An Alpine Love Affair - 08/1991 M-Technic cabrio resurrection

[e30austin]

Sorry for all the shitty pics. I hope to have a bit of time to give this car a proper shoot this week. It's really starting to come along. I'm excited about this car more than all my others.

[Henna30]

That hard top looks pretty darn nice on there! Wonder where that came from...... :)

[e30austin]

Heh. Some goofball in Puyallup...he's pretty alright, I guess :)

[325ix]

I really like the hardtop and Alpina wheels. It completely changes the look of the car.

[e30austin]

Nothing much new here. I will get out and take some real pics of it soon.

The fate of this car has been up in the air for a few weeks. I finally got around to registering it; it was low on my priority list since I had never even driven it until about a month ago. I bought the car with lost title paperwork from the original owner. He claimed he lost it in a move, along with all the service history since new... :( what he didn't tell me is that it was the original title that once had had a lien on it and DMV had no idea that it was ever paid off...

I confirmed it was his name on the title, no big deal. The car sat from July-January until I went and got a temporary permit and started driving it. After working out all the little bugs and getting it to pass smog (which it did, with flying colors), I went to the DMV and presented my paperwork. The counterman said "well, hold on here, there appears to be a lien on the title". What?!?! He tells me when it was from 1992, so I can only assume it was when the car was new. He told me which bank it was from, so I went down there with my little piece of paper (form of lien satisfaction) and asked to talk to a manager. This guy was a real prick and refused to help me since it's "giving out personal information". Uh, not really...all I want is you to sign this paper saying that the lien has been satisfied. He was of zero help.

I decide to give the original owner a call. He answered and appeared to be willing to help over the phone. I told him what he needed to do and said he would do it the next day. A week goes by with unanswered texts and calls. Great. I go back to DMV and inform them of what happened and the counterman tells me to try a different bank branch. I figure it's worth a shot before I go putting a mechanic's lien on it (really didn't want to deal with that). I went to the second closest branch to me and got an incredibly helpful manager who got me my lien satisfaction paperwork within 5 business days.

Ran straight to DMV, gave them my $330 and got this goddamn thing registered.

Oh, and "MTECH2" plates are on their way too :)

I'm undecided on what to do about the wheel situation. I want something different, but I'm not sure what to do. Opinions? I would really like a set of Azev Type A, but they don't come up for sale very often :/

[shameson]

I've been wanting Azev A's for awhile. Check German eBay dude, I've seen staggered 16" sets come up for about $500-600. Just have to find someone willing to ship here though

[e30austin]

Decided to change it up a bit. The car just looked too much like Darin's

16x9 et15 Azev Type A in meh shape overall. Paid too much for them and waited forever for them to show up, but they were what I wanted. Got them on and decided the car needed more low, so off the lowtec setup came and on went a set of GAZ Gold coilovers. The car needs a proper shoot in so many ways now...and a new front spoiler. Hoping to have that stuff addressed before picnic.

[kronus]

what do you think of the GAZ Golds? did you go with full coilover rear or separate shock/spring?

I have a set on my z3 and like 'em a lot, fwiw.

[e30austin]

I got them used from a buddy. His complaints are the same as mine - the low speed dampening in the rear sucks. They've been to GAZ for a rebuild/inspection twice and still, the issue exists. Anything under 25 mph rattles my kidneys and makes me feel like I'm going to piss myself. They're separate rears and for what I paid for them, I'm happy. The quality is really nice. The camber plates were the nicest part of the whole deal. No popping or clicking like the garbage GC plates I have on my other cars.