Lol @ Chinese ZHP knob
It does not disappoint.
Messaggero
Lol @ Chinese ZHP knob
It does not disappoint.
Big Earner
I ordered one of those on eBay and had to send it back. It was maybe half the weight of the OEM knob and Chinese quality finish. Good for $15 though!Originally Posted by holyc0w
Enforcer
Wanted to give an update on E31.
This is the car I spotted on Spanish listings around 3 months ago. At that time it was advertised with a high price tag but said that it's a project car and price was negotiable. Intrigued, I contacted the guy and started getting more info on the car.
Original Spanish car that spent all its life in the Madrid area. The car was purchased by sellers father back in 1995 and they were the 2nd owners.
They barely used it and between 1995 and 2009 the car covered around 17k miles.
Last inspection stamp (ITV) was in November 2009 which is around the time the car went off the road and into storage.
After some back and forth, I received dusty photos I posted above and the usual spiel that the car is perfect, everything working, started regularly... The price went down, but not low enough. I made him a low but realistic offer at which he responded as not being mad to sell at that price. In a nice way, I explained to him that he is indeed mad for wanting unfeasible money for the car. I wished him good luck and we stopped talking.
A few weeks ago I sent him a text asking if he sold the car, he didn't and he removed the ad since he was getting stupid offers from tire kickers. He wanted to get rid of it and asked what would I pay, I made him a bit better offer under the condition everything was as he described and that the car is running. He agreed and I decided to fly out and see this forgotten car.
The car was in the city of Salamanca, 2 hours from Madrid. I didn't have enough free time to make a proper road trip out of this and I flew alone with a return flight home the next day.
Beautiful scenery en route to Salamanca.
I met with the seller who lives 3 hours away from Salamanca and who actually didn't see the car for 5 years.The car was taken out of the storage and into sellers friend mechanic shop around the corner. They washed it and the car was running 2 weeks ago, but idiots didn't drain the tank and started the car with old gas. The car is turning over but not starting.
Pictures of the car.
A sane person would walk away and never look back, but I was a man in love. The interior albeit filthy and full with years of dust is just mint - leather without wear, headliner still intact and even the pixels in the center console were still there. The doors open in a perfectly smooth manner, shifter slots into gears perfectly with no slop - everything feels like a low mileage car. 3 keys, original service book, manual and other documents, no rust, no signs of accidents and apart from fake E63 M6 wheels, totally original. Paint has various scratches most likely from it being pushed around and I'll judge the condition once properly washed, but should clean up.
Here I am, 1200 miles away from home, in an industrial area on the outskirts of Salamanca, middle of nowhere in Spain with a car that doesn't start. Naturally, I start low balling the seller and after some shrewd negotiation with my limited Spanish skills, we settle on the price. Left the car and went to sort out the paperwork. All done in timely fashion and I headed home. No time to explore Madrid but I'm going back there for vacation in December.
At the moment I'm trying to organize transport back to Germany. Dealing with shipping carriers is the part I hate the most.
Buying a car that doesn't run is the biggest risk I took so far and hopefully doesn't bite me in the ass. Should be one fun ride though.
Last edited by Sreten; 10-25-2018 at 04:34 AM.
Enforcer
I actually googled Chinese ZHP knob and stumbled upon your post on e46f, lol. Fit and finish reflects the price but got the job done!
Big Earner
Hell. Yes.
This thing is awesome. I have such a hard-on for 80's/retro/synthwave shit. Gimme them flippy headlights and knight rider interior all day.
Pumped to see this thing cleaned up with some M-Parallels
Campieri
Good story. At least you made efforts to see the car in person and got a good vibe from it.
Edit : I just noticed the buttons have Spanish words.
Last edited by fredo; 10-25-2018 at 11:04 AM.
2005 IR / black / 6MT159,000 miles
Campieri
Precisely why I loved my "88 Prelude si so much
Looking forward to see you work your magic on it
Dinan CAI &Throttle body, ESS Tuning TS2, Bimmerbrakes gen3 headers, UUC SSK & DSSR. Achilles oil pump, VAC oil pan baffle
M3 Motor mounts, UUC Trans mounts, Modified clutch style LSD 3.15, TMS front subframe reinforcement, Koni Yellow sports,
H&R sport springs, UUC sway bars, BMW Perf. Rotors, UUC SS brake lines, Hawk HPS pads, CSL replica wheels,
Rotora strut bar, FXR HID conversion, M3 Mirror conversion, BSW stage 1 speakers
Big Earner
Such a cool looking car. I cant totally appreciate why you picked it up. Really miss the old button layouts for the hazard lights and AC with everything being right in the center console. One part about the E46 I really miss that the E82 doesn't have. I loved having the hazard light button right below the shifter, right where it should be!
Gimme that old BMW engineering
Big Earner
True that. The placement makes it easy to toggle them for a flash or two as a "thank you" when someone lets me in. Tryna bring that Japanese road culture to the dirty south.
Big Earner
I used to do the double blink all the time in the ZHP when someone let me in. I still find myself reaching below the shifter for it in the E82.
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