The Car:
1978 320i
Fjord Blue(Repainted) on Navy Blue?
158,000 miles
4 speed, m10
Spider infected.
The Plan:
Clean, clean, clean and clean. 10 years of dirt is more than I've ever seen on a car. I hope to get the car to run so I can potentially use as a DD while I swap my m60 in my e30. That, or I clean and restore it enough to sell for funding for the m60 swap. I'll know more as time continues.
The Backstory:
I was driving around one winter day, and saw this e21 sitting in someone's yard. Dirt and snow covered the car, and the hood was popped open. I drove away with a picture on my phone, and over the next two months, the thought of getting an e21 was burning a hole in my head. I mean its blue (favorite color) and OEM gold wheels, what’s not to love.
A month ago I went back to the house to see if it was still there and to show my friend it, and we decided to go talk to the owners.
The wife answered the door, and we told her we were fans of old BMW’s and wanted to know if we could look at the car a little. Soon after she told us that she wanted to get rid of it for a while, and I responded with “well if you want to get rid of it, we’d be happy to take it for free!” And she said “Yeah! Just let me talk it over with my husband.”
We went back next weekend and knocked on the door again. The wife said her husband wanted to get $1000 for it, but she’d like it gone. She also told us that the husband went to get a part for it ten years ago, never got the part, and it sat in the same spot until yesterday (3-29). We talked the husband out of his insanity and got the e21 for free!
So long story short we towed it to my house, and started to dig into the car. 10 years does a lot of wear on a car. Thankfully the car sat under a tree so the paint was in pretty good condition.
The car has no key. BMW cannot get me a key. I will be going to a friend with e21's all over the place to get a key and tumblers/ignition from him this weekend (4-11)
There are spiders everywhere. Spider count is 27 so far. We haven’t removed any panels or opened the trunk yet.
I don’t like spiders much.
Spiders live in between the rear wheels and the drum brakes.
There is moss growing all over the rear (or was I should say because I cleaned most of it off).
The interior is in shambles. The rear seat back is disintegrated, and the front seats are headed that way.
The tires are probably all shot, and the engine needs a whole refresh. All the rubber hoses need to be replaced and probably all the fuel lines and tank for all I know.
Pictures are below so you can see for yourself what I’ve gotten myself into.
I'm interested to see where this goes.
Cleaned up way nicer than I expected!
You might want to close your eyes for this next part
One wheel "clean" haha
After wash number one!
Semi-vaccumed as I was still too scared to get in it because of the spiders
One seat removed
Cleaned a door panel. They are pristine except for the aftermarket stereo install.
Cleaned seat.
I love the blue sooo much!
After I found out BMW couldn't get me a key (The trunk was locked) my brother decided to drill out the rear lock to get into the trunk, since it had to be opened anyways to install the new set of locks. My suspicions were proved correct when we got it open that there used to be subs in the trunk! Too bad someone removed them before I got to it.
There was a whip, interior bits, a bunch of tapes, and an oem hood bra!
Disappointing sub box
Most junk removed
Clean trunk! I was pleasantly surprised to find very little rust in the trunk.
More updates to come as I question my sanity!
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