice the Enzo parked next to it at first! I’ve always been a total BMW nut, and the CSL has been a dream car since being a teenager, so this summer I’ve had some epic fun! Think the car has done more miles in the last six months than it has in the last six years. Ooops!

[DazBlackCSL]

2007 for me, was in a semi standard E46 M3, and that went to be my donor car for the CSL Cup race car so needed a replacement and loved my M3 so thought Id try the CSL. Actually had a grey one booked in for test drive at Barons hindehead, which a mate actually ended up buying

So started looking again and found a black one that was on 32k at the time, loved every minute and track day, euro trip in her. SOLD her in 2011. Fond memories

Wouldn't of met you mental lot if I hadn't jumped into a CSL, some great people on this forum, still the most friendly and helpful and normal(ish) bunch of leg ends anywhere !

[Mark CSL]

My fist look at a CSL was in BMW in Glasgow
I thought if I had that I would paint the roof the same as the car
6 Months later the lad that owned Crail Raceway had 1 and offered to take me a blast in it Hell yea

That was it i wanted a CSL but they were 60K and out my budget


When they were 2 years old one was on eBay when it ended i sent the lad an email and we agreed on 32k for the car it was SG and 21,000 miles 1 owner
flew to Gatwick seen the car and bought it the drive home was fantastic.
Then the next morning off to Florida for 4 weeks i was thinking CSL all that holiday.


I sold it thinking I wanted a change drove a few cars but nothing was a CSL so the hunt for no 2 was on.
I found another CSL 2 years old up for £28,000 so booked flights to Gatwick again.

This car when i got there had had some work on the rear quarter panel I said to the wife I cant pay 28k for this it had a quarter replaced
Pulled up the carpet and the boot was full of water ( run a mile ) not me I offered him 21k for it

A short time later i was driving it home it was the P1 club car that was owned by Damon hill
It had an off and the quarter was replaced but they had not sealed the wheel arch wheel.

Drove hone and would you believe it off to Florida for 4 weeks the next day
So off to my m8s body shop and the next day all sorted.

2 years later I sold it thinking its a lot off cash for a E46 M3 when they were 11k at the time
I sold it for 28k to a friend who wanted it to do the ring and SPA with it he used it for many track days then traded it in for a GT3 he got 28k trade in LOL

I bought a 1 owner M3 E46 buy was i wrong nothing like the CSL sold it for a small profit in 5 days.

The CSL hunt was on again. I posted a wanted add for a CSL and I was contacted by a lad from Lincoln who had a SB csl from new and was thinking about selling
We did the deal and I drove down and bought it,

Had it for 2 years and need the funds so I sold it to my m8 he had it 2 years and did 1,000 miles in it.
I told him if he was ever selling it give me a shout so he did and i bought it back.

I had it another 2 years and prices were on the UP so I thought its time to move on and I sold it.

The I replaced it with the 1M coupe.

Hope i did not bore you too much

[outnumbered]

Had a standard but slightly poverty spec E46 M3 that was getting a bit boring and shedding value. I was thinking about replacing it with one with a few more toys, but decided that maybe a CSL would be a better financial proposition.

So I started looking around, and ended up with my current car in March 2010. It might have been the only CSL ever to have been adapted for use by someone who'd lost the use of their legs - the gas pedal still has a couple of holes drilled in it where the hand throttle attachment was fitted. One of the previous owners must have been pretty interested in high speed on the road as the car also had a laser jammer ("it's a garage door opener, Officer") fitted.

I don't really see myself selling it now. Modern cars just seem boringly competent (fake engine noise through the stereo ffs ?), and I'm sadly not wealthy enough to own a supercar. The CSL is still enough of an event when I drive it, and I like the idea that it'll just become more of a classic as time goes on.

[phoenixcsl]

My story is...

I had a E46 M3 which I bought when it was 2 years old back in 2004, I bought it with 22k miles on it and sold it in 2009 with 124k on it!

It was a cracking car, I modded the hell out of it, I was lucky as I managed to source some OEM CSL parts, so I turned it into a CSL replica, albeit a Phoenix Yellow one.

After I had spent many moons hacking about in it, I wanted the real thing, the CSL was top of my bucket list (along with a GT3), but when I had the chance to get a CSL I bottled it, and bought a Focus RS MK2, 3 months later I instantly regretted my decision, sold the RS.

October 2010, I bought my CSL, had him ever since, it's the longest I've ever had a car, and still today Cecil pulls on my heart strings, it would take a very long and painful decision to sell him, it's like he's a part of the family, always there for when I need him, I don't do many miles in Cecil nowdays, just the occasional weekend blasts and a few track days a year.

I have been lucky and had a few other cars to go with Cecil, such as E46 330i Touring, E60 M5, i8 etc, but in comparison they were all lacking that something.

I still think the CSL was BMW's last and possibly greatest car, yes it's clunky, noisy etc, but it has soul, and lots of it, it's good, honest fun, something a lot of modern cars lack, in my opinion, the only other car that has those characteristics nowdays is the GT3.

[GregorFuk]

My car has a funny story. I first cross paths with it in 2012, around 4 years before I bought it. It was being advertised for £17K with a rough running engine in Scot-Ads, which is a low rent classifieds paper. I could not afford it at the time but my mate and I went to look at it as he was interested. We found the car under 6" of snow with some very odd modifications; A cushion on the driver’s seat and exhaust rubbers zip-tied to the pedals. Turns out the car had been owned by a physically handicapped guy who was very short, he’d been driving it Short Round style.



The car was bought and the rough running turned out to be a hole in #5 piston. A secondhand engine was sourced from Quarry Motors the car put to a friendly garage for the engine swap. This turned out to be an error in judgment as a combination of under filling with oil and not hooking up the electronic dip-stick mean the engine began chapping after a spirited drive across Scotland. A second low milage engine was purchased from Quarry (Can’t imagine such a thing today but CSLs weren’t as highly regarded back then) and this time round we did a DIY engine swap. After that the car ran perfectly and my mate ran it for a year before selling it to a Texan who had moved to the area.

Late 2014 the above mentioned Texan had his eyes set on a GT3 and was looking to shift the CSL. He was the type of guy who did not care what a car looked like as long as it was mechanically sound, subsequently he’d let the car go to $hit. Front bumper and flippers road rashed to the point of hardy any paint / lacquer left. Rusty front wings. The rear bumper was hanging off and had a massive hole in it. The results of a French farmer ripping out the rear towing eye whilst pulling the car from a muddy Le Mans camping ground. The rear silencer was hanging from a thread. It was filthy inside and out and on top of that had no boot floor repair, just a letter from the local dealer saying inspection showed no issues….Ha!

The car was a mess, but it was mega cheap. I could see all the CSL bits were present and correct and I knew all the bits that needed replacing were standard M3 bits so could be sourced second hand or bought new without any CSL tax. So I bought the car with the idea of doing nothing to it and run it as a cheap track hack……I should have known myself better, it took about two months for my OCD to kick in. New wings, a trip to Redish, many trips to the BMW parts counter, Re-trimmed steering wheel, refurberd flippers (Cheers Mark). Bilstiens, bushings, Alcons. You name it, I’ve done it; or had it done by those who do it best.

I bought the car late 2014 with 78K on the clock. It now sits at 93K. It’s been to Le Mans twice, round the NC500, a handful or Knockhill Track Days and the local Speed Festival two years on the bounce. It’s in fine fettle and I’m trying to get over the 100K mile mental barrier for fear I stop driving it or worse, sell it!

[select]

Thanks guys for all your posts.. i enjoyed reading everyone of them.

Originally Posted by J13NY S

He asked everyone what they were driving, some guys said they were driving Scooby’s, some in Evo’s with twice the HP they left the factory with and he responded with ok so nobody has something quick like a CSL or GT3.

Haha i love that quote. I can imagine the looks on the faces of the guys with the tuned evos

[Loaded]

I already had two E46 M3s, an Imola Red SMG (03) which i sold it to buy and an Individual Blue Estoril manual (04) when i saw the first presentation of the prototype car in EVO Magazine. Then, i got the M3 CSL brochure from my dealer, saw the car in person and the rest it's history. Now, it's a lovely pair with my father's E30 M3 Sport Evo. Garage queens both of them and keepers of course..for the next 70 years for sure. Then, i hope one day my children when the time comes to appreciate both of these jewels!