August 2015. I was 4 months removed from dropping out of college, 2 months removed from being fired from my first "car job" (working in a body shop) and was desperately looking for a direction. The local Pep Boys had just hired me as a Service Advisor and my lack of any car knowledge had me believing I was hours from being fired again. One Monday morning on my second or third week I was driving in thinking about how I couldn't tell a customer the previous Saturday what a tuneup would cost on his truck because I had no Idea what a tuneup was -__- . Worried about how close I was to getting fired I was driving in a haze. My focus was grabbed though when I pulled into the parking lot at work by a little grey box on wheels. This car had style, was good looking without any inherently attractive qualities and was just plain fun to look at. I asked the mechanic who was stepping out of it a few questions, specifically "what is that car?" 1990 BMW 325ix. My first e30 experience.
By November my car knowledge was much stronger, but I was looking to get my hands on a project so I could learn how to wrench. I was perusing craigslist and doing a large amount of research on the E30 and settled on purchasing a 325i or is model. There were many cars I checked out that were in very sorry shape, but one stuck with me. That original 325ix I saw. There was something cool to me about a rare version of a common car that wasn't necessarily a sporty model. So I altered my search and began looking for IX models.
In December 2015 I stumbled upon a listing on craigslist. This was the main listing photo
The car looked pretty straight and clean, but the list price was over 8 grand. Pass. Come January the car was still listed with now an OBO. I went over to the guys house after work and checked the car out.
Walking up to the car I was shocked because the body was just as clean in person. The car did have a bunch of oil leaks and the diff and trans were sweating too but I was undeterred. These were things I wanted to learn how to fix. We test drove the car, and it felt pretty decent. My heart was telling me "BUY THIS CAR NOW." I took a few days to think about it, but I knew I was buying the car. A few days later I called the owner back and we worked out a price. I ran to the bank, took out the cash, sped to the DMV and picked up the car a few days later.
I drove the car directly from the previous owners house to work. Rich, the mechanic who owned the 325ix that got me hooked on these awesome little boxes, had his E30 at work and I had to park next to him for a photo shoot.
By November my car knowledge was much stronger, but I was looking to get my hands on a project so I could learn how to wrench. I was perusing craigslist and doing a large amount of research on the E30 and settled on purchasing a 325i or is model. There were many cars I checked out that were in very sorry shape, but one stuck with me. That original 325ix I saw. There was something cool to me about a rare version of a common car that wasn't necessarily a sporty model. So I altered my search and began looking for IX models.
In December 2015 I stumbled upon a listing on craigslist. This was the main listing photo
The car looked pretty straight and clean, but the list price was over 8 grand. Pass. Come January the car was still listed with now an OBO. I went over to the guys house after work and checked the car out.
Walking up to the car I was shocked because the body was just as clean in person. The car did have a bunch of oil leaks and the diff and trans were sweating too but I was undeterred. These were things I wanted to learn how to fix. We test drove the car, and it felt pretty decent. My heart was telling me "BUY THIS CAR NOW." I took a few days to think about it, but I knew I was buying the car. A few days later I called the owner back and we worked out a price. I ran to the bank, took out the cash, sped to the DMV and picked up the car a few days later.
I drove the car directly from the previous owners house to work. Rich, the mechanic who owned the 325ix that got me hooked on these awesome little boxes, had his E30 at work and I had to park next to him for a photo shoot.
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