How to identify a true Alpina?

[AlpinaMan]

How to identify a true Alpina? And what’s are the area and signs that you must look for before you purchase a genuine Alpina?

There are many times that people ask these questions but I always hear anecdotal answer such as, the front spoiler and rims, or car should have Alpina strips, or the color of the engine should be gray, or the interior should be Alpina upholstery, in which all those items could be bought over the eBay and put them on any regular BMW and make them look like one.
But what do you think in terms of technical and registered numbers that we should look for? (I will provide answer latter).

[Scooter]

The VIN number is always a good thing to check. However, I'd want to physically see the VIN on the car or have someone I trust check it out because it would be easy for someone to find an authentic VIN and claim that is the VIN of the car (if they are trying to sell a fake). I'm not sure about other Alpina's, but my B8 also has an Alpina plate attached in the engine bay.

[Stirling]

I would have said the plate with the production number on the inside of the cabin, or the Alpina VIN on the chassis, but I see in Alpina parts catalogs that these can be purchased. So I'm looking forward to the answer that AlpinaMan is promising for us!

As an aside, I have to say that Alpina has been the most customer-service oriented car company I have dealt with. They are always helpful and if you send them a VIN they provide so much information. Very impressive.

[quattro20v]

I would check to makes sure the Alpina VIN matches the plate in the engine bay, the stamp on the shock tower, the engine and also the plate in the cabin.

I'd also cross reference the BMW VIN on the firewall which is crossed out to the Alpina VIN and verify this with Alpina in Buchloe.

[ALP1NA]

http://www.m5board.com/alpina/recalp.html

[Scooter]

Good reference there :), but I don't agree with the upholstery one. While I'm sure most cars got the Alpina marked upholstery, not all of them did, so I don't believe it would be sufficient to say a car isn't an Alpina because it doesn't have "Alpina marked" upholstery.

[AlpinaMan]

Well, all the answers in above are perfectly right, So far we established that the shell or the body is from Alpina, however the most important thing is to find out if the engine is belong to the reference numbers that we point out in above posts such as chasse #, cabin # and the registration # plus the Alpina cosmetics.
How do we establish and cross reference above # to make sure that the engine and other hidden components that we don

[AlpinaMan]

Okay, Firstly to identify the block you should prepare an mechanic’s extension mirror and a flash light to lit the area and look for the stamp marking of your car designation, for example B10 3.5/1 which would be located on top the flat surfaces of engine block where starter motor will be bolted to the opening on engine block.

Secondly, after determining that the block is Alpina, know we should see if the engine’s head is Alpina as well, reason for this is that many times happened that the head must be rebuilt due to over raved engine, etc…., and many mechanics would do the core exchange for a already rebuilt head or other reasons……., so we should know that.

Thirdly, to identifying an Alpina head, you should look for a stamped 5 digit # on the side of the heads facing up just bellow the valve cover between the distributor cap and the breather hose on valve cover. And if you sent that # to Alpina it should correspond with car that they used that particular head.

Finally, the exhaust should have Alpina stamp and part# on headers, down pipes, on catalytic converter, and the silencer as well as the muffler.

The prepuce of this exercise was to provide as much information with the help of other members and making sure when an enthusiast is looking for an Alpina car to purchase, so they could easily identify the real deal.

Sia

[Stirling]

Great post Sia. Now when the auction broker in Japan asks me what I want the inspector to check on the car, I can point him to your post!

[Scooter]

Lots of good info there Alp1na!!! :)

Great post Sia. Now when the auction broker in Japan asks me what I want the inspector to check on the car, I can point him to your post!

Good idea, but I think you would have to get an independent inspector to look for that much detail. I'm pretty sure the inspectors at the auctions will only look for generic things. I could be wrong, but that's what I would guess.

[quattro20v]

Good reference there :), but I don't agree with the upholstery one. While I'm sure most cars got the Alpina marked upholstery, not all of them did, so I don't believe it would be sufficient to say a car isn't an Alpina because it doesn't have "Alpina marked" upholstery.

Exactly, I know of two B10 biturbos Alpinas that do not have the Alpina stripes on them. One got M5 seats and the other (mine) has the Alpina-Recaro seats sans the stripes.

[AlpinaMan]

All the Alpina from Germany came with the cluster, gear nub, steering wheels as standard items inside the cabin, only BMW Sytner and two other BMW dealer http://www.bmwalpina.co.uk/ww/findadealer/alpina-hq.html in England would charge to add this item separately since all the items were shipped to Sytner by Alpina to be assembled and accommodate for Britain customers and their cars number would start with 4 digit numbers suck as B10 3.5/1

[Mark in Toronto]

All the Alpina from Germany came with the cluster, gear nub, steering wheels as standard items inside the cabin,

Good point about the cluster AlpinaMan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but codes can be altered on later model cars, e.g., e34 to change or alter the true mileage.

[AlpinaMan]

Good point about the cluster AlpinaMan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but codes can be altered on later model cars, e.g., e34 to change or alter the true mileage.


Absolutely positively, that is why knowing what to look for is extremely important and also making sure that the service documentation would match to the car mileage with in few thousands KMs, and bear in mind these days you could buy anything from eBay and transplant on any car. ;)

[wkohler]

Good point about the cluster AlpinaMan. Correct me if I'm wrong, but codes can be altered on later model cars, e.g., e34 to change or alter the true mileage.

If the cluster is swapped out on an E34, E36 and later, a red dot appears next to the trip odometer indicating the mileage might not be accurate.

Another way to verify whether or not an Alpina car is a true Alpina car is to have the VIN checked by the parts department at your BMW dealer. In the ETK, when you enter the last 7 of the BMW VIN, this should come up on a real Alpina car:

Note

Caution! ALPINA vehicle
-
ALPINA-specific parts can only be
identified using the ALPINA Parts
Catalogue.
-
The ALPINA Parts Catalogue can be
ordered directly from ALPINA by
specifying the vehicle identification
number.
-
Contact:
-
Mail: mailto:info@alpina.de
Tel: +49-8241-5005-0
Fax: +49-8241-5005-155
*****

[KillerPM]

If the cluster is swapped out on an E34, E36 and later, a red dot appears next to the trip odometer indicating the mileage might not be accurate.

Another way to verify whether or not an Alpina car is a true Alpina car is to have the VIN checked by the parts department at your BMW dealer. In the ETK, when you enter the last 7 of the BMW VIN, this should come up on a real Alpina car:

The mileage is not that difficult to change, you just have to change it in the LCM and the cluster (they have to match, if the LCM and the cluster dont match that's when you get the dot). There are tools available to do this.

The best way to verify the car is the VIN. Most newer ones have WAP VINs with a WBA or WBS VIN crossed out. Run that WBA or WBS at the BMW dealer and the report will always have a line that says the vehicle is for Alpina. I have tested this on a small pile of them.

[JR Calvin]

I believe that "AlpinaMan" covered most of the important points. In the past, I have considered about 6 different Alpinas to buy but have ended up with an Henna Red e24 Alpina clone and two other genuine e24 Alpinas. I check all the areas as previously noted by AlpinaMan and then I always email Alpina in Buchloe with the information I have found and ask for their confirmation. Alpina has usually been very responsive in this regard.

If you have a later or at least a post 1986 or so Alpina that has the full Alpina WPA....... Alpina VIN rather than a BMW WBA...... VIN, you can also get the original BMW VIN for the body that Alpina used to make their conversion. Sometimes that VIN information is helpful in sourcing standard BMW parts for that particular vehicle.

As an aside, I was up in Kamloops, BC last April with the Spring Thaw Rally and it would have been cool to know that there was another genuine Alpina/owner in that area.

John

e24 Alpina B10 3.5, #36 of 44
e24 Alpina B7S Turbo Coupe, #25 of 30

[Scooter]

Kamloops is about 4 hours from those of us in Vancouver, BC. I'd make the trip if the snow and ice was gone from the roads :)

[wkohler]

The mileage is not that difficult to change, you just have to change it in the LCM and the cluster (they have to match, if the LCM and the cluster dont match that's when you get the dot). There are tools available to do this.

The best way to verify the car is the VIN. Most newer ones have WAP VINs with a WBA or WBS VIN crossed out. Run that WBA or WBS at the BMW dealer and the report will always have a line that says the vehicle is for Alpina. I have tested this on a small pile of them.

I got that message when I entered my VIN in the ASAP ETK portal. The build info for my B7 Turbo lists two Alpina-specific option codes, too. That said, I also verified the car and have the build sheet from Alpina, which has some pretty interesting info on it as well.

That said, having seen many cars that get passed off as Alpina cars, obviously, everything Sia mentioned is correct.

[AlpinaMan]

Thank you Chris. :);)