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!!!

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:

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:

Miguel Alejandro's Inka Roundie

In addition to posts about my cars, I will continue to feature interesting local BMW's. There is a good number of nice Bimmers here in Puerto Rico.

This one is Miguel Alejandro's restored roundie. He bought it needing a complete resto, and has done a great job with it. He did most of the work himself.

Here are some pictures of the car as it looks now, and some "before" ones:

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:

Puerto Rico Vintage Car Show 2010

Went on Saturday, February 13 to the yearly vintage car show at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan. Attendance was much lower than in previous years, but, as always, there were many nice cars.

Check out the pics I took there: