Our mind says “NO!” yet our heart screams “Oh Yeah…!!”
At times of upmost vulnerability, us enthusiasts have a tendency to convince ourselves that just one more full restoration project would be a brilliant idea.
We haven’t yet featured a restoration project as Prime Find of the Week here on the English ViaRETRO site. Which is actually a big mistake on our behalf, as both Søren, Claus and myself have previously bought and worked our way through several projects with great joy – uhmmm… and inevitably a certain degree of frustration too. But this project here really caught my attention and kick-started those dreams that usually lead to the utterly illogical justification process which result in years spent in the garage disassembling and then reassembling again.
I’ve previously admitted my love for the stylish and rare BMW 1600GT when I wrote about Achieving my Dream Garage. While I truly do cherish that 1:43 scale model sitting in our bookcase, I also can’t deny that it would be a lot more satisfying if I could own one in lets say… ohh… about 43 times the size. Now that would indeed be a dream come true! But they’ve now become terribly expensive and quite out of financial reach for me. So perhaps – just maybe – a project car is the way to go as the entry price is of course more manageable…
Granted, the car I’ve come across here isn’t really a BMW 1600GT, but rather the Glas 1700GT which in 1967 morphed into the BMW once they took over the Glas factory in Dingolfing. I do have a thing for the blue and white propeller, and the BMW version probably has the better engine and definitely has the better rear suspension. But on the flipside, the Glas is of course the original concept of the car, and I must confess that this speaks no end to my nerdy appreciation of automotive history. In short, I really don’t care whether it’s a Glas 1700GT or a BMW 1600GT – I would be very, very happy indeed if I could own either.
The Frua designed coupé was launched as the 1300GT in September 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Initially it was only available with the 1290cc overhead cam engine producing 75hp. However, when Glas introduced their new and faster saloon, the Glas 1700TS, the compact coupé also became available as of late 1965 with the bigger 1682cc engine producing 100hp. It didn’t last long though, as BMW took over the Glas factory and as of June 1967 the pretty little coupé became the BMW 1600GT which in itself was phased out only 15 months later. In approximately three years Glas built a total of 5,376 GT’s of which 363 were convertibles, while BMW added another 1,259 1600GT’s to that number.
This particular Glas 1700GT is for sale with a dealer in the Netherlands. Annoyingly he gives us precious little information about the car, other than it being a 1967 car, which was of course the last year of production for the Glas. He also claims a mere 19,000 km, though that seems quite optimistic, and I would certainly want to see some very bulletproof documentation before I was to believe that. Just looking at the pictures, it’s immediately obvious that this car has stood abandoned for a fair amount of time, and now requires a very complete restoration in order to bring it back to its former glory. However, despite lacking a windscreen and a headlight, the car looks relatively complete, which is of course a huge advantage for anyone taking on such a project. The engine bay would seem to suggest that the 1700GT was originally white, which would have looked stunning in contrast to that red interior! Tell me what you see in these pictures – a heap of junk or a potential beauty?
The dealer is asking £ 8,500 for this restoration project, and I honestly can’t figure out whether that’s a fair price or not. There is no doubt that a huge chunk of cash will need to be invested before this Glas is roadworthy and pretty once again. But then again, when finished I suppose it would be worth somewhere around £ 40,000 so maybe the asking price isn’t that absurd after all. What say you dear reader? Should I listen to my heart, or am I simply knee-deep in that utterly illogical justification process? Tell you what – one of you buy the Glas please. That way the decision would be made for me, I would be out of my misery and I could perhaps move on…
Check out the full advert here: Project 1967 Glas 1700GT
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us inspire by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk