I did it again, I bought another one
Hello, my name is Simon and Im an addict. I have a problem. I try hard, but I usually get bored with cars after about a year, some last longer, some less. I've been chasing this dream car, which I dont really know what it is. Its a car that can be daily driven, be fun to drive, be powerful and get good mpg and be legal... oh and reliable too. No problem, right?
The Cirrusblau car was great but after a few "don't bite the hand that feeds you" episodes, our relationship wasn't the same. I was looking around again. By chance another r3ver was looking for a daily so we traded PMs, then texts and ultimately met up and that was it. Sold it and was on the hunt again.
Now being daily-driver-less I had a few cars in mind, and I will save you the headache of hearing that nonsense. Ultimately, the day started with asking my friend, "Are you down for an adventure?" and led to me buying a last minute, one-way train ticket from Anaheim to San Diego with a pocket full of cash.
Ex to the next
I had been chatting with a woman in San Diego about her 1986 325e. It sounded like the 100% original car I had been wanting. Same requirements as the last car. 4 door, 325, and as original as possible. This was it. Paint is cosmosblau and all original. It had been garaged for most of its life, but after she stopped driving it, it was moved outside and the paint started to go. The roof is pretty much toast, but I was hoping I could save the hood and trunk.
How about some pics now? We'll start with the craigslist pics.
There was a few more, but they weren't very good. Lots of hints as to what I might find when I arrived. While sitting on the train heading south, I made a gameplan of what I would do if this worked out, and also if it didnt!..
Obviously a 5-speed swap would be high on the list and I still have this strong desire to build a 2.8L M20. I'll probably do both at the same time. The other thing that needed to be done would be suspension and I had a feeling the SSRs would look great on this thing. It was all within reach, and I'd have some spare cash for registration and other surprises.
After arriving in Old Town San Diego, I took a hike up to her place in Mission Hills. We greeted each other, she was a nice 70 year old woman. She handed me to keys and let me take it for a spin. I drove it alone... it was slow and had some obvious issues, but what else would you expect with it being an original 33 year old car with about 110k on it. She had the records going back to the original owner (she was the 2nd owner for the last 20 years) and was looking for someone to take good care of the car. She had refused to sell it a few times because the people coming to buy didnt seem like the right buyer. I was the right buyer.
After the purchase was made, I took the slow cruise up I5 back to LA on an 8 year old timing belt that had only seen ~5k miles. Slow and steady she goes.
Made it home with no issues.
I think I found a keeper.
Mission complete.
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