Not too long ago, I see a car pop up for sale on FirstFives which piques my interest. 1981 M535i in Denver. Hmmm. I send the seller a PM. Then he posted up a CL ad, which got posted here a few times. I responded to the ad, saying I PMed him on First Fives, etc. Gave him my number and asked if he'd call me. I also asked a couple of questions about rust in certain locations among others. He responded answering my questions and said he'd take more rust photos for me. Crickets. I start to think the car sold and figured, oh whatever. I should just stick to finding that E28.
Then - surprisingly - I get a phone call from a 303 number. I knew that was Denver, so I dropped everything (literally dropped something) and answered the phone. He said who he was "Guy with the BMW for sale" and I asked if it was still available and he said yes. I said I wanted the car and he said that he had a couple of local people coming up to see it the next day...and I knew what was going to follow, so I nipped it in the bud and asked what I had to do to get the car and he said he needed cash, so I sent him PayPal.
I arranged for transport and thanks to a tip from Mark (alpinamotorsport), I contracted with Lamb Autotransports out of Denver. They quoted me less to bring me the car than it would cost for me to rent a vehicle one-way, not to mention fuel, etc. The only issue was that the car didn't run, which didn't seem to bother them so long as there was someone at each end who could help load/unload. I ordered it last Monday and the car was picked up Monday afternoon.
I received the title and spare keys via FedEx yesterday and by the time night fell, I figured i'd see the car sometime today. Got a call last night at about 8pm and the truck was very close, asking if I could take it tonight or tomorrow. I had the car in the driveway at about 8:45.
The thing that has bugged me since purchase was what the rear of the car was like rust-wise. I knew that there's a fender needing replacement, and a small hole behind the left fender in the rocker. I never received any GOOD, clear photos of the car, and since I already agreed to buy the car, etc, I'm not going to waste the seller's time asking him to show me photos, so instead I'll get really stressed out wondering if I got a decent candidate or a parts car.
To my surprise, there's some minor rust on the dogleg behind the RR door, but nothing in any of the wheel wells and "the screwdriver test" was successful. There's some tiny spots here and there, like around the tail lamps and a couple spots in the rear valance. It had a light impact in the front end some time ago, as there's some filler on the hood and such, but everything I can see suggests it's nice and straight underneath.
The rear spoiler is a bit knackered, so I wonder if there's a way to restore it as they are of course, NLA. The front airdam is missing the center support, which holds it away from the car, which is why it appears a bit warped. The part is appearing NLA, so hopefully I can get some measurements and fab my own (simply putting a 90° twist in a metal bar). Interestingly, this car only has a drivers side mirror. Apparently, that's very rare. There's no indication of the car ever having two mirrors, as it has the single mirror switch and the correct blanking plate is installed on the RF door. Looking at photos on the M Registry, it's not the only one, but it is rare.
Inside, the steering wheel is there along with one Recaro. It has the correct base, etc. The seat does actually appear to be the same as an E21 seat. More measurements, etc will sort that out. It felt surprisingly familiar getting in last night. It has some sort of aftermarket AC, so I'm going to see what I can do about putting "factory" AC in the car, though it didn't come that way. I do live in Phoenix and have a lot of R12. Need lots of interior parts, but the headliner is in nice shape. The car also has no sunroof, which is awesome. Power windows, which isn't so awesome, but that means I can get lots of stuff off of US cars, though they're generally trashed as a rule. All Euro instrumentation is there sans the speedometer.
I have all five original wheels, and the jack, etc. The toolkit is rather empty, but I've got a nice, complete E12 kit with the rag on the shelf above my workbench.
Mechanically, it doesn't run at this time. It did a couple months ago. I've spent the last two weeks reading about L-Jet. Looking into the fuel tank (which doesn't have the hacked-in reducer), I don't see any gasoline in there. Of course, the combo relay looks like it was given a bronze star in WWII. I had to replace all of the fuses since the amperages were all wrong (people forget colors), but it's got the euro lid. It's pissing brake fluid in my driveway (which is why there is cardboard in the photos). That leak is definitely coming from the master cylinder. It was very fun pulling it off the truck last night with no brakes. The handbrake isn't so fantastic. Anyway, the car has the M90 and the dogleg and a S3.07 sideloader. According to the seller, everything ran smoothly and very well. The exhaust on the car looks pretty good, but with the way it's hanging, I think it might be a US exhaust. Also, the tailpipes are a bit on the long side.
I didn't get any photos unloading the car, but here's some I took this morning in the driveway. I haven't started cleaning it yet. Not sure if my mother has seen the car yet. I told my father to expect a problem.
So, there it is.
I like it. Looks like a massive undertaking, hopefully it's not hiding anything worse. L-Jet is a piece of cake, and I can loan you my Bosch binder if you need. I might even have some spare bits for it lying around.
I don't know, but I may think about it.