Posted by Jim Race on December 04, 1998 at 22:32:55:
I'm more than a bit curious what led the rest of you all to the e12.
Was it the style, the reliability? Did your folks own
one when you were a kid, or did you see one racing?
What would you own instead, given the rright circumstances?
Me?
I've had three before this one.
#1 - My first BMW was a '69 1600. It was sort of a powder blue,
I don't remember if it was the original color. I picked it up in
1988, if I remember correctly for $1000. A friend of mine had
"restored" it following a rear end collision which made it crab
walk a bit down the road. I made a few 500+ mile trips with her,
and she started my love affair with the marque.
#2 - My second was a '73 2002, black in color. I don't remember
much about it except for when the back clip forcefully
removed itself at around 80 mph for no good reason. I
was uninjured, but took a bimmer break after that.
#3 - A '75 2002, Colorado Orange in color. I bought this ride
in Sacramento in '93 for $1800. It had some rust spots, but was
mostly mechanically right with the exception of not wanting
to happily downshift from third to second at speed, despite my
efforts at double-clutching. Come to think of it, all my BMWs'
have had this affilction. Is it something endemic? Later, I
moved back to San Francisco, a city which doesn't really require
a car if you work downtown. After a while it sat in my garage
26 days a month, and a great friend of mine who worked down near
San Jose asked me in the winter months if he could use it for the
commute. I said yes, fogetting that I hadn't been doing my regular
preventative maintainence. A month and a half later, it
threw a rod. At the time, I simply didn't have time to fix
it and sold it for a pittance.
And now, here I am with #4, happy as a clam with what I consider
the best automobile I have ever owned, or driven. And this coming
from someone who took his Ca. Drivers License test in a pristine
Shelby GT350 (hint: My Grandfather was VP of Shelby American from
1963 - 1970).
So, I have to ask...
What brought you here?