Atlanta Meet and Drive on 11/12/11

Made a trip to Atlanta from 11/8/11 to 11/15/11 for some R & R and, unfortunately, to make a decision about the future of the 2000tii touring project. I don't foresee any possibilities of re-starting the project in the near future, and storage charges continue to put a dent in my budget. I expand about this later, so, for now, I'll write about the fun part of the trip, which was the meet and drive with the Atlanta 2002 Owners Club.

We gathered at Carma Motorsports' second facility, which they recently started operations out of, and Jeff Chang greeted us with muffins and coffee. There were several interesting non-BMW cars and motorcycles at the shop:



 





Turnout was pretty good, with many local '02's and other cool Bimmers attending:

Alex Chester's 2002


Jon Poole's 2002ti (in his family since new!)


Glen Stephens' beautiful and fast 2002


My daughter Michelle's 635csi (my ride for the day)


After the meet at the shop, a group of us, driving four 2002's plus me in the 635, had a great drive up mountain roads all the way to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in the state of Georgia.

Part of the cars that made it up the mountain


The view from the top


This is the group that made the drive

The Arrival of Bronzit II

On 10/14/11, I purchased a 1987 325e to be used by my wife as a daily driver. This is the second Bronzit E30 we have owned, the first one being an '87 also, hence the post title.

The car is an automatic 4 door, and, although it needs some work, the price was good ($1300). The idea is to fix it up so it can be used on a regular basis by the missus.

Here are a few pics taken at the seller's home with my phone:

Another Succesful Event!

On Sunday, October 9, our local classic BMW group, Puerto Rico Classic Bimmer Group, celebrated its 3rd yearly get together for BMW enthusiasts. A total of 197 cars attended, and probably 400 people in total.

It was hard work organizing the event, but it was worth the effort.

Here is a slide show of some pictures I took at the event:

Car count seems to increase by about 50 each year we have organized this meet, so we should be shooting for 250 next year!

Visit to Volkyland Museum July 10, 2011

Went with the BMW CCA group to visit the world's largest private VW collection, located right here in Puerto Rico. Took the Baur, of course, on the 200 mile round trip.

The car didn't miss a beat, although it used gas like if it was still $1.00 a gallon, and the local heat and humidity convinced me even more to do the a/c on the car once the engine issues are taken care of. Hopefully before the end of the year I'll have it working as it should, and then start on the cosmetics on 2012.

Here are the pics I took at the visit:

Another Sunday Drive

Yesterday (6/5/11) I took a drive to Arroyo, PR to meet with some friends and have a day of BBQ and chilling out at the beach. It was cloudy, but I didn't get a drop of rain until almost home. One of the first things I need to take care of on the Baur are the top seals, which are all either cracked or missing portions. Supposedly they are available, so it's a matter of getting the funds together to buy them.

Here's a pic from yesterday:



Maybe by next weekend I'll start to do some actual work on the car. In the meantime, I've enjoyed it quite a bit on its first two weekend in Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean Baur!

Well, the Baur finally arrived in Puerto Rico on 5/26/11. I drove it from Deltona to Jacksonville, FL, where it was loaded on a barge and shipped to the island.

After paying freight ($1100.00) and excise taxes ($800.00) on the day after the car arrived, I took a drive across the island and back on Sunday May 29 to the Exotic Car Show in the town of Anasco. People there liked the car and asked many questions about it, since it is now the only known E21 Baur in the island.

Here's the obligatory pic of the car at the show:



Here are the rest of the pics:

Smokey is traveling to Puerto Rico!

Well, after selling the 2002 and the 320i, I needed a BMW to use in Puerto Rico, so I decided to ship the Baur to the island. I asked friends for suggestions on naming the car, and the one I liked the most was Smokey the Baur, since the car's tired engine does smoke quite a bit.

I traveled on May 14 to my friend's house in Deltona, FL where the car was stored and drove it to Jacksonville, where it was loaded on a barge on May 20. By the way, on the way to Jacksonville I stopped at the Daytona International Speedway, home to the 24 Hours of Daytona and other great races. I took the race track tour and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Here's a photo of the car in front of the racetrack:



The vessel with the car should arrive today (5/26/11). If I can get it from the port by tomorrow Friday I will take my first road trip with it to the Exotic Car Expo on Sunday the 29th. We'll see....

Mission Aborted...

Well, after starting the Schwarz E21 project, I had a change of heart and decided to sell it and do the Baur E21 instead.

The car was sold to a long time friend, who will fix it up and use it as his daily driver. I plan to ship the Baur to Puerto Rico on May 20, and will start working on it when it gets here.

Here's a parting shot of the 320i when the new owner left with it:

Photo of the Day 2/25/11

BMW E28 CSL race car

GS Tuning 1973 Catalog

Back in 1977 when I owned my first BMW, a 1970 1600, I found at a local tuner's shop a GS Tuning windshield banner. I have, over the years, tried to obtain as much info on this German competitor to Alpina as I could.

Thanks to a Swedish '02 enthusiast, I was able to get a scan of their 1973 catalog.

I uploaded it to Google Docs. Hope it works!

Here is the link:

GS TUNING 1973 CATALOG

Photo of the Day 2/24/11

Beautiful Touring rally car from Spain.

Photo of The Day 2/8/11

These BMW "sculptures" are located at a BMW dealer in a
Copenhagen, Denmark.

First Month's Progress

Well, it's January 31, one month after my initial post on the new/old 320i project. I've made pretty good progress, and so far the car has gotten the following done:

-New radiator, water pump and engine fan
-Fog, trunk and interior lights were non-op and are now working again
-Cleaned up the engine compartment, installed powder-coated valve cover and new air cleaner
-Hood and roof were rattle-canned to cover up the ugly paint on these parts
-Got a sweet deal on a set of Recaros, which cost $150 including the rear seat and the rear side panels.
-Installed a rear view with map lights from an E30 325is

Here are some January pics: