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.

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:

Moving the Atlanta Bimmers

As I mentioned on my last post, I had to move the two cars I had in Atlanta.

On Wednesday 8/25/10, I flew to Atlanta and spent the next day moving the touring to a Public Storage facility (a grueling process that took me all day, with about six trips in the Baur filled to the brim with parts). Here is how it sits now until further notice:

The next day, Friday, I hopped into the Baur and made the 8 hour, almost 500 mile drive from Atlanta to Deltona, FL. The trip went smoothly, and the Baur never missed a beat. I arrived at my friend Ricky's house at around 7:00 PM. I will keep the car at his house until I can ship it to Puerto Rico.

On Saturday, Ricky and I drove around in the Baur and went to the Cars and Cafe meet, which is celebrated the last Saturday of the month in Sanford, FL. Lots of high-priced metal there, including an ugly chrome Bugatti cabrio allegedly worth $1.9 million (!!!) :

Vintage at the Vineyards 2010

Another great event! Had a wonderful time during Memorial Day weekend. A total of 304 BMW's attended, and many new friends were made.

On Thursday, May 27th, my wife Maria, my daughter Michelle and I drove from Atlanta to Dobson, NC in my Baur. Original plans were to take both the the 635csi and the Baur, but the Sixer's front struts were shot.

On the way we stopped at the Zentrum in BMW's factory in SC.



Then we stoppet at the Charlotte, NC airport, where we met up with Humberto Marti, who was picking up Fernando Vargas from Colombia.

We finally made it to Dobson after a quite exhausting trip due to the heat.

Friday morning we participated in a great drive up the NC and VA mountains, driving Humberto's 2002.

The big event was on Saturday, but not before I had a chance to drive Tim Jones' M2.It was an experience of a lifetime to drive this well-sorted beast!



The event itself was spectacular. Great weather, beautiful cars and many good friends.

Here are all my pics:

I'm already planning for next year!

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.

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.

Here goes nothing!

Welcome to my blog!

I will try to keep a record here of my adventures as an owner of several older BMW's. I bought my first one, a 1970 1600-2, back in 1978, and have always owned at least one since then. I currently live in Puerto Rico, but travel frequently to the US mainland, so my hobby has taken roots there also.

Our stable currently includes:

• 1976 2002 - Bought this one in sad condition back in 1991 and did a complete restoration back in '92. Still looks decent, and I continually am doing mods to it. Hope to be able to repaint it again soon. This one is in Puerto Rico.
  
• 1972 2000tii touring - I just got this one (January 2009) and it needs a total restoration. If it were a regular 2002 it might be better as a parts car, but being that it's a touring AND a tii, I will try to bring it back to life. It might be years before this happens, though. The car is currently in Arkansas.
  
• 1981 Baur 320/6 - This one lives at my daughter's in Atlanta. Bought it in June 2008 and is in decent, but not concours condition. Currently getting all the mechanical work taken care of at Carma Motorsports in Atlanta (brakes, timing belt, tune up). This is a fun car to use on my frequent trips to the ATL.
• 1982 320i - This car has been in the family for four years. Needs paint, but the mechanicals are in great condition. Used by my son as a daily driver here in Puerto Rico.
• 1986 325 - Previously used by my daughter for college here in Puerto Rico, we sold it when she moved to Atlanta, but bought it back in 2008. It is automatic and is also a daily driver.
• 1993 325i - This one is also automatic and is my daughter's daily driver.

I will provide info on each of the above rides as I go along on this blog. In the meantime, thanks for checking it out!