No, there’s no such thing as a BMW X2; today’s my birthday, so I picked two BMWs that would make perfect birthday gifts. For me. Not to be greedy or anything, but…
Both cars just happen to be for sale on mye28.com right now; first up is a 1984 European 520i. Not a lot of photos, which is always a bit of a worry with a car for sale online, but it sounds nice…
You may be thinking, “That’s no BMW? What the heck is a Triumph TR6 doing in Dave’s BMWotD category?” Yes, at first glance — aside from the Style 5 wheels — it seems very much out of place; not a single BMW Roundel to be seen anywhere, but lift the bonnet and good lordy…
There’s a lot of Bavarian in that there Brit!
I first saw this car up for sale in a most unlikely place — CraigsList — but it didn’t take long for the guys on Bring A Trailer to catch wind of it. It’s also It was listed on eBay with no bidding and a Buy-It-Now price of $40,000. That’s a lot of money, but it’s a pretty sure bet that the seller has way, way more into it than that. (note: the eBay auction/ad ended on Aug. 29; presumably because the car is sold.)
To put it mildly, this it the car of my dreams. The builder/owner’s goal of having “a virtually stock appearing TR6 that performed at insane levels while delivering exceptional reliability” is pretty much what I would have in mind if someone asked me what I would drive if money (& time) were no object. I love the looks of the TR6, but the Lucas electrics and the ’70’s British mechanicals are enough to scare off the geekiest of car freaks. That would include me. Add to that the propensity of the TR cars to rust… Since the beginnings of my infatuation with the Triumph roadsters back in high school, I’ve had a couple of opportunities to purchase a TR6, and have passed on both; neither was the right car nor the right time for me. With this car, I would definitely be on my way to Kansas City to bring this car home if it weren’t for the price tag; still not the right time I guess.
The seller’s description in the ad is lengthy, but a good read, and describes the right way to do a resto-mod to a car like this; keep the original look of the car, but make updates & improvements that will make the car more enjoyable and allow it to spend the majority of its time on the road/track rather than in the shop or waiting for parts.
Up for sale here is my labor of love for the past five years. This project started out as a 60K mile, stock, rust-free 1973 TR6 and is now configured with a BMW M3 Drive-Line with every system brought up to the 21st Century and has been driven 1,650 miles since so it’s completely sorted and ready to roll. Every nut and bolt has been removed and replaced with AN, Grade 8 or Stainless depending on their locations and requirements (I truly mean “every” nut and bolt). Every component on the undercarriage has been Powder Coated or finished with POR 15 to prevent any future degradation issues. This is not your typical Resto-Mod and I’ll try to outline all the Mods that I performed to the beast below :
- Body-Off / Nut & Bolt Restoration
- Rhino Lined Tub
- Significant Frame Strengthening
- 6-Point Roll Cage
- BMW M3 S50 (OBD1 Computer) Engine w/Modificationss
- Custom Chip from Jim Conforti
- BMW M3 5spd Transmission
- UUC Motorwerks 8.5lb Aluminum Flywheel
- Sachs HD Clutch
- UUC Motorwerks Transmission Mounts
- UUC Motorwerks Short Shifter
- Nissan R200 LSD Differential
- Custom CV-Joint Rear
- Richard Good Lowered Springs F & R
- Richard Good Sway Bars F & R
- Richard Good Adjustable Trailing Arm Mounts
- Spax Adjustable Shocks
- Toyota 4-Piston / Vented Disc Front Brakes
- Wilwood Rear Disc Brake Conversion
- Stainless Steel Brake Lines
- New Master Cylinder and Overhauled Booster
- Quick-Ratio Steering Rack
- Richard Good Aluminum Rack Mounts
- BMW/BBS 17″ 5 3-piece Wheels (style 5)
- Falken RT-615 225/45/17 Tires
- BMW M3 Radiator
- Advance Auto Wire Custom Wiring Harness
- 16 Gal Aluminum Fuel Cell
- Stainless Exhaust (w/Oxygen Sensor)
- Custom Powder Coated Bumper Bars (original bumpers included)
- Koa Wood Dash and Switch Plinth Plate
- New Crash Pads
- Miata Seats w/Heaters
- Custom Full Leather Interior w/Wilton Wool Carpets
- TR4 Soft Top Assembly
My intentions were to build a virtually stock appearing TR6 that performed at insane levels while delivering exceptional reliability. Various V8’s have found there way into these cars over the years but require many modifications that I was not willing to live with (steering geometry, firewall cutting, weight changes, etc.). While this was no mere “bolt-in” process, the net results lightened and balanced the overall car and required absolutely no changes to the steering and suspension system. It was almost as if BMW had this engine bay in mind when they designed their S50 M3 Power Plant. Engine Mods were held to Head-Work, 8.5lb Aluminum Flywheel, HD Clutch, Cold Air Intake and a custom Chip by Jim Conforti taking into account this particular application with the installed exhaust, no Cats, Intake, Oxy Sensor, Flywheel, Curb Weight and 7000 RPM Limiter. It’s absolutely ridiculous how fast this thing is.
I stripped the entire TR6 down to a pile of nuts and bolts and shipped off the tub and panels to be Soda Blasted before taking them to the body shop. This gave me the opportunity to tackle the frame and drive line. I started by having the frame sand blasted then welded in a lot of additional steel at all the known and unknown weak spots including the TSI Rear Strengthening Kit and ¼” plate added atop the rear spring mounts. Every factory weld was ground and re-welded to insure zero issues with frame cracking, twist or degradation due to the added HP and suspension modifications. I also had a local race car fabricator custom make a 6-point roll cage that ties into the frame directly via the four body mounts in the cockpit and thru the rear bulkhead and down to the aft frame sections (clears the roof). This is probably the most torsionally stable Triumph Frame you’ll ever find and the driving changes it made are very obvious. Next I coated the frame with POR15 along with all the suspension bits as it holds up much better to rock/road debris than Powder Coating. I utilized all of Richard Good’s suspension upgrades which include Lowered Springs, Sway Bars and Adjustable Trailing Arm Brackets. Due to my prior experience with Koni, I selected Spax Adjustable Shocks all the way around which once set-up match the over-all handling perfectly. I also added a new quick ratio steering rack combined with Richard Good’s Aluminum Rack Mounts and a slightly smaller diameter Leather Moto-Lita Steering Wheel. I’m in the aviation business and have access to all sorts of great hardware so all the suspension and brake nuts and bolts were replaced with AN series or Grade 8 at a minimum.
I changed out the front brakes to Toyota 4-Runner four piston calipers mated to Toyota Cressida vented rotors and for the rear I ran across a couple of guys who campaign a full-race TR6 that designed and machined a race-approved disc brake conversion kit to install Wilwood Aluminum Calipers clamping on 280 ZX Rotors. They were in process of commissioning a machine shop to make a few more sets for a new car they were building and were nice enough to have a set made up for me at the same time while sharing their engineering. This is not one of these cheap kits that come around every so often but a serious chunk of machined aluminum that has been approved for use on the track. I also had Classic Tube make a complete set of Stainless Brake lines and sent out the booster for o/h and replaced the master cylinder and filled it all w/DOT5 fluid. I installed a Wilwood lever-style brake bias adjuster which can be manipulated on the fly by the driver if you want to change the proportion of force front to rear. The hardware combined with the Bobcat pads make this TR66 stop on a dime with no wheel lock-up and much reduced fade.
The rear differential is an obvious weak spot along with the rear axles on TR6’s especially when horse power is added. I opted for the Nissan/Infiniti R200 dif as it was extremely easy to adapt to the frame, provided unquestionable strength (the dif of choice in the drifting crowd), super LSD performance and available in a ratio (3.54) between those used by the stock M3 and the full-race M3. I commissioned Kevin at Constant Velocity of Ocalla (FL) to design a set of rear axles utilizing CV-Joints and able to take the added stress of HP I was going to throw at them.
I had the entire interior, fender wells, trunk area and bottom of the tub shot by the local Rhino Liner shop after blasting and priming. This stuff totally encapsulates all the known rust areas for future protection and offered an indescribable reduction in noise and heat and increase in solidity. For the body, I chose a BMW M3 color, Imolla Red II which is a beautiful deep and slightly dark red. The body is completely assembled with Stainless Steel Fasteners to alleviate any future corrosion and they simply look nice and actual DumDum was sourced in the UK to seal the seams between the fenders/wings and tub. I shaved off the front side markers on the fenders and door locks to clean it up a little but left the original front turn signals under the grill to accommodate state laws. New front and rear light assemblies were installed too. Included are two new Bullet Mirrors for the doors which I have not installed as I preferred the look and they are not required in the State of KS. The hood / bonnet cable has been removed in favor of a direct release rod courtesy of Macy’s Garage so no worries about stuck hoods because of broken cables. No other body mods were made as I truly wanted to keep it in stock form to any on-looker.
I contacted Dan Masters of Advance Auto Wire and had him make me a custom harness for my project. The heart of the system is a power block that utilizes individual fuses for all circuits and relays for all heavy load items just as on current vehicles. All the instruments were switched to electric models from AutoMeter and incorporated with the harness. I also replaced all indicator bulbs with high output LEDs. Once I completely ran the new wiring, I removed it before termination and “snake-skinned” the entire thing. Most would have just zip-tied it all but I really can’t handle the mess associated with typical aftermarket harnesses so it truly looks stock. I have wired in a CD/Stereo unit but haven’t felt the need to cut in speakers as the note of the exhaust is all the music I needed. The wires are run so if you desire music, just add speakers. The Optima battery has been relocated to the right rear trunk area mounted in a custom keeper and a main battery cut-off switch is mounted on the firewall with the kill-key extending into the glove box for easy access. Both the fuse block and BMW computer are mounted inside the passenger foot well safe from any contact with exterior water or hazards and out of sight.
The interior is outfitted with Heated Miata Seats. They are trimmed in Tan Leather along with all the other interior panels which are piped in a contrasting brown and complimented with Wilton Wool Carpets. The window regulators, channels and seals were all replaced with new units that, believe it or not, don’t rattle. New seat belts were installed as well and included will be a set of Harnesses for track days. I never particularly liked the TR6 top mechanism as it just sits like a lump behind the seats and detracts from the clean lines of the car. I took this opportunity to modify the bows from an early TR4 as a replacement as it affords for the complete removal of the soft top for stowage in the trunk and the bows tuck out of sight behind an interior panel. I never had the intention of purposely driving the car in foul weather but did feel it important to have an emergency plan just in case I got caught out in the rain. I contacted Randy Keller of Prestige Auto Wood to craft me a custom dash laid out in the stock form but for use with the AutoMeter instruments and LED indicators. I chose Hawaiian Koa Wood for this and he also matched a panel for the switch plinth. The visors, mirrors, crash pads, windshield trim, etc. are all replaced with new. An insulated poly transmission tunnel has also been added to replace the original cardboard unit. Back in the trunk, I replaced the original fuel tank with a 16 gallon custom made aluminum unit that resides in the spare tire well. Lastly, I liberally installed Dyna Mat all over the place. When you close the doors, it sounds like a modern car’s door… solid.
The 17×8 3-piece wheels are BMW Style 5 Composites made by BBS. I sent them out to a shop in CA who specializes in wheel customization and they disassembled them, filled and re-drilled the centers for the TR6 bolt pattern, sent the centers out for powder coat and polished the rims. I was able to remove the BMW emblems from the center caps and with a little modification install the TR6 chrome emblems with red stickers in their place. I wrapped them with 225/45/17 Falken Azenis RT-615 tires which are a new class of DOT and SCCA Spec race approved tires.
Bottom-line, this is definitely one of the most unique sports cars you’ll ever come across. It was built with the idea of supreme performance and to withstand the tortures of daily driving without compromise. I wanted the illusion that this engine was factory installed so you won’t find any “bling” under the hood, all business (with the exception of the polished aluminum radiator cowling). Every single nut, bolt, washer, seal, grommet, clip, etc. was replaced on the car with new equivalents of higher grade and if a part was available new, it was replaced. I’m quite certain I’ve missed a few important points in this description but you really have to see and drive this TR6 to truly appreciate what it’s all about — Beauty — Simplicity — Performance.
FYI, I just shot these pics out in front of my house and down at my office . Also, I have this insured at its appraised value of $50K thru Hagerty’s which runs about $275 yr.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me and thanks for your interest. I don’t answer emails thru craigslist due to their spam issue. If you want more info. . .pick up the phone and give me a ring.
Dave DeWalt
Most Triumph purists will probably cringe when they see what’s been done to this car, but that doesn’t describe me nor my reaction to it. Not at all. While there are a few niggling things that I would’ve done differently (maybe some different wheels or a little more BMW in the suspension & drivetrain) this car is about as close to perfect as I can imagine. As I said, if not for the $40,000 entry fee, I would be all over this thing. Maybe in a few years I’ll try my hand at something similar… Lessee… Maybe a BMW S52-powered Alfa Romeo something-or-other? Or maybe build up a kit car with BMW suspension and drivetrain bits, just to avoid the ire of any purists. Modify a GTM Supercar with a BMW V8 or S52-six in the back along with matching BMW suspension in place of the Corvette bits, just to be different? (that could be worthy of sticking a Roundel on the body front & back, and might even fool someone into thinking it’s a factory BMW model!) Oh, the possibilities! If only I had the time and money and workspace.
Here’s a car for sale that is becoming very hard for me to pass up.
I am offering up a 1985 745i factory turbo E23. Yes it is NOT an E28 BUT the engine and turbo alone are worth the price for a conversion. And the rest of the car is decent also. A few details: Parting out OR buy the whole running driving car! Rare classic collectible euro model with factory turbo. 4 speed auto transmission, REAR DIFF, 99.9% rust-free body parts, buffalo leather interior with electric seats, working original becker radio, choice of two sets of wheels [either the 18″ M parallel replicas or the black 17″ ASAs. GREAT PARTS FOR E28s or…? WILL NOT PASS SMOG SO TECHNICALLY SELLING AS A “PARTS CAR” California buyers responsible for getting it smogged and DMV fees of $250. ONLY 2,222 FIRM!
Then the ad was updated on June 11:
PRICE LOWERED TO $1,985 FOR THE 1985 745I TURBO!As pictured with EITHER the black or 18″ silver ones OR ONLY $1,685 with a set of 14″ rollers. Somebody snatch up this car. Engine, turbo and bumpers alone worth more than that! I have registration in my name. No title unless I pay $250 in fees…
The seller — Evan, aka, BimmerBrothers — is a long-time member of mye28.com and has sold a lot of cars on the site. It’s always amazing to see what he comes up with; this car doesn’t appear to be perfect, but it’s in decent shape. And at under $2,000… I was very tempted but definitely not in a position to buy. Too bad because it sounds like the owner is prepared to part it out. Way too bad. Probably a good thing it’s a few thousand miles away from me.
The e23 745i was never sold in the US; it was sold in the European market only. Those that made it into the US did so by going through the gray-market importing process. It was the top-of-the-line luxury car sold by BMW in its day, and was equipped with a variant of the 3.2 liter inline six used in the 735i (and 533/535) but with a bunch of extra HP and torque courtesy of a 10psi intercooled turbocharger. And that makes all the difference. 249 HP and 275 ft. lbs. of torque compared to 215/224 on the normally aspirated 735i.
The process of federalizing gray market BMWs in the 1980s was inconsistently and often poorly executed; some retained the Europe-only headlights, but many others (like the one pictured) had them replaced with the 5″ US headlights. This car also suffered the ignominy of having the camper-style side marker lights added to the fenders front & back. The good news is that it was allowed to keep the original bumpers; of all the bastardizations done to this car, that would be the most difficult and expensive to reverse and get the car back to the way it ought to look. The federalizers would often require that the the Euro-style bumpers be replaced by bumpers that were found on the built-for-USA 735i, which required some nasty surgery to the front and rear valences. Others cars, like this one, got away with the Euro bumpers intact, but with a “reinforcing” piece of steel tubing or angle iron inside. Not sure what that would actually do to help, but… This one did end up with the US-approved 5″ headlights and grille in place of the true Euro headlight setup — with the 7″ low-beams. Reverting to that look would really make this car a standout, as would repainting the front end to match the rest of the car.
The sub-$2,000 price tag on this car makes it very tempting. The BronzitBeige over Buffalo-color leather interior even more so. And how fun would it be to drive a car like this back from southern California… One of these days the availability of a car like this will coincide with me being prepared to buy it, and I’ll do just that. This time, I’ll have to be content with the cars I have, and patiently wait. It builds character.
I’ve brought up the BMW e24 before, and will likely do so again (and again, and…); it is, after all, one of my favorite cars of all time. This one was listed for sale on mye28.com, but sold earlier this year. No word yet on where it ended up, but it is a very clean, very nice looking car. With an asking price of $14,000 for a 26 year old car, it had better be nice, but this thing looks like new.
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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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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.
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.
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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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.