Buddy was wondering if I was interested in it. But alas I'm not majorly as it needs some body work.
It has a lot of eu stuff but it's a project.
It has a lot of eu stuff but it's a project.
Yes I still have the car. Every spring, I go through the 'should I restore it or sell it' dilemma. But its been over 10 years, so I think its time to sell it. I did start the 'restore' process last year, and got it running, but then my Lotus motor blew, so this summer, my focus will be on the Lotus first.
Its an Orange with green velour interior 81 745i, with front and rear BBS wings, and an Alpina suspension. Has about 85k-90k miles on it. I'm the 2nd and a half owner. It was a CA car and I don't think its ever been driven in the snow.
The original owner brought it in, German guy in Sacramento I think. He passed away in the early 90s, with about 75k on the car. The car sat around in the sun, then his widow sold it to a friend in San Jose, who bought it for his daughter. She did not like it and did not use it, so it sat in his gargage for about 5 years, till I found it in 1999. He did get the tranny 3speed rebuilt.
At the time, my wife was working in CA, and I was in CT, so I bought it to use for the 1-2 weeks per month (non commuting, just for errands and weekends) I was in CA. I serviced it, changed all the fluids to synths, and used it for about a year, Its a blast to drive - the Alpina suspension (and steering wheel) make it handle like a 3 series. I used a race a Ferrari up Montebello road every so often with my 2yr old strapped in the back).
Anyway, in 2000, we moved back, and the car came back to CT, where its just been sitting in my driveway and sometimes in my garage, for years at a time. At that point, I was up to 8 cars, now I'm down to 5, and I work at home, so I don't think I drive even 2k miles per year anymore, so its not gotten any use since then.
So, the good:
- Alpina suspension, I think oversize Alpina gas tank too, Alpina steering wheel (needs restoration)
- low original mileage, drivetrain in great condition. Brakes/ABS working fine, need bleeding.
- rebuilt tranny
- last time I looked, no structural rust - ie floorplans, or strut towers
- new cat
The not-so-good:
- paint is faded. A wash and wax make it look decent from 20 feet, but, it should be repainted
- rust in a few places. Drivers door lower panel, front fender, rear windscreen, rear trunk gasket area (the rear windscreen/trunk rust - they all do that - my 88 m5, and 86 635, and all my e12s had this issue).
- windows all slow or stuck - needs de- and re-greasing of all the window and sunroof motors and channels.
- Its always suffered from hard cold starting. I had a hard time starting it last year, so I drilled into this. The problem is the fuse box connector. After cleaning it and de-oxit-ing it last summer, it worked great, but its happening again, so I would want to tighten and clean these connectors before using it for regular use.
- coolant sensor guage not working. I got a new sendor, thats not the problem.
- Right now, the speedo is intermittent as well. The odo might have died too. I think I got the speedo working last summer.
- A lot of electrical connectors should be de-oxidised and cleaned. Will probably get more functions working. Windows could be this too - I cleaned the window push buttons on my M5 and it fixed them all, when I restored that before selling it.
- AC never worked since I got it. I've never charged it to look into this.
- I think the vacuum buttons on the dash work, and pushing them makes the airflow move around. But I think the interior blower fan is intermittent. The fan itself works, its the switch or electronics. Might need to rebuilt the fan swicth.
- Mice got into it via the trunk, I cleaned it out last year, but they made a mess of the trunk carpets etc.
So, the bottom line is that its a project. I bought it for 7k, spent a bunch of money with mechanics and dealers debugging the start condition, resulting in fuel pumps and various other things getting replaced. I must have 10k in it. I also have a bunch of manuals and a german fiche and a fiche reader.
A few pics attached. One if from last summer when I got it going again, and washed it to celebrate.
I'd like to get $2000 for it (with a set of steel rims, the BBS wheels in the last pic are not included).
Please thank your friend for me, for the lead. I'm in Stamford, CT.
Its an Orange with green velour interior 81 745i, with front and rear BBS wings, and an Alpina suspension. Has about 85k-90k miles on it. I'm the 2nd and a half owner. It was a CA car and I don't think its ever been driven in the snow.
The original owner brought it in, German guy in Sacramento I think. He passed away in the early 90s, with about 75k on the car. The car sat around in the sun, then his widow sold it to a friend in San Jose, who bought it for his daughter. She did not like it and did not use it, so it sat in his gargage for about 5 years, till I found it in 1999. He did get the tranny 3speed rebuilt.
At the time, my wife was working in CA, and I was in CT, so I bought it to use for the 1-2 weeks per month (non commuting, just for errands and weekends) I was in CA. I serviced it, changed all the fluids to synths, and used it for about a year, Its a blast to drive - the Alpina suspension (and steering wheel) make it handle like a 3 series. I used a race a Ferrari up Montebello road every so often with my 2yr old strapped in the back).
Anyway, in 2000, we moved back, and the car came back to CT, where its just been sitting in my driveway and sometimes in my garage, for years at a time. At that point, I was up to 8 cars, now I'm down to 5, and I work at home, so I don't think I drive even 2k miles per year anymore, so its not gotten any use since then.
So, the good:
- Alpina suspension, I think oversize Alpina gas tank too, Alpina steering wheel (needs restoration)
- low original mileage, drivetrain in great condition. Brakes/ABS working fine, need bleeding.
- rebuilt tranny
- last time I looked, no structural rust - ie floorplans, or strut towers
- new cat
The not-so-good:
- paint is faded. A wash and wax make it look decent from 20 feet, but, it should be repainted
- rust in a few places. Drivers door lower panel, front fender, rear windscreen, rear trunk gasket area (the rear windscreen/trunk rust - they all do that - my 88 m5, and 86 635, and all my e12s had this issue).
- windows all slow or stuck - needs de- and re-greasing of all the window and sunroof motors and channels.
- Its always suffered from hard cold starting. I had a hard time starting it last year, so I drilled into this. The problem is the fuse box connector. After cleaning it and de-oxit-ing it last summer, it worked great, but its happening again, so I would want to tighten and clean these connectors before using it for regular use.
- coolant sensor guage not working. I got a new sendor, thats not the problem.
- Right now, the speedo is intermittent as well. The odo might have died too. I think I got the speedo working last summer.
- A lot of electrical connectors should be de-oxidised and cleaned. Will probably get more functions working. Windows could be this too - I cleaned the window push buttons on my M5 and it fixed them all, when I restored that before selling it.
- AC never worked since I got it. I've never charged it to look into this.
- I think the vacuum buttons on the dash work, and pushing them makes the airflow move around. But I think the interior blower fan is intermittent. The fan itself works, its the switch or electronics. Might need to rebuilt the fan swicth.
- Mice got into it via the trunk, I cleaned it out last year, but they made a mess of the trunk carpets etc.
So, the bottom line is that its a project. I bought it for 7k, spent a bunch of money with mechanics and dealers debugging the start condition, resulting in fuel pumps and various other things getting replaced. I must have 10k in it. I also have a bunch of manuals and a german fiche and a fiche reader.
A few pics attached. One if from last summer when I got it going again, and washed it to celebrate.
I'd like to get $2000 for it (with a set of steel rims, the BBS wheels in the last pic are not included).
Please thank your friend for me, for the lead. I'm in Stamford, CT.
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