davintosh

Here’s an interesting car… An ’82 528i with the heart of a 2002 e39 M5.

The look of this car is near perfect; euro bumpers, lowered suspension, etc… But the beauty in this car is what comes to life when you turn the key;

The 2002 M5 that this engine — with 394 hp & 369 lb·ft torque — came from is a rocket in its own right, but drop it into an e28 that weighs about 1,000 pounds less will make for a rocket-sled-type experience. At 55,000 Polish Zlotys (about $17,000 US) it doesn’t look like a bad deal, considering what you get in the package…

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It’s been a while since I posted a BMW of the Day, and this one caught my fancy. Price; stratospherically out of reach at $39,990. But for this particular example, it’s probably worth it. An extremely well done restoration, and it doesn’t look like it’s been driven much at all since then. Cars are not made for sitting in garages looking pretty, but I’d be afraid to drive this one. Part of me would totally do the Ferris Beuller thing with it, but Cameron would be there holding me back, big time.

Enough of my blabbing; I don’t need to extol the virtues of the e28 platform any more than I already have, and Alpina has already been discussed as well (although this one doesn’t have the super-go-fast turbo option), so let’s just jump to the gallery, shamelessly borrowed from the dealer, Enthusiast Auto Group. I don’t think they’ll mind me spreading the word around a little more.
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I just bumped into this photo on Flickr while looking for something else… such a cool old truck!

The photo belongs to Flickr user Ned & Neva; unfortunately there’s no clues as to where the truck was when the photo was snapped. The caption below the photo says it’s a “1929 Ford Ag Uitlity Vehicle”, and you can see hints of the Ford Model A cowl, door frame & dashboard, but the colors scream Ford 8N tractor. From the Flickr pages, it looks like it was taken at an event held at the Michigan Flywheelers Museum in Bangor, MI, which looks to be just down the road from Muskegon, one of our favorite vacation spots! Next time we’re in the area…

I’ve heard the term “doodlebug” many times before, and according to Wikipedia, it can refer to a lot of different things, but in this case a doodlebug is “a home-made tractor made in the United States during World War II when production tractors were in short supply. The Doodlebug of the 1940s was usually based on a 1920s or 1930s era Ford automobile which was then modified either by the complete removal or alteration of some of the vehicle body.” That description seems to fit this little gem perfectly.

What I was looking for was a higher resolution image of a sign like this…

I don’t recall ever seeing that as an ad or a sign before, but I think I can hear Dad saying something like it! I might have to make something like that to hang on my shed, or in the garage.

This video is all kinds of amazing. The best part is that President Obama has spent the last four years writing what is at its essence a Romney/Ryan campaign ad. How brilliant is that?

Actually, the content of that video is downright depressing. If it were a Republican President with glaring inconsistencies like that the media would be all over it. Good to see that tidbit from John Stewart in there; until that, everything I had heard from him had been pretty blatantly pro-Obama.

I saw this photo on some website this morning…

… and thought it needed a caption, at minimum. But I think this is better…

I was thinking of Gazerbeam, but there weren’t many images of him dredged up by Google and I couldn’t tweak his helmet to fit the photo. I ended up using Frozone’s helmet for him, and what do you know; it fits!

I can almost hear him role playing with Michelle, “Honey? Where’s my super-suit?”

After listening to last night’s debate, if I couldn’t laugh at the candidates, I’d have to cry.

… I want to do what this guy does.

Or maybe this guy…

I get so tired sometimes of working for someone else, doing things that seem to have no lasting value, and fails to bring any joy in life. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate the job I have and the people I work with and the company I work for. My job has flexibility and perks that would be the envy of many, but I don’t like doing what I do. It’s a long story… Maybe I’ll share it sometime. Until then, I’ll think of Robin Wood & John Neeman and the cool things they make.

Rod Payne is quite a guy. He’s one of the more memorable characters on mye28.com mainly because he still owns and daily-drives the 1983 BMW 528e that he bought in April of 1983.

Rod posted the following on mye28.com this morning to commemorate the birthdate of his car:

This month, our 528e turns 30, as it was built October 1982 and I bought it new in April 1983. This BMW is the longest I’ve kept any automobile, having been well known as the “car of the month” guy, many years ago. I tried to get a BMW Original Production Certificate from BMW Mobile Tradition several years ago, but they told me that during the period my 528e was built, they were revising their record keeping processes and as luck would have it, they had no information about my car, as it had been lost. Too bad, as I otherwise have every document associated with this car, since I took delivery of it.

Once in a while when we thought about selling the car, we could never answer the question what will we replace it with? Only once were we going to actually replace it… with a well known Euro M5, but that didn’t happen due financial timing. Bottom line is this has been a remarkable automobile and kept in top condition, it continues to provide very reliable transportation and great driving experiences. If you are new to the BMW E28 automobile, take the time to go over it and bring it up to spec. It will not disappoint you, if you truly come to understand the design philosphy of the various E28 models and can appreciate the driving experience they deliver.

Plus, you are here at MyE28.com, where most all of the resources you may need can be found. Believe me, I know and I am greatful I found this forum some years ago, which has enabled me to keep my E28 in the condition it is in.
-Rod

Rod has maintained his e28 meticulously — his motto is, A car can be restored many times, but is only original once. — and I am grateful to him for applying the same level of attention to documenting what he’s done to his car over his 30 years of ownership; his website is a wealth of information about how these cars are put together and what can be done to keep them looking good and working as they were designed to. Since his car is kept immaculately clean, the detailed photos of the mechanical bits on his site are invaluable in figuring out how things should look, if it weren’t for the grease, grime and rust that are present on most every other car like his. Well, present on mine anyway!

Rod is also an inspiration to me because he maintains his car on his own, and uses his single car garage to work on it.

Reminds me of my garage in regard to size, but mine isn’t nearly as well organized. Some day…

Here are a few photos from his site to show how clean it is; probably cleaner than when he took delivery in 1983. He’s made a few modifications on it over the years… Euro headlights, front strut brace, polished & painted valve cover, etc… But overall just an excellent example of how the car should look. Nice work, Rod! Keep it up!

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This is pretty wild; wind whipping wildfires into short-lived tornado-like smoke funnels. They call them “fire tornados” or “fire whirls“, which is probably more accurate, since they probably don’t reach anywhere near the wind velocity of the real thing. Still, I’d hate to be caught in the path of something like that.

Click the go button on the video then jump ahead to 1:54 to skip over the talking heads’ chattering.

Skyfire-a dance of giants from chris tangey on Vimeo.

Well, it seems my better half has caught the BMW bug; she’s ready to offload the Ford Freestar van we’ve been driving for several years and has decided she’d like a BMW. I’m still trying to grasp the awesomeness of that; I knew I married well, but… Wow.

Anyway, she asked me to track down a few to look at, and since the Twin Cities area has a far greater selection than anywhere else within a reasonable drive, we’re planning a trip there this weekend to look at a few and maybe bring one home. The one that has really caught my eye is this 2001 X5:

2001 BMW X5 – Rare 5 Speed Manual – $7500 (S.E. Minneapolis)

2001 BMW, Sport Edition – Full Time AWD 3.0 V6 154K, in excellent condition mechanically & cosmetically.
Tires Good – All maintenance up to date – Repair Documentation available.
Tinted windows all round ( except windshield )
A/C blows cold
Sport self leveling Suspension
Upgraded Stereo with 6 Disk,
Fast & Easy fold down seats
OEM Towing package ( seldom used but great to have )
Luggage Area Cover
OEM Winter Floor Mats
18in Wheels with Sport rims
Great SUV – Fun to Drive – Peppy – Like new condition – no accidents or body putty – rust free – garaged
$7500.00 or best reasonable offer.

The seller obviously doesn’t know an I6 from a V6 (BMW has never built a V6 engine), but aside from that seems to know that this is a BMW built for the enthusiast… It looks to been special ordered with all the right boxes checked; Sport Package, 3.0 liter M54BB30 engine, 5-speed transmission, factory towing package, self-leveling suspension… I’ve corresponded a bit with the owner; sounds like he’s the second owner and has all the maintenance records since the car was new. No rust, no accidents, clean paint and interior… Looks like a great car. But considering that the NADA retail price is just a tad over $10,000 (with the optional equipment added) makes me wonder why he’s got it priced at $7,000.

We’ll have a look at the car on Saturday, if it’s still available. In talking with the seller it didn’t sound like people were beating down his door wanting to look at it, probably because of the 5-speed. I’m always amazed that so many people think a manual transmission in a car is a negative; when you consider that a manual is far more reliable and will return better gas mileage than an automatic, it seems a no-brainer, especially on a vehicle with 150,000 miles on it. But I guess the point and shoot mentality is pretty much the norm in the US today.

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This is brilliant; the President gives himself an “incomplete” as a grade for his first term. Incomplete? Isn’t that the grade a kid gets when he slacks off and doesn’t turn in his assignments? Usually an “I” is given before the end of a term and is a warning for the kid to shape up and get his work turned in.

I don’t quite get how the President made that conclusion, nor what it means in his head, but following the conventional definition of an “incomplete”, I don’t hold out much hope for him to redeem himself before the end of this term. I think when he said that, shooting from the hip, he meant his job isn’t done and is hoping for another four years to complete what he’s started. Given the state of things today, he sure doesn’t deserve another four years to prove himself; I’m confident that in November he’ll get the grade he deserves from a large majority of voters; a resounding “F“.

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And this just in; the DNC announced today that Barack’s convention speech will be held in a different venue tomorrow night. They are saying the move was prompted by the threat of thunderstorms predicted for Thursday night and concerns for safety in the 74,000 seat open-air Bank of America stadium. But given the slight chance of that (30%) it makes you wonder what the real motivation might be. Maybe the fear of a lightning strike is real, especially given the President’s tendency to stray from the truth, or maybe they’re more afraid of showing images of vast numbers of empty chairs. After all, like Mr. Eastwood showed us last week, there can be only one Empty Chair.