My 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL

He's probably a bit biased being the dealer principal for Motorline BMW, Daisy Hill. "It's my passion," he says. "My dream car is a BMW M1. I almost bought one, but it was about $10,000 overpriced." 

He is putting his passion on display with a collection of fine historic BMWs, some of which have been restored in his dealership's engineering, body and paint shop. The prize in his collection is the recently completed replica of the 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL BMW art car created by American sculptor Alexander Calder. 

The paintwork is so good, BASF has used it as its worldwide magazine cover to highlight its Glasurit brand refinish paint. Rose bought the CSL as a rusted wreck for $15,000, but has spent about $300,000 developing it into a road-registered and CAMS approved road and race car. 

At the heart of the restoration is a 3.5-litre 1985 M6 engine and five-speed manual transmission he bought in the UK for 1500 ($2330). He then spent $40,000 having it rebuilt by Ludwig Finnaver of Sydney who worked with BMW custom tuner AC Schnitzer and F1 legend Frank Gardner. The 1150kg racer has been dynoed at 320kW. "We don't tune the engine to the extreme because we don't want to be doing a rebuild every time we go out," he says. 

"I drove it the other day and the plugs had fouled up and it was shooting flames out the side exhausts. "Just don't stand too near it in nylon pants." He plans to enter the car in hillclimbs, historic races and concours events. 

"It's a showpiece for our engineering, body work and painting. It's an investment in my business," he says. The paintwork is immaculate and the bodywork includes flared fibreglass guards. "We stayed away from carbonfibre not just because it's expensive but because of period correctness," he says. It even includes the number 93 race sticker on the door like the original and a replica of the 1975 Le Mans race sticker. 

However, he has swapped the original 11 and 12-inch wheels for 15-inch BBS wheels with Michellin Course rubber. Rose is also considering branching his 14-year-old family business into bike customisation, but his first historic showpiece is a fully restored 1956 BMW R50 with Steib sidecar. 

"I was looking for a bike restoration project but found one someone had already done with their own blood, sweat and tears," he says. It was originally bought by a US serviceman stationed in Germany who took it home. It was then bought by an Australian living in Hong Kong where he restored it before bringing it to Australia. 

There is still some more work to be done to make it original such as replacing the mufflers. Rose hasn't ridden the bike because he promised his mother he wouldn't ride on the road. So he rides dirt bikes, instead. Another gem in his BMW collection is the 1959 Isetta 300 three-wheel "special". 

It features a 9kW, 295cc single-cylinder engine and four-speed gearbox, weighs just 317kg, and has worm steering, leaf springs and a front-opening door with the steering wheel attached. Rose bought it online from the UK and reckons it owes him about $16,000, but, unlike the CSL, it's not for sale. "I can't replace that but I could always build another CSL," he says.

BMW 3.0 CSL

Year: 1973
Price New: $9300
Price Now: about $350,000
Engine: 3.5L M6, 320kW
Body: single-seater, 2-door coupe racing shell with rollcage
Trans: 5-speed manual
Did you know: Over the years BMW has commissioned 18 "art cars" to be painted by a range of artists. American sculptor Alexander Calder was the first in 1975. Others include Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Australia's Ken Done.

Got a special car you'd like featured in Carsguide? Modern or classic we're interested in hearing your story. Please send a pic and brief info to mark.hinchliffe@carsguide.com.au