Pulled it and had a look, it's been played with. Can't tell if it's been swapped or just pulled out a few times but definitely evidence of it being tampered with, so may have had a standard ECU fitted at some stage.
Yeah have noticed it seems to be missing a few things, judging from photos online though there seem to be a lot of genuine ones that are also missing a lot of them too, not sure why though.
Good article to read, much appreciated for the info thanks ?.
Yes got in touch with them this afternoon, emailed photos and details off so now patiently waiting to hear back ?
Yeah I hear you on that one, and will apologise if my reply earlier today sounded a bit defensive - got swamped with people telling me it's a fake with no real info other than "it's missing this bit here or there", and I guess was more just wanting time to research it myself fully.
Looking at the Alpina Archives on this page there were a few that went to Japan, in black, with the gold trim and cloth seats. Also, going through the photos of the actual cars, it seems like boot spoilers, pinstriping, interior trim etc. was all customisable, as most have subtle differences - how much of that is previous owners changing (or replacing items with anything local/cheap) things and how much was ordered that way, no one can say. So will wait and see what the archives says first, and go from there.
Either way, it is a cool car. Very tidy inside and not bad on the outside. If it is just a riced up special, no harm done given what I paid for it - and, if that is the case and it's a stock standard 735iL, the badges will most likely come off and it'll become just a nice weekend cruiser. Given it's condition and extremely low k's, either way I think I got a decent bargain for the price of it.
You don't come across these every day in this condition - not even the ashtrays or the lighter look like they have ever been used.
So this project log may become more active, if it isn't what it was sold as. Get it running, exhaust, decent wheels, tints..... nice Mafia ghetto style car to cruise good old Invers in ????.