Sometimes it’s About The Chase
I am constantly searching for my next
purchase. Sometimes it’s for resale,
sometimes it’s for myself, and sometimes it’s both. When I search for BMW’s I
tend to seek out round headlight cars from the 1960’s-1990 and lately expanding
to the e46, e38’s and e39’s when I don’t find any early cars that catch my
interest. Mostly I find 2002’s and e30’s, but with the prices of those in
decent condition climbing, most are out of the budget I set. So I have been
focused on my first love, the e21, and something I never owned before, the e28.
The latter will be the subject of this column, a 1986 528e that needed rescue.
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| 1986 BMW 528e |
My first contact was made back in September 22,
2015. The initial sighting was during a late night search at 10:50PM after I
got home from O’Fest. I felt inspired and needed to buy something. The ad was
vague with a minimal description and one photo from the front. The e28 looked
like it was sitting behind a warehouse.
I sent an email requesting more information and if possible more
pictures. The seller responded the next
day saying this is a car for a mechanic, it doesn’t run, and he doesn’t know
what’s wrong with it. Plus he didn’t have any further pictures. Not a good start.
I responded with an email saying that I was 140
miles away from the seller as he was located in Bridgeport Connecticut. I was a
BMW enthusiast, club member, and have saved many cars in the past. This was my
hobby and profession. Additional pictures will help me decide if the car was
worth a day on the road to see the car or not. Plus the expense of fuel and
tolls while dragging a trailer behind me. I was hoping this plea would convince
him take more pictures for me. If not, I was moving onto my next quest.
He responded the following day with this
email: “Most people on Craigslist are wondering how
long they can drive it before doing any work, and I don’t have the time or
patience for their lack of reading or mechanical comprehension. You are the
type of guy the car is waiting for. It’s a good candidate for more years on the
road. I’ll get some more photos.”
It wasn’t until the 26th that the
pictures arrived. To my surprise the
seller took 24 amazingly detailed pictures showing the entire exterior,
interior, door jams, engine compartment etc. Even the tire tread. It appeared
to be very solid and worth saving. He also informed me his mother was the
second owner from 1989. Mileage is 148,000 but that’s not much for this car. I
made the decision to try and buy it. But with the distance in the way, finding
a day to go up was going to be challenging.
It took multiple times of rescheduling before
I made it up there. It seemed like every
day I chose to take the trip, something came up. Whether it was doing auction
runs for a couple used car dealers, or a new car dealer swap in New Hampshire,
or picking up a rare Riley Elf racecar in Ohio, each week had its own
challenges.
As the holidays approached and the ad expired
I lost track of his phone number my interest waned but I still kept it in my
thoughts. Then late in December the owner shot me an email to say he was down
south for the Holidays and is back. If I am still interested, we can finally
make arrangements. January 7th was the magic day I went to CT to
pick up my new restoration project.
The day was fantastic, almost in the 60’s,
the traffic was light and it seemed like everything was going too well. We had
agreed on 11:00 am to meet up. I was running slightly behind schedule but only
by a few minutes. I called to let him know my location. He informed me I was
only 20 minutes away and gave me easy directions once I got off I95. When he
told me what to look for my red flag went up. I was to look for an abandoned
house that was burned down. WAIT WHAT? This doesn’t sound too safe. The
neighborhood was not nice and as I went down the block, it was getting scarier.
Then I pull up to a shell of what used to be a house but now is condemned.
There is a pickup truck in the street with a car trailer attached with
Tennessee plates and a man standing in the back of the yard by a huge concrete
garage waiting.
OK let’s add this up. Out of state plates, trailer, burned out
house, and murder scene location. Sounds perfectly safe. But there was a Bronzit Beige 528e sitting next to the garage, which was the building I
had seen in the original pictures. Putting my faith in society, I stepped out
of my truck and walked towards the seller who greeted me with a smile and a
handshake. Not an axe murderer after all. He explained the home was in his
family for years and recently burned down. He bought property in TN and once
this place sold he was moving down there permanently which is the reason why he
was selling the car.
The e28 was everything he said it was. It was filthy from sitting since
2010 but surprisingly in very good shape for a northeast car. Solid underside,
no rot, no major dings, leather interior was intact, and even had the selling
paper work from the original owner who took European delivery! It even had a
dealer installed radar detector under the dash with the manual in the glove
box. WOW! These are the little things I like to see. After some stiff negotiation (he didn’t want
to budge) the money was exchanged and the car was hand winched onto the
trailer. (A side note, I really need to install that electric winch Sandy got
me for Christmas several years ago.) - (edit: Since then I have installed the winch and its everything I hoped it would be. My back thanks me too)
On the way home I stopped for road food at the rest area and gave the car
another once over. I was really happy I bought this 528e. It’s not my favorite
color, it’s an automatic, and it hasn’t been on the road in 6 years but it was
just too good of a car to let it sit any longer. So far I’ve only managed to
get it off the trailer, put a battery in it and diagnose the main fuel pump to
be faulty. Parts will be ordered soon
but I need to find time to actually work on the car. Hopefully it won’t turn
into a Bavarian lawn ornament.
So stay tuned, the adventure is just beginning. Lucky for me it didn’t
end inside a charred 3 story home several states away never to be found again.
- Update 9/12/2016 - The car hasn't moved since it was unloaded from the trailer in January. I do have plans on getting it running within the next month but with all the other cars I had to prepare for resale since the beginning of the year, this one was pushed off to the back burner. -
