Alpina B6S cabriolet

[Stedman]

Philv8s said:

£200 all in, seat repair, floor mats and armrest. Pretty good value as they took the best part of an hour to remove the seat, then take it to their workshop with the floor mats. Come back and fit it ack in and do the armrest in situ.

Amazing value!

[Philv8s]

Legacywr said:

Who did the work on your leather, and where are they based?

I used the leather repair company West Midlands branch based at cradley, Birmingham.

I had a good trip into the Brecon Beacons today, surprisingly sunny for a change.

Edited by Philv8s on Tuesday 1st May 18:29

[Philv8s]

Enjoyed a very chilly and drizzly morning at the MMR Sunday Service today. A few nice cars made it out despite the inclement weather.

[blaineuk]

Had a look round your car at show, looked very nice. Was a good selection of cars there.

[Usget]

Can't believe the value for that leather restore! I'd always imagined jobs like that ran into four figures.

[blaineuk]

Had a look round your car at show, looked very nice. Was a good selection of cars there.

[MFR_TT]

That is a fantastic car. Just cannot beat Alpina.

[Philv8s]

MFR_TT said:

That is a fantastic car. Just cannot beat Alpina.

I would have to agree with you. As the perfect balance between comfort, luxury, power and exclusivity, Alpina are a hard act to beat.
Here is a nice pic Blabkhawk47 took at the MMR SS.
I will be at the Denbies SS also hopefully.

[Broch]

Looking good Phil 😉

[Straff99]

What is it about BMW seat foam? The seat base crushes at the first sight of a posterior! I'd love another 760 but every one has that problem. On the evidence of yours, though, it's no longer an issue. Top work on a lovely car

[Philv8s]

It’s strange you say that. I had a 760i before this Alpina and it had over 100k on the clock but the seats were like New, it was merino leather. Maybe the previous owner was slightly built!

[Prinny]

Philv8s said:

It’s strange you say that. I had a 760i before this Alpina and it had over 100k on the clock but the seats were like New, it was merino leather. Maybe the previous owner was slightly built!

I honestly think the cooled/ventilated seats as you had are much harder wearing than the non-ventilated. I assume that’s something to do with being perforated by design, and so engineered ‘tougher’ (I’m clueless about leather tanning). I’ve never seen a 7 with comfort seats that are perforated where the bolster has gone, but many of the non-vented ones have/are.

Certainly, the side bolster on my drivers seat has broken through at 82k miles (it was marginal when I got it - honest), and that’s on the Merino too. The seat base is nowhere near as wrinkled though. I’m not sure if that proves/disproves my point - oh well...

There’s considerable wear/scuffing on the M6’s bolster too, at 52k miles, but I attribute much of that to the large bolster size, & lower seating position meaning ingress/egress with Jeans/rivets is much more likely to catch. Same on the SL (but they all do that!)

[alec.e]

Very jealous, wish my lowly 650 had the spec of yours!

Why is the tax cheaper, than the regular BMW?

[Philv8s]

Prinny, I think it may come down to a combination of size of driver, manner used to exit/enter the vehicle and seat height/position. My B6 has over the 115k on the clock and wasn’t excessively worn as you can see in the photos and that wasn’t perforated leather. Although it was Lavalina which is a high grade leather.

Alec, the Alpina tax is low I believe due to them being a small scale manufacturer so they didn’t have to register the cars emissions with the DVLA although this changed I think after 2009. I am happy to corrected on this point mind. Mine is classed as a PLG over 1600cc on the old taxing system.😄

[Philv8s]

Here is a couple of videos that the leather repair guys have put up on Facebook about doing my seat. It is 1 of 40 worldwide not 14 mind. I think they got abit carried away with the rarity factor!

https://www.facebook.com/LRCWestMidlands/videos/22...

https://www.facebook.com/LRCWestMidlands/videos/22...

[Philv8s]

Gave the old girl a light machine polish and wax today, All ready for summer and aging nicely.



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[alec.e]

Fabulous! I need this engine setup in mine, the same bhp as M6, but more torque and better reliability.

[Philv8s]

About 10% more BHP than the M6 and yes loads more torque make it a great car to cover ground quickly and without fuss.

[Philv8s]

Been in for its service and MOT today. Passed with no advisories so the old girl is ready to enjoy the rest of summer now.

[Philv8s]

I had an intermittent issue (twice in 3 months) where I have been for a drive and then parked up, returned to the car and it decides not to start. After 30 mins or so it decides it will start and all is fine again.
No fault codes are stored so a mystery. After some frantic googling it seems a fairly well known issue on BMWs of this era. The prime culprit is the integrated supply module failing,
A relatively cheap(£70) Easy part to fit DIY and no coding required for a change.
Picked up a new module yesterday and took less than 30 mins to replace old for new.
I took the old module apart and there was signs of heat and water damage on the circuit board if not excessive.
Fingers crossed no failure to start now!