Have you ever bought a car as an almost act of desperation? A few years back I picked up a VW Golf 1.6 Drivel for pennies, I needed wheels and my previous pride and joy had expired. I hated the Golf it was dull, tedious, slow and rattly but it served a purpose, after a few months of ownership I started to really need something more exciting, more characterful and then I spotted it in the retro rides classifieds. The jist... 528i, 12 months MOT, some rust, half a tow bar £250!
A few days later it was mine...
At that point my bicycle fell over in shock...
In the first couple of days of driving it I discovered that the battery was useless, the water pump liked to pump the water out of the engine, one of the PAS pipes wasn't really keen on holding in ATF and the exhaust rattled on the remains of the tow bar something chronic. The first few jobs were fairly easy, getting the old tow bar off was more of a challenge...
Once I got past these niggles, I could actually enjoy the car. It was so nice going back to a car with a bit of go (I'm no power junkie but the Golf just felt so limp, especially as the cars I ran prior to it were, an Alfa 164 V6 and a Porsche 944, dropping down to a distinctly unenthusiastic 70bhp 1.6, was a bit of a shock). The other real positives were, that the BMW was surprisingly characterful, I worked at a Saab, Skoda and Alfa outlet and most of the cars I drove on a daily basis felt so dull by comparison.
After a year or so as my daily driver, it gained a new gearbox as the old one started to die after I took it to Bruge, I would like to blame the Belgians for this but I suspect it was on the way out anyway... Also it needed some some welding, actually rather a lot of welding to get it through its first MOT (with me as the owner).
Shortly after that landmark I was made redundant. A new job, meant much higher mileage so the old BMW ended up as a second car. I have kept her MOT'ed and fairly road worthy. I've now had the car about 5 years, its part of the furniture, a sort of rolling resto but with more emphasis put into just keeping it rolling!
A more recent pic taken on a trip into deepest darkest North Wales....
---_0928 by brunel944, on Flickr
Some of my previous motors...
85 528i and some previous sheds...
Re: 85 528i and some previous sheds...
like the celica...
- Grumpy Northener
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:26 am
- Location: Hampshire UK
Re: 85 528i and some previous sheds...
Don't think that Anna would approve Richlike the celica...
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
Re: 85 528i and some previous sheds...
its ok, she is very broad minded & doesnt mind the odd infidelity..Grumpy Northener wrote:Don't think that Anna would approve Richlike the celica...
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- Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:35 pm
Re: 85 528i and some previous sheds...
Cwm Penmachno! You're right, you can't get much deeper and darker than that while remaining above ground.Steve_H_ wrote:A more recent pic taken on a trip into deepest darkest North Wales...
I've been running an E28 (520i) for a couple of years and have concluded that they're far rarer than my "everyday" Rover P6.
Does yours have the usual splits to the dash top? And rusty bumpers? And faulty instrument panel?
Re: 85 528i and some previous sheds...
Splits in the dash top? Sadly yes. Rusty bumper, yes to match the rusty bits around the boot. The instrument panel is pretty good even the trip computer works but I can't get the service indicators to go out (I'm working on that though!). At the weekends I'm always looking for random excuses to take her out.Willy Eckerslyke wrote:Steve_H_ wrote: I've been running an E28 (520i) for a couple of years and have concluded that they're far rarer than my "everyday" Rover P6.
Does yours have the usual splits to the dash top? And rusty bumpers? And faulty instrument panel?
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- Posts: 225
- Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 2:35 pm
Re: 85 528i and some previous sheds...
I guess you've read about the service indicator lights and SI board issues on the web?
If not, then I don't want to worry you unduly, but...
BMW in their wisdom soldered rechargeable batteries to the circuit board in the instrument panel with the sole purpose of allowing the car to remember when it had last been serviced. A couple of decades on, those batteries fail, leak and mess up the circuit board. This is often worse on cars that were unused for several years then reinstated - like mine. Although the service lights can be ignored, damage to the board leads to the rest of the instruments failing one by one.
If anyone's buying an old BMW, never ignore "minor" issues like a non-functioning rev counter!
I was lucky to find a decent instrument panel from an E23 (7 series) which fitted into the E28 pod, but genuine E28 (and the similar E30) ones get snapped up very quickly on eBay. "Solid state" boards without batteries can be bought from the US but they're not cheap and never seem to be listed for quite the same models that we have over here. Genuine BMW replacement boards cost around 400 quid last time I looked.
If not, then I don't want to worry you unduly, but...
BMW in their wisdom soldered rechargeable batteries to the circuit board in the instrument panel with the sole purpose of allowing the car to remember when it had last been serviced. A couple of decades on, those batteries fail, leak and mess up the circuit board. This is often worse on cars that were unused for several years then reinstated - like mine. Although the service lights can be ignored, damage to the board leads to the rest of the instruments failing one by one.
If anyone's buying an old BMW, never ignore "minor" issues like a non-functioning rev counter!
I was lucky to find a decent instrument panel from an E23 (7 series) which fitted into the E28 pod, but genuine E28 (and the similar E30) ones get snapped up very quickly on eBay. "Solid state" boards without batteries can be bought from the US but they're not cheap and never seem to be listed for quite the same models that we have over here. Genuine BMW replacement boards cost around 400 quid last time I looked.
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