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Yeah so I bought this ugly ass prehistoric first generation 1987 bmw e23 735i with the intention of parting it out a few months ago.
It had been sitting in a friends dad's yard for eight years and understandably he just wanted it gone, hence the price tag. I couldn't get it to turn over and I didn't expect it to run, but these cars are bloody rare (and thus parts come at a premium), so I figured I could make a decent amount of money stripping it down. So I hooked a chain to it and pulled it 20 miles through country roads behind a suburban and deposited it in my folks front yard,
at which point it looked like this:
Arktisblau, rotten clear coat, 15 inch e36 wheels, 238,336 miles on the odometer. Yup.
( I took a weird shot of half the car because it doesn't have kidney grilles. I dunno why it just doesn't. It makes the car look bad. Like a fucking ford ltd or something.)
If he had a name it would be Harold. He looks like a Harold. But I don't name my cars because that's ghey. I don't name my pets either. I had a cat named cat. That cat died so now there's a new cat and that cat doesn't have a name. It's nameless. Oh I also have a chicken. Its named "I dunno man". It lays eggs I think.
This is the part where I say that this isn't a very serious build thread. I'm poor, ignorant and quite frankly pretty dumb. I appreciate and love the engineering and pedigree that's a part of every bmw, I understand that I fell ass first into the good fortune of owning a gorgeous and fairly rare classic German car and I understand that I'm going to ruin it in the end. I'm okay with that. I'm just a stupid college kid. My pictures are gonna be shitty cell shots for the most part and I'm going to spend zero money on this car. Its just whatever.
Oh, and my writing is terrible as well. Sorry about that I guess.
So anyways for the hell of it I put some gas in the tank, which was empty (thank god). I sanded the battery contacts and well. First try it turned on. And idled. And moved. It only ran on 5 cylinders but I fixed that by plugging the sparkplug in. I couldn't bring myself to part it out at this point, so I just kept driving it around my neighborhood when I got bored. It had a terrible shimmy in the front end, died constantly, smelled like the 1980s and sounded like a boat thanks to a huge hole in the cat. But it got better, slowly it started running better without me doing anything but driving it. I'd go to the gas station every other day and fill up a red gas can with another gallon to put in the car. The more I messed with this beast the more I appreciated it.
The wheels on the car were ugly as sin so I copped some itty bitty mini 15 inch bbs rs'es for this thing, looks way better i think.
That shape. Its so purdy.
I drove very nicerer on the new wheels, so I said fuck it and got a title transfer and some paper plates. I drove it down to uni and I've been raising hell in it ever since. I only listen to old school rap, hardcore punk, and chopped /screwed dirty south in it. Loud as fuck too because the stereo is actually upgraded + mad good. Windows down always, because the ac needs a freon recharge and I haven't felt like doing that. Because whatever. Running 7 inch wide wheels with tires that are made from concrete and diamonds on a car with 215 ftlbs of torque and no traction control is simultaneously a great and absolutely terrible idea. It slides. Without me even trying to slide it it slides. Its just like, hey bro, drift time.
I love it. If you've never had a shitty 25 year old car you'll never understand. Man.
I love how the drivers side door is stuck locked shut so I have to crawl over the center console every time I get into it. I love how only two of the windows work. I love how I have to lock and unlock the car via the trunk because that's the only lock on the car that isn't broken. I love the musty 80's smell and the weird noises that it makes. I love the fucking massive boat steering wheel is and the fact that the tach just does its own thing and points wherever it feels like pointing. I love how this car breaks necks. I love how its not an e28 or an e30. Fuck you guys, I've got a seven series.
Anyways
This is a build thread so, yeah. Build list go!
Wheels (I've got some (different) bbs'es for this thing! (don't worry they aren't as cool as you think).)
Paint (basecoat's done yo, clear is to do this weekend)
Low (chopping the springs. Yeah I know. I don't exactly have very many other options.)
Refinish the wood (this car has solid teak. its pretty but I need to refinish it)
Loud as fuck catback (anyone who has heard an m30 unrestricted knows why. I want my 25 year old grandpa car to sound like an f1 hotrod spaceship monster)
Valance in the front (it'll be cool, for real.)
Euro stuff. bumpers and lights.
Install the oem radio.
Quad high beams
Kidney grilles (these are so hard to find...)
Stanceworks plateframe (got it, need to put it on)
Maybe a spoiler? (I've got an e24 one laying around...)
Small stuff
Um. yeah. um. So there's some cool stuff about this car (I promise!). Cool stuff post is coming later tonight but I guess this is an okay opening post? Thoughts, comments?
It had been sitting in a friends dad's yard for eight years and understandably he just wanted it gone, hence the price tag. I couldn't get it to turn over and I didn't expect it to run, but these cars are bloody rare (and thus parts come at a premium), so I figured I could make a decent amount of money stripping it down. So I hooked a chain to it and pulled it 20 miles through country roads behind a suburban and deposited it in my folks front yard,
at which point it looked like this:
Arktisblau, rotten clear coat, 15 inch e36 wheels, 238,336 miles on the odometer. Yup.
( I took a weird shot of half the car because it doesn't have kidney grilles. I dunno why it just doesn't. It makes the car look bad. Like a fucking ford ltd or something.)
If he had a name it would be Harold. He looks like a Harold. But I don't name my cars because that's ghey. I don't name my pets either. I had a cat named cat. That cat died so now there's a new cat and that cat doesn't have a name. It's nameless. Oh I also have a chicken. Its named "I dunno man". It lays eggs I think.
This is the part where I say that this isn't a very serious build thread. I'm poor, ignorant and quite frankly pretty dumb. I appreciate and love the engineering and pedigree that's a part of every bmw, I understand that I fell ass first into the good fortune of owning a gorgeous and fairly rare classic German car and I understand that I'm going to ruin it in the end. I'm okay with that. I'm just a stupid college kid. My pictures are gonna be shitty cell shots for the most part and I'm going to spend zero money on this car. Its just whatever.
Oh, and my writing is terrible as well. Sorry about that I guess.
So anyways for the hell of it I put some gas in the tank, which was empty (thank god). I sanded the battery contacts and well. First try it turned on. And idled. And moved. It only ran on 5 cylinders but I fixed that by plugging the sparkplug in. I couldn't bring myself to part it out at this point, so I just kept driving it around my neighborhood when I got bored. It had a terrible shimmy in the front end, died constantly, smelled like the 1980s and sounded like a boat thanks to a huge hole in the cat. But it got better, slowly it started running better without me doing anything but driving it. I'd go to the gas station every other day and fill up a red gas can with another gallon to put in the car. The more I messed with this beast the more I appreciated it.
The wheels on the car were ugly as sin so I copped some itty bitty mini 15 inch bbs rs'es for this thing, looks way better i think.
That shape. Its so purdy.
I drove very nicerer on the new wheels, so I said fuck it and got a title transfer and some paper plates. I drove it down to uni and I've been raising hell in it ever since. I only listen to old school rap, hardcore punk, and chopped /screwed dirty south in it. Loud as fuck too because the stereo is actually upgraded + mad good. Windows down always, because the ac needs a freon recharge and I haven't felt like doing that. Because whatever. Running 7 inch wide wheels with tires that are made from concrete and diamonds on a car with 215 ftlbs of torque and no traction control is simultaneously a great and absolutely terrible idea. It slides. Without me even trying to slide it it slides. Its just like, hey bro, drift time.
I love it. If you've never had a shitty 25 year old car you'll never understand. Man.
I love how the drivers side door is stuck locked shut so I have to crawl over the center console every time I get into it. I love how only two of the windows work. I love how I have to lock and unlock the car via the trunk because that's the only lock on the car that isn't broken. I love the musty 80's smell and the weird noises that it makes. I love the fucking massive boat steering wheel is and the fact that the tach just does its own thing and points wherever it feels like pointing. I love how this car breaks necks. I love how its not an e28 or an e30. Fuck you guys, I've got a seven series.
Anyways
This is a build thread so, yeah. Build list go!
Wheels (I've got some (different) bbs'es for this thing! (don't worry they aren't as cool as you think).)
Paint (basecoat's done yo, clear is to do this weekend)
Low (chopping the springs. Yeah I know. I don't exactly have very many other options.)
Refinish the wood (this car has solid teak. its pretty but I need to refinish it)
Loud as fuck catback (anyone who has heard an m30 unrestricted knows why. I want my 25 year old grandpa car to sound like an f1 hotrod spaceship monster)
Valance in the front (it'll be cool, for real.)
Euro stuff. bumpers and lights.
Install the oem radio.
Quad high beams
Kidney grilles (these are so hard to find...)
Stanceworks plateframe (got it, need to put it on)
Maybe a spoiler? (I've got an e24 one laying around...)
Small stuff
Um. yeah. um. So there's some cool stuff about this car (I promise!). Cool stuff post is coming later tonight but I guess this is an okay opening post? Thoughts, comments?
its to early to tell if i will love this one but it has mad potential. 
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