MyE28.com DEV

Guys:

I've been casually looking for another "project car" over the last 6 months or so. Missed out on a 1990 318I cab and couldn't find anything else that struck my fancy. And none of the E28 cars that I have seen for sale recently really excited me.

About a week ago, I spotted a 1986 euro 635CSi, blue houndstooth interior, 5 speed, 182K, in the Roundel classifieds, out in Tuscon. Looked pretty nice. I contacted the seller and we came to terms. Essentially a 1-owner car. Original owner imported it back in 1986 and owned it until his death earlier this year. Seller purchased it from the estate, kept it about 6 months and, with 1 son in college and another on the way, decided he didn't need 6 cars, so he decided to sell. Will be loaded on an Intercity truck next week, bound for GA. Here is a link to a few photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/D4KsLn3mae6KgkeMA

So now I've got TWO white E24 cars. Glad to have something else to fool with.

Van Nuys. As you know, that's how we pronounce 'very nice' in the south.

Good looking car. Doesn't appear there's a lot of work to be done on it.

Pleased to see it is already in your signature. Clean car joining your impressive inventory. Congrats!

Very nice, Mike! I took the M535i for a cruise this morning. Top notch. How is the M635 coming along?

Hey David! Glad to hear that raggedy old M535i I sold you will still crank up! A testament to your wrenching abilities.

Still waiting on this euro 635CSi to show up from Tuscon. As I think we talked about, the black/black M635CSi that used to be in my signature was kinda a joint project of mine with Todd Howerton. Several months ago, Todd found a buyer in Germany who was repatriating M cars from here back to the Fatherland. Guy paid a very fair price for our car without Todd doing much work on it at all and we made a few bucks. Which made my wife very happy. I kept telling her the car was like a "savings account", but she didn't believe me. Is supposedly undergoing a full restoration, which it certainly deserved.

Hope you and the family are doing well in Charlestown. Thanks for chiming in!

Regards,
Mike

Wow. Congrats. If you need anything out here let me know.

Hi Chris! Will do. I wish I could get you to give this thing the "once over" before it ships east.

I have a set of open lug Alpinas that will be the first change to the car. After that, we'll see. Looks pretty good in the photos - but they all do, it seems.

Nice! Love the blue houndstooth cloth interior against the white exterior. Should be a fun project.

Jim

Great looking car and plus one on the Houndstooth interior!

Absolutely stunning e24! Great photos!

Cool car and color combination Mike. Did it arrive yet since I'm just seeing this thread now?

Hey Adam! Thanks for chiming in.

The car got picked up in Tuscon Saturday afternoon. I heard from the Intercity driver yesterday. He told me he was "making his way across Texas" and, depending on the stops, should be here by late Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning.

Looking forward to seeing this thing in person. If it is as nice as I hope it is, it may well take the place of my "Prodigal Son" - the 1985 635, which is one of my all-time favorite old BMWs. I sold that one before, and later bought it back, and would hate to sell it again, but it seems pretty stupid (even for me!) to have two alpine white e24 cars.

I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks for the interest in my latest old BMW foolishness.

5280 JB wrote:Nice! Love the blue houndstooth cloth interior against the white exterior. Should be a fun project.

Jim

Project? My Word..... what on Earth does one further do to such a machine LOL. These REALLY benefit from the Euro bumper treatment even more than the sedans IMO. Beauty.

It has been about 6 months since the euro 6 showed up from Tuscon and I thought it might be time for an update.

This was a very nice, solid, RUST FREE, NO DASH CRACKS car upon arrival to GA - the 2 most important points for me. It was sold to me based on the representation that it was "mostly an original paint car, with maybe a little work on the left rear fender - I had the car about 6 months before I even noticed it". That turned out to be incorrect. I was disappointed but not surprised.

Since then, I have had the entire car repainted, with the exception of the roof/sunroof panel (which I believe to be original paint) and the trunk (repainted previously, but well). Euro stripe kit, but not on the front spoiler. Lots of exterior trim replaced, to include all lights, almost $6K in deferred maintenance taken care of, Interstate battery, engine bay clean-up, new coolant overflow tank, new washer fluid tank (just got it in from Latvia!), etc. You know how it is when you buy an old car and have automotive OCD.

The car runs and drives just great. AC blows cold, heater blows hot, after I replaced the heater control valve. Quick cold start and no apparent oil usage. Engine is dry - no leaks on the carport floor. However, the first leakdown and compression numbers were not great on a couple of the cylinders. My mechanic termed it an "aberration" and encouraged me to keep on driving and enjoying the car. Which I have done.

However, as things turned out, a guy on the bigcoupe board had some spares from his "electricification" project , to include a 130K dirty motor. I bought that about 3 weeks ago and am in the process of having it redone as a spare engine - valve job, reseal, new timing chain, guides, etc.! Also got his spare ECU, just to be on the safe side. That transplant will occur next week.

I still need to do some work on the driver's seat. Padding is about gone and some wear on the driver's side bolster. I've got the proper cloth from Ivo, but it's anthracite, not Pacific Blue. I will try to get it redyed to match. Until then, the sheepskin cover will protect what's there.

Anyway, I know you guys like photos, so here are a few taken recently with my point and shoot Kodak. The covered lug "Alpinos" are Maxilites - pretty nice wheels for the price, but these will only be on the car temporarily. I've sent my real Alpinas to Paul Ehrlich at Ehrlich Wheelworks for refinishing. Those will go on the car at some point. Here's the link to the pix;

https://1drv.ms/a/s!AnDH09YnLhBngjw7N5hsJZDHqTXe

looks really nice!

Wow, great job. I really like your car

Looks good! Sorry to hear about the initial disappointment. I really hesitate to buy anything sight un-seen, especially when it comes to cosmetics these days. Seems too many just aren't totally honest or educated enough about cars they are selling.

Best of luck on the seat refurb-- I think cloth is next to impossible to get a satisfying match unless you get the original material (even then fading comes into play). Curious how the re-dye comes out. The driver's seat on my 518i has some broken springs and a patch on the bolster but Ivo luckily had a complete '86/'87-build specific nutria "pepita" cloth interior set and I grabbed that. Maybe the stars will align and you can find a good used seat if all else fails!

Thanks, Justin! I am going to continue to look for a set of sports seats for this car, but acknowledge that is a VERY long shot. Perhaps I can find a Pacific Blue passenger seat in decent shape I could use for the bolster repair. You were very fortunate that Ivo had a good solution for your car. Maybe I can stumble up on something if I keep looking.

It will be interesting to see how my re-dye idea works out. We have a local guy who does an excellent job in repairing and redying leather seats, carpet and vinyl repair and it is possible he can do this for me. Otherwise, I'll get some Rit dye and monkey around with this myself! I'm sure that will turn out spendidly.

Beautiful car and work you've done so far. I don't think I've seen many white E24's.

gray635 wrote:Thanks, Justin! I am going to continue to look for a set of sports seats for this car, but acknowledge that is a VERY long shot. Perhaps I can find a Pacific Blue passenger seat in decent shape I could use for the bolster repair. You were very fortunate that Ivo had a good solution for your car. Maybe I can stumble up on something if I keep looking.

It will be interesting to see how my re-dye idea works out. We have a local guy who does an excellent job in repairing and redying leather seats, carpet and vinyl repair and it is possible he can do this for me. Otherwise, I'll get some Rit dye and money around with this myself! I'm sure that will turn out spendidly.

Try these guys for the fabric

https://www.oldtimer-textiles.de/polste ... bmw-neu-1/

https://www.autosattlerei-artur.de/BMW-Stoffe (these guys show having both the pepita and the solid color material in stock)

Super rig Sir. I can't pick between the sport of the original rims or the class and elegance of the current rims but one thing for sure is the houndstooth and Euro bumpers. I can take the E28s either way but the E24s really should have the Euros. And OMG Heaven forbid you get an E9 with the USA bumpers. That's is just horrible.

Holy moley, Marek! I think you've found it! Many thanks for the links!

And thanks for the kind words about the car, guys. Headed to Atlanta tomorrow to pick the car up after the spare engine rebuild and transplant at German Car Repair. Always wanted to do that and this seemed to be the right car to spend the $$$$ on. We'll see......

gray635 wrote:Holy moley, Marek! I think you've found it! Many thanks for the links!

And thanks for the kind words about the car, guys. Headed to Atlanta tomorrow to pick the car up after the spare engine rebuild and transplant at German Car Repair. Always wanted to do that and this seemed to be the right car to spend the $$$$ on. We'll see......

Damn. That would be called gilding the lily. Good for you man carry on!

Well, I got the car back this morning and drove her 2.5 hours south, down to Perry. The replacement engine w/cylinder head work, new tensioner/chain/rails, etc. is terrific! Coupled with a Z3 shifter rod and rebuilt linkage, new clutch master cylinder and throw-out bearing, the drive train on this car is really spot-on. What a pleasure to drive one of these old cars, well-sorted.

The guys at German Car Repair really know their way around these cars. Best shop, by far, that I have found in 35 years+ of fooling with these cars.

Now on to obsessing over the driver's seat......

Fantastic, that had to feel so good to hop in and just drive it.

Congrats Mike.... you always had a soft spot for those e24 as I recall. Looks quite nice... hope to see it in person one of these days, if things ever get back to somewhat normal?

Picked up an e30 cab myself recent (for the wife)... you got to GO when you see something special

Take care.

-RoyW

Hey Roy! Thanks for chiming in. Yeah, you are right - I have always had a soft spot for these e24 cars. This car was pretty nice when it arrived from Tuscon last year, but after an impressive infusion of "capital", it is REALLY nice now. You know how that works. Just got back from a spirited drive through the wilds of central GA and blew the dust off. Great stuff. Great old cars.

Hope you and the family are well. Following your most recent 7 series project with great interest. What a beauty!

UPDATE: Just saw your e30 cab post. What a nice find.

Regards,
Mike