Road trip story & Project thread: 2001 Titanium Silver e39 M5

[Sreten]

Guess what I'm doing today.

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[fredo]

Back to Spain ! I wonder why.

[Sreten]

To butcher beautiful Spanish language again.

I'll write more details when I get back, but another garage find, slicktop E31 850i 6-speed. Comes with a very cool story.

Bought it from a gentleman who's a relative or something of Picasso, I'm still trying to piece it together - https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chico_Repullo



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[704sw]

Bought it from a gentleman who's a relative or something of Picasso, I'm still trying to piece it together - https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chico_Repullo

Sounds...surreal.

Okay I’ll see myself out.

[fredo]

That sounds really cool. Per the wiki link, his mother is Picasso's niece.

[Sreten]

That's what he told me as well. This is one of her pictures hanging in his amazing house situated on a hill overlooking the see.





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[BMWCurves]

To butcher beautiful Spanish language again.

I'll write more details when I get back, but another garage find, slicktop E31 850i 6-speed. Comes with a very cool story.

Bought it from a gentleman who's a relative or something of Picasso, I'm still trying to piece it together - https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chico_Repullo

[Sreten]

Detailed post and pictures will follow once I get ahold of my laptop. For now here's the gist of it on my stupid Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5IuKdRK...=1l10nn9g98xvo



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[Will]

Thanks for putting that video for us, very cool. I like the new editing format, too. Congrats on the new acquisition. Looking forward to further updates, keep up the good work!

[Sreten]

Thank you, Will! I'm happy that you liked it.


Update time, starting with the green E31. The 8er was successfully brought back to life, I did a pretty big service on it and got it to running and driving condition. Part 2 of that will be the next video.
Last week it left my custody and went to a very nice guy from Czech republic who has a mint 850i 6-speed that was involved in a front end accident so he'll be able to salvage some parts from it and put it on this car since it still needs a lot of work.







This proves my point that these cars sell much better and quicker as project cars at a cheaper price than fully sorted at a higher price. The black 850i that I fully restored took me 6 months to sell and this one was gone in 2 days and I received a ton of interest. The black E31 was a much better deal than this money pit but it seems that everyone wants a project car that they can restore on their own.

Anywho, I continued my merry way with usual browsing of European car listings and the very next day I stumbled upon another neglected beauty in Spain. It made all of the right noises: garage find, parked for 15 years, doesn't start, oil leaks all over the place, clutch pedal stays on the floor... stuff that would make normal buyers run for the hills but not this idiot. This idiot was buying tickets for Malaga later that evening.

I landed in Malaga and took the cab directly to the garage where the car was rotting for the last 15 years.





The owner of the car sadly passed away in August due to a long time illness and his wife with the help of the owners brother was selling the car. The estate where 850i was sitting is fairly large, in the high-end area of Malaga and they were selling it so the car needed to go. They were the 2nd owners since the early 2000s and I was told that the owner was very attached to the car but just didn't drive it as much as he should have and couldn't let it go so this E31 ended up slowly disintegrating in the garage.







The condition, as you can imagine, is rather poor. They put new batteries and fuel in it and tried to start it with no success. The oil was clean and the level was good, the engine is turning over nicely but we'll know more once the car is back in Germany.















The intake manifolds were removed at some point and powder coated but other than that, the car was in original condition. Here are some findings after inspection: brake fluid turned into black disgusting coffee, oil leaks front bottom of the engine, diff is leaking, rear mufflers rusted out from sitting, tires 20 or so years old, it was completely repainted... but the biggest disappointment and something that will devalue the car the most is an accident in the rear left corner that was rather poorly repaired.

The good side.



The bad side.











The bad news, as I said, is that it was poorly repaired and body gaps don't line up. The good news is that it wasn't structural, the battery tray, floor and spare tire wheel well are straight. From underneath, around the exhaust and under the fender it all looks fine.



Normally, finding an accident is where I walk away but I was already there so I moved past it and onto the positive sides of this BMW.



It's a slicktop! Pretty rare on E31 and something that I love very much. Original headliner still in perfect shape.

The interior is in great shape too, no missing or broken trim. It has the coveted sport seats which just need a good cleaning, the support in them is amazing compared to standard seats. I already wrote this on my Instacrap account, but the interior is a time capsule that smells like a brand new car from the '90s with that refined rich leather scent. One of the biggest things I liked about this car.















The build date of the car is 12/1990 but first registration in the papers was on 09/1992.
114.000 kilometers (70k miles) verified as the original service book is accounted for.













The last road safety inspection was done in 2004.



I made a cool discovery later at the airport when I was going through the papers -- the car was sold new in the BMW branch in Frankfurt, the same one where I buy parts now. She's definitely coming back home!



Finding that botched up repair was surely a turn-off but the car had an interesting story behind it, great spec and I felt it needed to be rescued. So I struck a deal with the sellers and bought the car.

We headed to his fascinating house, on a top of the hill overlooking the sea to do the paperwork and that's when he told they are family of artists and they are related to Pablo Picasso. His mother, María Luisa Repullo Picasso, was his niece.

He's a sculptor and overall a really nice gentleman - https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chico_Repullo

I received a short tour around his house and he showed me the art he had on display.





Picture painted by his mother.









After that, he took me to a nearby restaurant where he had his sculptures showcased for a quick cerveza and tapas.





Paperwork finished and I had few hours to kill in the city before my return flight. I honestly wish I had more time to properly explore this lovely city, the beaches look amazing and the whole city is beautiful. Spain is probably one of the rare countries where I could see myself living one day. Hopefully, I'll plan a vacation in Malaga in the near future.