Abba's old BMW brought in some Money Money Money!
It's a rich mans world!
A BMW once owned by Bjorn Ulvaeus from the Swedish Supergroup Abba, met its Waterloo earlier this year when it was auctioned off at RM Sothebys in Paris.
It was advertised for auction on Twitter via the 'Official International ABBA Fan Club' on 20 January.
The classic, and not to mention prestigious, 1977 BMW 633 CSi went under the hammer at RM Sothebys in Paris on 7 February, with an initial estimated guide price of €25,000-€35,000, without a set reserve.
Photo Credit Scott Pattenden (copyright 2017)/courtesy RM Sothebys
You may think that's a hefty price tag, but not when you take into consideration that besides it having had such iconic owners and the fact that it came with copies of original documentation which was signed by members Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, if anything that inital estimation may seem a little understated.
It was originally ordered by the band's record company Polar Music, back in 1977 when the band were at the height of their fame, and they were in need of a fast but reliable car to follow the band around on their European tours at that time.
Intended as a discrete everyday standby car, it was to be used by either Bjorn or Benny.
It was ordered in Polaris Silver over black leather, and came complete with a four-speed manual gearbox. It also had electric windows and the 'sound system' was well, what I would term in this modern day and age as prehistoric! That being a cassette player! Remember those? Underneath the bonnet, it had a six-cylinder in-line engine with 200 hp.
Photo Credit Scott Pattenden (copyright 2017)/courtesy RM Sothebys
Photo Credit Scott Pattenden (copyright 2017)/courtesy RM Sothebys
Photo Credit Scott Pattenden (copyright 2017)/courtesy RM Sothebys
It was used for the European tours between 1978 and 1980 and according to RM Sothebys, it was sold for the first time in 1980.
In 2008, after having spent a period abroad, it was reimported back to Sweden where it was then registered for 'sparing road use'.
Despite how it was registered, the condition of it was still pretty immaculate too. Amazingly, both bodywork and interior were unblemished and surprisingly its rare TRX alloy wheels had also still managed to be retained.
Photo Credit Scott Pattenden (copyright 2017)/courtesy RM Sothebys
Photo Credit Scott Pattenden (copyright 2017)/courtesy RM Sothebys
Photo Credit Scott Pattenden (copyright 2017)/courtesy RM Sothebys
With copies of signed original documentation to boot, it was certainly set to be a golden opportunity to own a rather special and rare piece of automotive history.
On the day of the auction it exceeded the initial estimates of €25,000-€35,000, and as the hammer went down, it sold for nearer the top estimate at a staggering €34,500.
'Mamma Mia'! All I can say is that it sold for some serious 'Money, Money, Money!'
Further photos can be found on the following link below
As always, many thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed!
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Comments (26)
Fantastic article Lou. I can see you’ve took a lot of time and effort with this it’s brilliant. Well done. I enjoyed reading it
Oh thank you so much Lisa! I'm really glad you enjoyed reading it. Thanks for taking the time to read it too. It was a lot of fun to write
Nice Lou Lou! If someone doesn't save all those old celeb cars where in the world are we going to find dna fragments to clone our Stars of the future? Cheers
Thanks Ben! Haha that’s a fair point! All I can say, is long may the rescues continue. Shows that the cars are really the stars
I literally found this article while I was singing I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do.
Must have been an 'S.O.S' drawing you towards this article then lol
Lovely article enjoyed reading this congrats on getting on the home page well deserved
Thanks Debs. I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. Thanks, it was great that it reached the homepage. So pleased xx
I wonder if any new music tracks up for consideration by the band were listened to on that very cassette player? History could have been made in this car on the merit of the music alone. :)
That's a really good point Karen. I would certainly like to think so. That would be the icing on the cake for the new owner, if that was the case 😉