I downloaded the latest Nordstrom’s vehicle list last night, and for once there was a new addition to the BMW section…
1991 BMW 735i, RED, 4DR, 3.5L, AT4, BAD MOTOR
Cool — another e32! My first thought was about whether there were any parts I could grab from it. The “BAD MOTOR” part told me that it wasn’t wrecked and hood might be a possibility. But the “BAD MOTOR” part also told me it was probably a Cash For Clunkers victim, and made me wonder if it was the same poor unfortunate I had seen at Graham Automotive last summer… I decided I’d head over to check it out the first chance I had.
Well, this afternoon’s weather was better than was forecast, so I went. And sure enough, that was the very same car. A little rougher around the edges, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same car.
The car has only been on the yard for a couple of days, and hasn’t even been moved into one of the lanes yet, but it’s already been picked over pretty heavily. The passenger door was gone, two of the door panels had been taken off, who knows what parts had been scavenged, lots of stuff gone from under the hood, tool kit emptied, dents & scratches all over… And of course the engine is toast, as is anything in the engine that would’ve been touched by the sodium silicate. Life in the yard is hard, especially for a Clunkers victim.
There were a couple of parts that I needed from under the car, but couldn’t get because it was still sitting on its wheels. I’ll have to come back for them. I did manage to get a coolant level sensor — mine has been reporting a low coolant level ever since replacing the coolant expansion tank two weeks ago — and a new glovebox — mine is missing a couple of pieces and doesn’t like to close without a fight — and a lower dash kick panel to replace the slightly ratty one in mine. I was surprised to find that the driver’s side floor mat was in decent shape, and it matched the color of the mats in my car, so I grabbed that as well. There were a couple of other guys grabbing parts off of it too. They didn’t care that it was a BMW at all; they were after speakers & stereo gear. I felt like chasing them off, but I guess it’s not my car…
While finding a car like that in the self-serve salvage yard, and being able to scavenge some parts from it is nice, knowing what that car looked like before and seeing what it’s become kinda breaks my heart a little. The car was incredibly well preserved; all of the interior bits were in good shape, and there was no rust on the car. If it weren’t for that stupid Cash For Clunkers program, that car would still be on the road. What a shame.
