Smokey's 15 Minutes of Fame!

Back at the end of last year, I was contacted by Marsen Karlsson from BMW Headquarters in Munich. He indicated that he works with the BMW Magazine magazine, and that they were interested in including my Baur in the new IPad version of the magazine. He asked me to take some pictures, which my son Harry Jr. did, send them a brief story of the car, and, in addition, Marsen interviewed me via Skype.

Well, a few months have passed, and I did not remember about this until my son asked me last night about it. I don't have an IPad, but he does, so I asked him to check. Sure enough, there it was!!

It is on the 1/12 edition of BMW Magazine, and you can download it for free to your Ipad. My son took a few screen shots of part of the article, and here they are:







Needless to say, I am stoked!!!

New Heart for the Baur

As I have mentioned before, the Baur's engine is tired, and smokes quite a bit, although it doesn't miss a beat. Well, I acquired a few weeks ago a used engine, which was previously on a friend's E30. He installed a newer M52 in his car and offered me the M20 at a good price.

The engine is essentially a 1988 2.7 Super ETA with 325i fuel injection and computer. I have done some research and apparently all I need is a cam with longer duration to make it a strong, torquey engine. Hopefully I will be able to have significantly higher power and torque than my car's current M20B20, at a reasonable cost. Plans are to install it some time during the Summer months, so I'll post here any progress.

Photo of the Day - 3/14/12

Group 5 BMW E21

BMW 2002 Racing in Puerto Rico in the 1970's

A few months ago my friend Ivan Pelegrina shared some photos of BMW's racing in our island back in the 70's, participating both in road races and in rallys.

Here's a 2002 in one of the cane fields:



The rest of Ivan's cool pics can be seen here:

Cool stuff!

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:

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 2/8/11

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

New Online Magazine : Vintage BMW

This online mag was created by my friend Scott Sturdy, the man behind The Vintage (formerly Vintage at the Vineyards). Great way to keep yourself informed about this great event. To see it, please click on the name below:

VINTAGE BMW

Pedro Rodriguez' M42-Powered 2002

Had a chance to check out my buddy Pedro from Mayaguez' recently completed M42 project. In addition to the engine and transmission, he also used the radiator and most of the brakes from the donor car, a 1991 E30 318is.

The car has been mostly sorted out, and Pedro took it that day for a pretty long drive from Mayaguez to San Juan and back.

Here are some pics:

Here again

Three months and no posts! How lazy can I get.

Not much has happened Bimmer-wise in that period, other than the fact that I have been trying to thin out the herd by selling either the Baur E21 or the Schwarz 2002.

Although there has been some interest, there have been no takers. The way I figure it is that each car is in the wrong market for selling. The Baur, being an open-top car, might sell better in Puerto Rico than in Atlanta, and the 2002 seems to have more enthusiasts in the mainland than in the island. Oh well....

Next week I will be attending the Vintage at the Vineyards 2010 event. I will make it a point to report here with pictures.

Touring Update

Work continues to progress slowly but surely on the touring. Lack of funds is the main thing slowing it down, However, this was meant to be a long-term project from the start, so there is no rush.

The new trunk floor has been installed, and welding has started in other areas. Hopefully the economy will improve soon, and it can be moved along at a faster pace.

Here are the latest pics:

Patillas Meet Photos

Yes, I know. This was two months ago (October 11, 2009). Sue me.

It turned out to be a great event, way beyond our expectations. Close to 100 cars attended, and a great time was had by all. Planning has started for next year!

Call me lazy

Haven't updated this for a while, so I'm going to make an effort to get anyone reading this (if anyone does), up to date.

As I mentioned on my previous post, I attended the Bimmermeet at Road Atlanta, part of the BMW CCA Oktoberfest festivities. Had a great time there on Friday and Saturday, and even got to see my daughter Michelle drive the track for the first time! I'm posting the pics slide show for your enjoyment.

It's been almost a month!

OK, I admit it. I haven't paid much attention to this blog, with the last post being almost a month ago.

Anyway, during that time I got the E30's water pump installed, the E21 got new brake pads and clutch master/slave and I bought a new Weber 38/38 kit for the Baur. Quite a spendy month...

The touring should be on its way from Bentonville, AR to Atlanta this week, where it will be stored until I figure out what to do with it.

On a more positive note, I attended two events with the Schwarz '02. On 2/15 I went to the annual big old car show at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, and on 2/22 I went to Ponce for an informal meet with (mostly) old-skool BMW owners.

Here's a pic from the San Juan show:


The white 2002 above was for sale for (GULP!) $13K!! I would've walked home if anyone had given me $10K for mine.

Here's a pic from the gathering at La Guancha. About 40 cars assisted, including 13 '02's. It was good to see so many together, and we plan to continue meeting every six to eight weeks on different places throughout the island.



The Mintgrun car used to be mine and is now owned by Luis Carlos of Patillas, who did a great job bringing it back to a very nice condition. My '02 is the second one, and the third car (also Schwarz) is in pristine condition, and is owned by a gentleman from Mayaguez.


Well, that's it for now! I will try to update this more frequently, but can't promise anything. Thanks for reading my blog!