Munich Legends vs Classic Heroes?

[chopper]

So, Barney was the main man at ML and now runs Classic Heroes...

For the last few years my old girl has been serviced, looked after and sold twice through ML. I was prepared to do a 400+ mile round trip this year just to see what all the fuss was about and to maintain the much sought after ML stamps in the service book.

My question would be...as Classic Heroes also offers servicing, repairs etc are ML still going to be as credible with the loss of Barney and now being under new ownership? Or will the reputation of Barney make Classic Heroes become the new best thing? After looking at the CH website, they offer a slightly different service but not too disimilar.

I guess time will tell but it would be nice to hear your thoughts :thumbsup:

[dave p]

save yourself a few hundred miles journey and try Darren Woods in Stockport!

[siwilson]

I have used Munich Legends both before and after the 'change' and IMO they are better since the change.

[z3mcouperacer]

IMO these car's are not rare or specialised enough to warrant a drive of more than 100 miles to visit a dealer/specialist.
And certainly not a 400 mile round trip and potentially an overnighter in a hotel just for a stamp.

It doesn't matter who actually services the car its how it's done, OEM parts and following the service schedule is what it's all about. Receipts and invoices for high quality original parts is just important to a lot of people as a stamp in a book.

Thanks
Matt

[steveH]

As your only few miles north of Chesterfield we have XS Racing run by a team headed by Alister Sutherland (rallying fans will know this name) who look after many clients road cars aswell as their race / track cars.
Adrian green who untill recently was service manager at Stratstone for 23 years has joined them with 'push' to recruit new bmw owners custom so may well be worth a call.
Will save you service costs in petrol to / from ML ??:driving:

[chopper]

Thanks for your thoughts guys was thinking about visiting ML a day or so before the Gaydon meet and making a good trip out of it. Will see what happens....cheers :thumbsup:

[caferaca]

I'm not so sure about Munich Legends.

I bought a 3 owner 1985 BMW 635 csi from a dealer down the road from ML. While I was there the dealer got a call from ML saying they were interested, but I bought it. 100k miles, and pretty much mint, with over £11k of recent bills from Munich Legends (3 years previous), including full respray, new wings, top end rebuild, and £1.5K on an unbelievably beautiful perforated leather restoration job.

Anyway the long and short of it was I kept it for 2 years, garaged her, and put 15k on the clock, then decided to buy an MC. I went to ML to look at an estoril MC, and thought my car would make an excellent trade in with all the ML history.

This is when I was told it was essentially a banger and worth no more than £1500, and would only be suitable as a run about to the station, not a keeper (his words). The history file meant almost nothing to him and he didn't recognise the car. (It had been serviced there for 8 years in addition to the resto job). The killer is I had a letter from them saying it was one of the best in the Country, and would have to spend £15k to replace.

Although quite insulted I respected their reputation, and asked them to MOT it a month later so I could sell privately. They had it for 2 days and then I got a call telling me it would need at least £8k! on welding alone (sills) and that was just the start of it. They recommended I scrap it, or they would be interested in taking it of my hands for spares (..mmm) . I was devastated TBH

I took for a 2nd opinion at my local garage and it sailed though (albeit 2 new tyres). They couldn't find any rot on it, and I had a look when it was on the ramp. I advertised it for £4k and it sold it that afternoon (I paid £6.5K). The guy who bought it was a nice chap and kept in touch. He put some style 5 BBS split rims on and sorted out a few cosmetic touches. His bodyshop guy said it was in fantastic condition, and is now for sale for £7.5-8K

My personal opinion of ML is that they certainly know their stuff, love their BMW’s, but their reputation that was built on providing an informed, fair service to enthusiasts is the reason they can get away with murder now. While I would never deprive anyone a living, they are more about the money, than the cars. IMHO of course

p.s. sorry can't remember any of their names. Barney rings a bell but not sure. He was the boss who sat in the office if that helps.

[caferaca]

I've put some pic of car in question in my gallery if you're interested

[Rishi]

Just wanted to add to this thread.

I have had two experiences with ML - the first was selling my estoril S50 about 4 years ago. Someone from ML came up to have a look and started telling me that the car was not as I described it (the alloys were the wrong colour, the paintwork was not good) and generally being a bit of a fool/ insulting my intelligence. He tried to drop the price by a couple of grand by saying things like the wheels are not quite the right colour etc. I told him I wasn't particularly impressed, and he then started to say I would not get as much as he was offering etc. In the end he was right, I sold to someone off here who was not a buffoon, and while I may have come out a couple of hundred quid short of the ML offer, I felt better selling on here rather than seeing him drive it off and add £4-5k as was happening back then.

Hovwever, I have just sold my Z4MC through ML (dealt with Alex) and have been very impressed with the way they handled it all. They ran the diagnostics, showed me what was not clear (nothing!) and got the car sold. Alex even ran the HPI checks etc. on my new car for me. To me, there has been a definite improvement since the last time I dealt with them.

[Bruski_11]

I picked up the MC from Munich Legends last night. Not much needed doing in truth. Replaced rear wheel (sourced ebay - thanks Dave P for the spot, wheel was in good order and same miles as my motor which was a happy coincedence, refurbished lepsons via ML). Also had ML replace a failed HID unit and do a diagnosis on the front brakes - which were fine for now.

This being my first experience of ML I was left quite impressed, esp' compared with my local "BMW specialists" who were about as specialised in BMWs as my granny is in hiphop djs. I rescued the MC from them after a week of wasted time.
The guys at ML were very helpful, accommodating and seemed very thorough as well as reasonable rates*. I'll def'ly be taking the MC there again (assuming of course I ever need to, it is bullet proof after all).
*--- this could of course be a cunning plan to get me addicted before womping up the next bill but I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt :lol:

Also, unique insight. Seems last couple of weeks the ML guys have been working with the top gear clowns on the new series. Taking a set of old e30s round the dunsford track - and trying to keep them together. If they're good enough for clarkson & co, well they'll do for me.

I dealt with Andy and Stuart.