Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[DEV0 E30]

I love this thread, your updates, and your photography Mike. Classy as always.

[mike.bmw]

I almost forgot...

Here's a short piece on Turbofans: https://bimmerlife.com/2022/08/21/tu...-best-hubcaps/

DSC_0079 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Yikes, has it been three months already? I've been a little busy... Family, my regular job, events, editor of BimmerLife.com and co-editor of der Bayerische magazine.

I've been driving my E30 a lot. Next week I'll be attending a three-day tour event a few states north with the BMW Classic CCA. Should be fun.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the East E30 Picnic with some friends. What a great event! Check out the October Roundel magazine for a piece about that event. Here are some shots from the drive and event:

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I swapped my custom E30 Sport Wheel for a 350mm Momo Prototipo. Read more about that here: https://bimmerlife.com/2022/09/12/to...-a-big-impact/

DSC_0159 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I built an E30 M3 Lego and then did a mini photo shoot with Brandon Wheaton's E30 M3. Check out the feature here: https://bimmerlife.com/2022/09/12/bm...motoren-werke/

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Check out my other weekly stories here: https://bimmerlife.com/author/mike-bevels/

I swapped out my polished hexes for a set of black ones. Just to change up the look a bit:

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Tried some light painting:

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Other than that, I've been knocking out some maintenance items on my 318iS. Oil changes, fluid flushes, and the like.

[moatilliatta]

Its awesome seeing the photos on a monitor with better resolution than on social media. Great shots. Heck post em all up!

Id like to do the one lap one year..

[Tzantushka]

Very nice.
I never get tired of your pics - keep em coming!

[mike.bmw]

But wait, there's more!

I got to drive Mike's (another one) s54-swapped E30 M3. He and his co-driver, Neil Simon, recently won the Vintage Class at One Lap of America in this car. It's a hoot to drive and puts down almost exactly three times the power of my 318is.

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[mike.bmw]

Hello! Time for my monthly check in.

I went to The Vintage from May 19th to 22nd (my second time). I took my daughter this year. We had a blast and I couldn't be happier that she enjoyed the tip. Over 1,500 miles in four days and the 318is was fantastic. The A/C could blow a little colder, but other than that I have no complaints. I wrote a piece for BMW Classic CCA's The Ultimate Classic about our father-daughter road trip, which will come out in their next issue.

I'm also very excited to be joining the BMW CCA's BimmerLife online team. More to come on my role there, but I'll be contributing lots of content.

DSC_0093 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Here's something E30 related that I published this week - Ashley Wrigley's E30 Touring Stars at The Vintage: https://bimmerlife.com/2022/05/31/as...t-the-vintage/

And another story about a special visit to BMW North America's newest Vehicle Distribution Center: https://bimmerlife.com/2022/05/24/bm...-center-visit/

Enough about that, onto photos from The Vintage!

Caravanning from Virginia to Asheville, NC:
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Spotting cars en route. Yes, it's real.
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BMW CCA Foundation's The Ultimate Driving Museum. The Power of M exhibit! See my preview of the exhibit in the current issue of The Ultimate Classic.
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BMW Zentrum (I brought a tripod just for this!):
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Caravan to The Vintage. We drove The Rattler. Awesome road!
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Avery putting in work:
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E9s:
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Ducks:
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Beauty:
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First and last US VIN'd E30 M3s:
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I'm leaving a lot out, but it's an awesome event. We were busy sun up to sun down. Next year I may take both my daughter and son!

[Reichart12]

Your photos are always killer. I'm always impressed by how many different photo locations you find to take your e30 to.

[mike.bmw]

Photos... I've been taking a lot of photos lately. Check out my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mike.bevels/

I especially like panning shots. I take hundreds of these every weekend. Getting the shutter speed as low as possible while keeping the car crisp is a fun challenge.

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And of course I still find time to take photos of my E30.

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And I've been covering some local events which has been fun as well.

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One more thing! Check out the latest issue of der Bayerische - I took the cover shot for this issue. https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/derB...2022/index.php

[mike.bmw]

A little Vintage prep, I guess...

I decided to order some Akebono EUR493 front brake pads and new Zimmerman rotors. I had been running a set of stock Textar pads and Zimmerman rotors for the last few years. Multiple sets in fact (because track days). The dust was out of control for street driving. I had also developed a little front-end shimmy when braking, likely from uneven pad deposits from previous track days. Re-bedding the pads didn't fix this issue and the blank Zimmerman rotors are cheap, so I just replaced them.

These are the same Akebono compound that is on my F31 with M Sport brakes. Pedal feel is good, initial bite is good, and stopping distance is decent. It takes a little longer to stop and a little more pressure than with the stock Textar pads, but totally worth it for NO DUST. I put a bunch of miles on my car over the weekend and there was NO DUST on my wheels.

My son, Carter, helped me out with this (he's turning 5 soon). I had applied anti seize on everything the last time I did this job, so everything came apart very easily. Start to finish it took less than an hour, including cleaning the barrels of the front wheels.

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[mike.bmw]

I saw some of these photos earlier and they are fantastic! Wish I’d known about this; I’m down in Richmond and would have loved to join. Next year!

Keep an eye out for next year! It'll be end of May or early April depending on when the trees bloom. We'll have a formal registration process/website next year as well.

Man, that looked like a great event with great scenery! Id rock the event if wasn't in pieces.

It was a lot of fun! Thanks! 17 days until I travel to Asheville for the Vintage!

[moatilliatta]

Man, that looked like a great event with great scenery! Id rock the event if wasn't in pieces.

[blalor]

I saw some of these photos earlier and they are fantastic! Wish I’d known about this; I’m down in Richmond and would have loved to join. Next year!

[mike.bmw]

Well, the 2022 Cherry Blossom Run was a success. Another E30 owner, Jorge, and I planned the event in less than a couple of weeks. We had 30 E30s, a bunch of other classic BMWs, and over 60 BMWs in total. Quite a step up from only nine cars the first year (2021). My article in Roundel magazine really piqued some interest for another event in 2022.

E30Mob (look them up on IG and FB) came from North Jersey, which was awesome. Others came from out of state and stayed in hotels. It was great meeting so many new people and catching up with friends.

We started before sunrise in Tysons Corner, VA. We cruised into Washington DC by sunrise. We drove around the Tidal Basin, lined with cherry blossom trees, which were in peak bloom. After staging the cars for photos, we headed to Urbano restaurant at Mosaic District in Fairfax, VA. Urbano opened just for us and even had a special menu. Mosaic District closed the main street just for us to have a car show. It was an incredible morning! Thanks so much to everyone that attended.

I've posted a bunch of photos on Instagram, but here are a few that summarize the event well. Stay tuned for a full article coming out later this year. Already looking forward to the 2023 Cherry Blossom Run!

DSC_0281 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

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[mike.bmw]

Hopefully in two days I'll be posting about what a huge success the 2022 Cherry Blossom Run was. In the meantime - shots from today's dry run.

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