davintosh

Now this is a gorgeous car.

I’ve always loved the body lines of the BMW e9 coupes, and this one has received some improvements that make it even more desirable. For one, the original carbureted M30 has been replaced with a fuel-injected M30B35 for better reliability and lots more horsepower.

The e9′s are notorious for rust, but this particular car was stripped & repainted by Hardy & Beck in Berkeley, CA. Hardy & Beck also provided the wheels, which fit the car’s style to a ‘T’. Up until last week the car was owned by one of the “>mye28.com members“; he bought it a little over a year ago, but some recent financial & life difficulties forced him to sell. It was listed on CraigsList with some of the gorgeous beauty shots shown below, an oddity that caught some attention at Jalopnik. Bring-A-Trailer also picked up on it. All the attention led to it being sold pretty quickly in spite of the $25,000 price tag.

Much as I like the looks of this car, there is just no way I could own it unless I could garage it and only bring it out on the nicest of days. And considering the car, its relative rarity & value, that would be only fitting. So, like so many other cars, I’ll just enjoy it vicariously by way of the photos.
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Jalopnik has long been one of my favorite online haunts, and one of the features that I enjoy(ed) there was the Project Car Hell challenges;

Welcome to Project Car Hell, where you choose your eternity by selecting the project that’s the coolest… and the most hellish!

Basically a game where you get to choose between two hopeless basket-case project cars that were found on eBay, CraigsList or wherever. In 2008 I stumbled across & submitted a pair of oddball cars I saw on eBay, a 1967 NSU Type 110 and a 1985 TVR 280i. They were pitted against each other in a post called Project Car Hell; Alphabet Soup Edition (get it; TVR? NSU? alphabet soup? Yeah, corny, but it was the best I could come up with!)

One of the perks for readers who submit cars for a PCH challenge is a custom-made t-shirt designed & built by Jalopnik contributor Murilee Martin. Not sure exactly what happened, but I didn’t get my t-shirt. I think it had something to do with a shortage of Dave-sized shirts at the time… Like I need another t-shirt anyway (just ask my wife!) Time went on, and I pretty much forgot about it.

Then last September, Murilee announced that he was dropping the Jalopnik gig for bigger & better things. I left a comment on the post expressing my disappointment (as well as my understanding and support for his new endeavors), then the next day I remembered the missing t-shirt & threw a comment on that thread about it. And whaddya know, Murilee offered to make good on the oversight!

A few emails were exchanged (including one that I totally overlooked for quite some time), then yesterday I had a surprise waiting for me at home; a package from Denver with my name on it. Inside was the long-lost t-shirt:

Yvonne’s reaction was predictable; “You’re not really going to actually wear that, are you?” I don’t think that was a question. It was the team shirt for the Tetanus Racing Neon Team from the Laissez Les Crapheaps Roulez 24 Hours of LeMons race that was held in New Orleans in November, 2010. Team Tetanus came in 9th overall out of 50 entrants in that race; not bad, especially considering it was a true 24-hour race, using a $500 car!

In reality, the shirt will probably sit on the shelf in my bedroom closet until one of us puts it in a box destined for a thrift store. Still, it’s pretty cool that Murilee made the effort to send it. He also threw in his business card (finally ending my curiosity over what his real name is) and a cool little window/bumper sticker from LeMons. My car will wear that sticker proudly!

I still miss Murilee’s posts on Jalopnik — the PCH and DOTS (Down On The Street) stories were the best. Plus Murilee had a way of putting together great stories. I still follow Murilee’s online stuff from time to time — he maintains a website featuring a catch-all blog, a photo gallery from past LeMons races, and a pile of desktop wallpaper images from the junkyards he frequents. He’s got one book under his belt already and is currently working on another. Yes, Murilee is a true Renaissance man; gearhead, author, blogger, LeMons judge… He’s quite a guy, girl’s name notwithstanding.

Somebody in the San Francisco Bay area signed up as a member on mye28.com last week to post a for sale ad for his 1988 528e. And it looks like a nice, nice car.

From the ad:

For sale is my 1988 528e. 5-speed manual. ETA engine. Royal Blue with Beige interior.

311K miles, and no outstanding problems. Clean title, no accidents, recently smogged.

I’m the second owner and I have all service records since I purchased it 20 years ago.

Other details:

- Non-smoker.
- Garaged.
- The only addition is a Clifford alarm system with keyless entry.

The car is a reliable daily driver, but I’m getting too old so I switched to an automatic.

Located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

PRICE: $2500.

Amazing condition for a $2,500 car. The paint looks good. The interior looks great. No cracks in the dash. Tires look new… And with 311,000 miles on it? Dang.

This is how I wish my 528e looked.

Here is an outstanding little BMW… A 1967 2000tilux with a mere 12,800 miles on the clock! Judging by the amazing condition this car is in, I don’t doubt that mileage figure a bit. Of course, photos can be deceiving and a closer inspection would be needed if I were planning to buy this car, but still… Very impressive in pictures!

From the photos and the description, the car has gone through some minor refurbishing — new paint, cleaned things up underneath, detailed the interior — but you just don’t find complete 40-plus year old cars from European automakers in the US, much less complete 40-plus year old cars from European automakers that have less than thirteen thousand miles on them.

I don’t know much more about the 2000tilux other than what I’ve read this morning (here and elsewhere), but I do like the styling. The headlights are so otherworldly considering the car’s vintage… US Federalization back in the day would of course have required the trapezoidal headlights be replaced by boring round headlights — as illustrated below in another car that was recently featured on Bring A Trailer.com — so this one was either a gray-market import or converted. My guess is the former.

I dunno; it’s just something about these boxy little European sedans that’s just really appealing to me. And the little details, like the way the fuel filler door blends into the corner of the rear quarter panel… This is one gorgeous automobile!

This car probably weighs in around 2,000 lbs, and with an engine under the hood rated at 135 HP, it’s got to be a screamer. Lots of things to like about it!

Here’s the copy and the rest of the photos from the eBay ad, just for fun. Thus far nobody’s placed a bid on the car, and the seller’s $5,000 minimum bid stands with four days to go in the auction. Reserve hasn’t been met; it’ll be interesting to see where the bidding goes on it.

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This car is the ultimate BMW e28; a 1985 BMW 535i that has been modified by Hartge, a renowned third-party BMW tuner. Not only that, it’s been restored by Ron Perry, a long-time e28 aficionado, known for his quality work.

The color combination on this car is perfect, and the work Ron has done to restore it is perfect. The Euro bumpers, Euro lights, driving lamp wipers… An e28 just doesn’t get any better than this, unless maybe it had a turbo under the hood. Nah; then I’d probably just want to drive it around with my foot on the floor.

As much as I would love to have a car like this, it just ain’t gonna happen. This one just sold on eBay for an astonishing $36,463.63. That’s for a 25 year old car. The closest I’ll get is the set of spiffy-looking valve caps with the Hartge logo on them that I got in a Priority Box Exchange earlier this year.

Update: This car is still for sale, and still way out of reach, but I thought it appropriate to update the post with some more photos and info on it. Apparently the eBay sale fell through, and Ron still has it. Price is set at $39,500 with the pictured Hartge wheels, or $36,500 with stock wheels — $3,000 for those wheels! I’d be more likely to spend that much on an entire car than on a set of wheels, no matter how nice! More photos of the finished car — beauty shots and some candid shots from the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where the car won… something, along with a pile of photos from the build log posted on mye28.com. Truly an amazing car, and amazing that the restoration came together so quickly, getting it ready for the Pebble Beach show.

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Here is an awesome car, that sold on eBay recently for $20,100. Some say it went for far too little.

What makes a 27 year old car worth that as much or more than the average BMW e28 sold new? The primary factor for this particular car is that was re-made in very limited numbers by the legendary tuner Alpina. This car is one of only 236 similar cars that rolled out of Alpina’s doors in that model year. Alpina started out with an M30-powered e28 533i, added a turbocharger, their own custom-designed intercooler, intake & fuel-injection system, lots of suspension goodies, some beautiful & lightweight wheels, and finished it off with some very nice interior modifications. One very cool feature is the ability to adjust the turbo’s boost on the fly by way of a knob mounted next to the parking brake handle.

When properly cranked, that little knob on the console can make the turbo bump the base M30′s 180hp output to the neighborhood of 300hp, making some beautiful music along the way. The driver is able to keep tabs on the amount of boost, and other engine stats, by way of a cool-for-its-day LED gauge cluster fitted in place of one of the center dash vents. One needs to brush up on one’s German first!

A recent article in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car magazine featured a 1985 Alpina B7 Turbo in Agate Green a 1988 M5, but the article gave me a renewed appreciation for the work Alpina did with the e28; while the M5 is a great car in its own right, the Alpina is a head above that, especially in the push-your-butt-into-the-seat department. The real kicker of that article is that both cars are owned by Ron Wicklund, who is one of the members of my most most recent web obsession — MyE28.com. The cars could not be in better hands, as Ron is meticulous in his care for them and masterful in driving them fast.

Last month Roy stirred up a bit of envy on the board by posting this photo of his garage after tucking his toys in for the winter… Talk about a dream garage! The Alpina is on the right, and the M5 is on the left — love that license plate on the front! Under the orange cover on the left is his highly modified, highly orange, M3-powered 2002tii, which was also featured in a recent Hemmings Sports & Exotic (that car is in line for a BMWotD post very soon.) Next to that is a relatively ho-hum M535i (drool!) and on the far right is an e36 M3. And between the M535i & the M3 is the odd man out, an Acura NSX. Some guys have all the luck! Roy sounds like a gem of a guy; very down to earth, loves his old BMWs and loves to drive them fast, especially on the track. From what I hear, he’s a terror on the track, especially in that M5; the license plate is a very apt description of what he’s likely thinking while riding the bumper of a slower car! And word has it that he’s selling the M5!

When I grow up, I want to be Roy Wicklund.

Here are the rest of the photos and the guts of the eBay ad for the ’84 Alpina, just for drools.
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The 1933 Morgan Super Sport

The old Morgan trikes have always been appealing to me; just the right mix of quirky & sporty. Throw on a leather helmet and goggles, and you’ve got the perfect Sunday drive right there. What’s not to love about them? And the motor hanging off the front end… That is just so cool.

There have been rumors circulating for a while that Morgan was planning to revive the 3 wheeler, and now they’ve confirmed it; the 2011 Morgan Threewheeler is officially for real. The car(?) will reportedly have a Mazda-built transmission coupled with an 1800cc Harley Davidson v-twin motor hanging off the front axle, just like the old timer. This one won’t have the wood frame, but it will be able to get up to 60 mph in about 4 1/2 seconds, topping out at about 115 mph. That more than makes up for the loss of character the wood would’ve brought.

The images Morgan is showing on its website appear to be of a real vehicle, but views of the engine appear to be generic CAD renderings, so it’s not clear that a real car has been built & tested

Building a car LoCost 7-style — using this or that from other production vehicles — has always been a dream of mine, and the three-wheel design has always been in the back of my head; with 3 wheels instead of 4, the vehicle is classified as a motorcycle, so it’s much easier to get registered & licensed & insured. But this thing might turn that dream on it’s head. Why reinvent the wheel? Of course, it all depends on what it will cost.

One thing about the car’s specs that I’m dying to find out is what their ‘Bomb release’ style start button looks like. Hmmm…

Cincinnatti banker Harry Yeaggy is officially the biggest James Bond fan. At least the biggest one as measured by the amount one is willing (and able) to pay for Bond memorabilia. Yeaggy bought the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that was driven by Sean Connery in Goldfinger and Thunderball.

There were only two bids on the DB5 at the Wednesday evening RM Auctions event before the gavel fell. Final price — an amazing $4,608,500 (which includes a 12% buyer’s premium). The other bidder must’ve been completely blown out of the water by that bid.

Yeaggy will add the DB5 to his already amazing collection. Or maybe he’ll park it in his family room & watch James Bond movies while sitting in the driver’s seat.

I like cars, and I like James Bond movies too, but dang; even if I had that kind of money to throw around, I’d have a hard time justifying spending that much on a car. I’d be afraid to touch it, much less drive it.

Here’s a sweet little one-of-a-kind BMW that BMW never built (but should have); the ///M2.

Yes, the M2 isn’t an official model produced by BMW; just the creative conglomeration of a 1972 BMW 2002tii with an e30 M3 drivetrain transplant. The engine in this car is the 4-cylinder DOHC S14; the original 4-speed transmission was likewise replaced by the M3′s 5-speed. In stock form, the S14 makes just under 200 hp, and the 2002tii in stock form weighs all of 2200lbs; this one uses an aftermarket chip and some other modifications which would combine to bump the output into the 220hp range or maybe higher. It also has a 3:91 limited-slip rear differential, which works with the hot little engine to make this car wicked fast. Just a great big tiny little ball of fun!

The 2002 ’roundie’ has long been one of my favorite cars, but always been known for being prone to rust, so there are very few solid examples left these days. According to the seller, this one is rust-free and has had a bare-metal repaint done by the previous owner. I really like the color, especially when it is so similar to my own Rustoleum Burgundy e28! One of these days I’m going to make a new label to go on top of the fender in the engine bay of the 528, and it may be more fitting to put Malaga Red on it than something quirky like Burgundrot Rustoleum.

One interesting thing with this car is it’s part of a private members’ club — Classic Car Club Manhattan — where members are allowed to drive any car in the stable. According to the seller’s eBay description, “Our members care for the cars as if they were their own, we are not a rental company and only our limited group of members drive our cars. We also employ a full-time staff of mechanics to check up on the cars and ensure that they remain in top mechanical condition.” That is such a cool concept; if only Sioux Falls had something like that going. Then again, I don’t know if I would qualify for membership;

Typical annual memberships work on a point system and range from $8,000-$14,000 per year and offer between 30 and 80 days driving depending on which cars you drive and when.

A bit on the steep side, but the cost is probably comparable to a country club with a golf course. For a city-dwelling car nut, it might make sense; access to that many cars without the hassles of ownership. Just write a check.

The eBay auction starting bid price for this car is just under $23,000; probably a bit way more than the car is really worth. The seller hasn’t changed the asking price since the car first showed up as an exclusive on Bring A Trailer last month. Browsing through the comments it’s pretty clear that others have the same opinion of the car; great machine, but the seller is dreaming if they really think someone is going to pay that kind of money for it, especially when a few issues can be noted in the photo gallery. Reminds me of something one of my college profs said; nothing is worth more than someone is willing to pay for it. Very true here.
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I just bumped into this essay while searching for something totally unrelated to BMW M5′s… I know the BMWotD thing is usually highlighting a particular car, this is well worth making an exception.

It’s a marvelous piece of writing (by a guy — prizefighter — from Minneapolis) and a great description of why I got hooked on the e28. My 528e doesn’t have the oomph under the hood that M5 drivers enjoy (maybe someday) and it doesn’t have all the suspension goodies either, but those things would probably just get me in more trouble anyway. For a car that most people would dismiss as just a quirky but mundane antiquated sedan, the driving experience in these cars is anything but mundane. It’s an absolute blast.

Hey, so I bought one of these things a few weeks ago, I’ve been driving it around a little bit, dropping in the forums here and there and, along with my wife and my friends, asking myself “what the hell am I thinking with this old car?”

Because the BMW E28 M5 is a silly car. Perhaps it was superlative when it was new but now it is a machine that time has left behind. It has a motor that isn’t particularly strong, (our family grocery getter, an XC 90 has more ponies, as they like to say in the auto writing world) it doesn’t go very fast, a new Toyota Camry can keep up, it isn’t particularly well built or appointed (again see the Camry example), it is loud and it rides like a forklift. (more…)