I am always looking for something. Most of the time I don't know what that is, but I seem to find it anyways.
Last week's flavor of the month happened to find me through a friend. I get a text a few nights ago about a BMW 1600 for sale locally. The seller put up the worst photos and knew nothing about the car (it belonged to his father) and posted the ad in California, while living in Phoenix.
I write the seller an email, and get another friend of mine to write one to, giving us more exposure to the potential purchase. Seller ends up calling my buddy and we set up a meeting.
This thing has been sitting in a garage for the last 12 years, and hasn't been regularly driven in almost 20. It was buried under 6 feet of boxes, but we were determined to roll it out of the garage to get a better visual on this thing. We were shocked at what we found.
After we rolled it out:
Original 1971 Atlantik Blue 1600. This is one of the last 1600s to make it stateside.
I agreed to pay full asking price and had it towed the next day to Doctor Detail in Costa Mesa, Ca. Doctor Detail provides a unique service where they put the car on a lift and give the undercarriage and engine bay a deep clean using steam cleaning technologies. He did an excellent job. I didn't have any before photos of the engine bay or undercarriage unfortunately.
This is immediately after Doctor Detail
I had the car delivered to a secret location and put together a to do list. At the top of my priorities was to get the car running. We put a little oil in the spark plug holes and a little seafoam through the a vacuum hose. We cranked it over but it wasn't starting! We ran a few simple tests and determined that we weren't getting any spark. The next door neighbor then stops by and switches two wires around (putting power to the coil) and the car fired right up! She was a hot mess with how much smoke was coming out but we didn't mind (the engine has to burn the spark plug oil and the seafoam).
Super stoked at this point, so we switched gears for a minute. We started washing the car inside and out and began putting together a plan of attack on how to bring the paint back.
She's a mess. I really wish the primer wasn't on the driver's side. I love the patina that this car as accrued over it's lifetime and now I have to do something about that primer section on the rear quarter panel. Still debating if I want to go full paint and bodywork (I'd rather paint over the primer, then try to blend in, create a synthetic patina that matches the rest of the car, if possible).
This will be my surf car now. Might as well make her look the part.
We got the windows nice and clean, and began sorting out the interior. The dash is cracked, both front seats are destroyed, and pieces of carpet is missing and worn completely through. Not to worry, surf car.
Pretty windows, all original glass:
Almost no rust. (Rust in the spare tire well is only surface. No holes.
Interior BEFORE shots:
Continue Cleaning:
Those surf racks I originally was looking for:
I left a few parts out. Mainly that this car belonged to a famous mayor's brother in an Orange County city and the bullet hole. Yes, a bullet hole. It entered through the hood, put a nice big hole through the firewall, and even through the front cowl directly below the front windshield. Must have been a big bullet.
Previous owner said that it happened while in Compton, Ca. Go figure.
After a little bit of cleaning and playing with rubbing compounds (not really), we go from this:
to this:
I'll have more pictures in the coming days. I created this thread to help me keep track of what I've done.
This car came with an original 1.6l m10 engine. That's like 85hp. STOKED.
To be continued!
Sorry about the poor story telling. I surfed all day. If anyone keeps track, there is a huge swell hitting the west coast right now. Waves were 6-8 feet all day today and will be bigger in the next few days. If you've ever been destroyed by an 8 foot wave (heavy heavy), you'd take the next few hours very slowly too.
Last week's flavor of the month happened to find me through a friend. I get a text a few nights ago about a BMW 1600 for sale locally. The seller put up the worst photos and knew nothing about the car (it belonged to his father) and posted the ad in California, while living in Phoenix.
I write the seller an email, and get another friend of mine to write one to, giving us more exposure to the potential purchase. Seller ends up calling my buddy and we set up a meeting.
This thing has been sitting in a garage for the last 12 years, and hasn't been regularly driven in almost 20. It was buried under 6 feet of boxes, but we were determined to roll it out of the garage to get a better visual on this thing. We were shocked at what we found.
After we rolled it out:
Original 1971 Atlantik Blue 1600. This is one of the last 1600s to make it stateside.
I agreed to pay full asking price and had it towed the next day to Doctor Detail in Costa Mesa, Ca. Doctor Detail provides a unique service where they put the car on a lift and give the undercarriage and engine bay a deep clean using steam cleaning technologies. He did an excellent job. I didn't have any before photos of the engine bay or undercarriage unfortunately.
This is immediately after Doctor Detail
I had the car delivered to a secret location and put together a to do list. At the top of my priorities was to get the car running. We put a little oil in the spark plug holes and a little seafoam through the a vacuum hose. We cranked it over but it wasn't starting! We ran a few simple tests and determined that we weren't getting any spark. The next door neighbor then stops by and switches two wires around (putting power to the coil) and the car fired right up! She was a hot mess with how much smoke was coming out but we didn't mind (the engine has to burn the spark plug oil and the seafoam).
Super stoked at this point, so we switched gears for a minute. We started washing the car inside and out and began putting together a plan of attack on how to bring the paint back.
She's a mess. I really wish the primer wasn't on the driver's side. I love the patina that this car as accrued over it's lifetime and now I have to do something about that primer section on the rear quarter panel. Still debating if I want to go full paint and bodywork (I'd rather paint over the primer, then try to blend in, create a synthetic patina that matches the rest of the car, if possible).
This will be my surf car now. Might as well make her look the part.
We got the windows nice and clean, and began sorting out the interior. The dash is cracked, both front seats are destroyed, and pieces of carpet is missing and worn completely through. Not to worry, surf car.
Pretty windows, all original glass:
Almost no rust. (Rust in the spare tire well is only surface. No holes.
Interior BEFORE shots:
Continue Cleaning:
Those surf racks I originally was looking for:
I left a few parts out. Mainly that this car belonged to a famous mayor's brother in an Orange County city and the bullet hole. Yes, a bullet hole. It entered through the hood, put a nice big hole through the firewall, and even through the front cowl directly below the front windshield. Must have been a big bullet.
Previous owner said that it happened while in Compton, Ca. Go figure.
After a little bit of cleaning and playing with rubbing compounds (not really), we go from this:
to this:
I'll have more pictures in the coming days. I created this thread to help me keep track of what I've done.
This car came with an original 1.6l m10 engine. That's like 85hp. STOKED.
To be continued!
Sorry about the poor story telling. I surfed all day. If anyone keeps track, there is a huge swell hitting the west coast right now. Waves were 6-8 feet all day today and will be bigger in the next few days. If you've ever been destroyed by an 8 foot wave (heavy heavy), you'd take the next few hours very slowly too.
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