This is my first GRM build thread! I've done three or four in the past on other sites, so I know I tend to write probably too much. I'll forgive you if you just skim for pictures.
On November 6th, Stroker posted a very innocuous ad in the $2017 classifieds...in it was a sparse description reading roughly as follows, accompanied with one picture of each of the four corners of the outside of the car.
- 1993 BMW 525i Wagon
- No rust
- Bad interior
- 5 speed manual
- No rust
- Blown head gasket.
$2000, located in Kansas City.
I am a huge fan of BMWs, especially of the 1980s through about 2000, so this naturally piqued my interest. I had 3 cars already, and just a few weeks ago bought my newest vehicle ever, kind of spur of the moment - a 1998 K1500 Silverado. Not a week after buying the truck, my DD and project for the last 5 years, my '89 Caprice wagon, broke a rocker stud. Further investigation also showed that I had cracked one of the heads (the other is still TBD), and I was already trying to decide what to do about its dire need of rust repair and concerning lack of available replacement/restoration parts. I've put a lot of time and money into that wagon over the last few years, and while fun, it is a daunting task. The broken rocker and cracked head basically killed any motivation I had left, combined with now having a truck that gets better fuel economy and does all the truck stuff much better than the wagon.
So this 5 series that I don't need pops up, and because I'm annoyed, I text the seller. We go over some very basic stuff, like what is actually wrong with the car, and I get a very basic story. Essentially, something in the cooling system broke, it overheated, and blew the head gasket. It will run long enough to get it on a trailer, though. The owner bought it from Texas 6 years ago, and is just ready to move on. He sent pics of the interior that proved that, even though the outside looked great, it was really torn up inside.
I figured what the hell, I'll offer $1500, because that's in the ballpark of what it is going to take to just fix the engine in the Chevy wagon. Makes sense, right?
He said yes.
Well crap. This car is in Kansas City. I'm in Indiana. That's 8 hours of driving each way. I know, though, that if I let this one go, I'm going to kick myself. I talk to my boss to see what I can do about vacation, since I'm booked on weekends for the next three weeks, and the owner needs the car gone within a week and a half. I work out a way to get time off, and send one final text to the seller: If you'll take my offer and I can get it the morning of the 11th, we have a deal. He said that's fine, and that I didn't need to send him a deposit or anything. I was a little surprised, but said okay. He took the ad down, and I rented myself a U-Haul.
At this point I should say something about the tow vehicle. It's a 1998 K1500 Z71 (this matters because big OD tires) with 3.42 gears, a 4l60E, and 172k miles. I had owned it, at this point, for about 3 weeks, and had never really taken it on a trip longer than 40 minutes. Even if the purchase weren't interesting, the trip would be, in a totally unproven vehicle.
Fortunately my concerns were unfounded. On the 8 hour drive there, it cruised, locked in OD, at 75+ mph and returned a rather impressive 13.8 mpg average towing the 2000 lb U-haul trailer. It rode nice, never faltered, didn't give me a headache, and didn't even make my back sore. Definitely validated its purchase, which was also kind of an impulse buy. I must say, that truck really impressed me.
My personal award on arrival to KC:
At one point I had an 1992 Subaru SVX, so I thought it was pretty cool to see one parked at my hotel:
And that takes me to last night. I didn't eat lunch today, so I'm going to go make myself a massive dinner. I promise I'll actually post pictures of the subject of the thread when I get back.