Back in 2007, I left a note on a car in a Home Depot parking lot. I knew the guy worked there. I had seen the car most every time I went there. I never heard from him, though I did talk to him about the car once in the store. Only briefly, though. My enthusiasm waned when I heard it was in New York the first part of it's life. Ray in Phoenix even made contact with him. Got to have a longer conversation and even got a crack at buying the car a few years ago, but the price was, uhhh, high. Basically MSRP when new. By then, I had an E12 (Polaris M535i) I never thought I'd be able to own, so I didn't need another (HA!)
Imagine my surprise when I see it posted in the Non-Affiliated thread for February with a link to the BMWCCA classifieds. I was a bit disappointed as I had left this great note back in 2007. Also, why didn't he contact Ray? Oh well. Anyway, I was content with what I had and didn't need another car - especially a 40-year-old 530i. Several days go by. A couple of people ask me for my opinion of the car based on what I knew of it. Finally I decided to just ask for some pictures and see if the owner remembered me. Turns out he did. I called him and ended up setting up a time to go see it. Conveniently right before a dentist appointment, so I was really calm and not worried one bit. Nope. I was also in the middle of not being able to open the driver door on my E34, so I didn't need more problems.
I pulled up and wasn't particularly thrilled with what I saw. I nearly didn't get out of the car. I decided I might as well. Reintroduced myself and talked a bit about the car. The key problem the car had was that it would cut out and die while cruising or idling at a light. He couldn't trust it anymore and just didn't have time to troubleshoot it. He knows electronics, so he does his own electrical, but mechanical was handled by a couple of shops depending on what needed doing.
This thing is totally stock. Thermal reactors, EGR, air pump, various other kinds of early L-jet sadness. Oh, is that a condenser hanging off the distributor? Why yes, it is. Hooray for points.
Still not thrilled, its' test drive time. He's driving because the car will probably die and he knows what to do. Super. So, let's get on the freeway. Yee-haw. Sho-nuf, the car dies, but by downshifting and flooring it, he can keep it running. Coming to a stop, it dies. It always restarts though. Except for the one time it didn't with lots of cars behind us and I got out to push-start him. I am thinking this is a huge mistake and I can't wait to go relax at the dentist. He gets us into a neighborhood and I get to drive. Everything was going great until I asked, "Uhhh, does it only die on the freeway?" Bam. Dies in a school zone. With a photo radar truck. WTF am I supposed to do now? It restarted without issue. Got it back to his house and said I'd be in touch. I went to the dentist.
Waited a day or two and while I really didn't want to buy another car, I had a vision for this one. I ended up making a deal with the owner. Sadly, due to other interest, no room to negotiate, so I paid more than I was hoping. Due to the stalling issue, the seller wanted to bring the car to my house, which he did. It made it most of the way without trouble. Still, we all arrived safely at my house and I added another car I didn't have room for.
Of course, it's not always a bad thing to buy a car from the original owner of 39+ years who kept every record for the car (3" of records), including various magazines with road tests and brochures. Oh, and the window sticker.
In case, you can't figure it out, here's what it is:
7/75 E12 530i
Golf exterior - special ordered
Black leather interior
Manual everything (locks, windows, etc)
Air conditioning (sorta)
4-speed
RHS mirror
no sunroof
So, here's the car:
Note the spacers above the strut mounts.
I changed the steering wheel. Had this one around a while.
This is the original cassette deck. It doesn't function, but I'm going to have it repaired. With the car, I received the microphone that goes with it. You can record to the deck. So while the PO was driving through Manhattan, I could see him, holding the mic, "Take a memo."
Unfortunately, the leather was never conditioned, so it's all quite dry and like that. I'll do some seats of some sort eventually. Fortunately, though he had custom dashmats made for the dash and for the rear deck, which has allowed the dash to stay free of cracks, and the rear deck carpet to look as new.
The car drives well. The suspension is solid. I replaced the combo relay with a new one. Unfortunately the 530i relay is different from the later L-jet relay, having one fewer pin (fuel injectors - later combo relays broke up 1-3 and 4-6 over two pins). $70 later, we were in business. I tried repairing the old one, but I think the contacts were worn, as it was original and 180k miles of daily use takes it's toll over time. The stalling issue seems to have subsided. I could shake the old one and get the car to die. Not so with the replacement. Still, in fear of cooking the head, I haven't driven the car thoroughly enough to see if it will die or not.
Today, I got tired of hitting my knee on the bumpers. I guess I've gotten so used to having Euro cars, that this one isn't quite fitting in. Yet.
So, this happened:
My front bumper is on the side of OcCoupe's house. Hope to pick that up sometime in the next month. I'll have to do something with the fenders, too, but not right away. Pretty amazing how much different the front looks without that giant bumper. There's plenty to do with this car though. I'm still working out a final plan for it, but in the meantime, it's working, I think.
Well, not quite. Obviously Euro bumpers are in the cards (soonish). I'll need some seats for sure. I have a nice black vinyl