The $200 518i

[fluiddrive1949]

I recently moved to Germany ( US ARMY) I needed a car until mine gets here from the states in a few months. After some searching this 518i fell into my lap. Not really what I wanted but $200 US for a running, driving, reliable car I couldn't turn down. Its pretty clean for a 95 has a few small normal germany rust spots IE the gas filler door and lower trunk lid but other than that its straight. the interior is good too. not really fast but at least its a stick so not totally useless. My problem is what to do with it? My first car was a 1972 bmw 2002 followed by a 1973 2002 other than that Ive kept far away from european cars. My current project is a 1954 Cadillac hearse that is sadly sitting in a storage unit in texas collecting dust. So what to do with this? Rat it out strip the paint rust it more an cut the springs with some steelies? make it as nice as I can on a budget set it down on some m3 or m5 wheels an fix the small rust spots? strip it out weld the diff and make it a drift handling monster well as monster as a 4cyl 5 series can be. any input would be great Id leave it alone but Im itching for a project. My goal is to have as much fun on a budget build as much of it out of the junkyard as I can and eventually trade it or sell it for a 5 series wagon. thanks for reading.

[Miroteknik]

lol... you yourself should decide what you want to do with it. look around at what others have done and see if something inspires you. since its lacking in the horsepowers, you can go low and slow, while maintaining a classy appearance. nobody here really cares. we just have opinions about what you've already done. good luck, we'll be here to watch the journey!

[Justin.]

Where you at, Grafenwoehr?

Think it has potential, especially for 200 bucks! Just buy some nice wheels (Enough in Germany ) en slam the fuck out of it

[Stupid Kid]

200$?
damn yeah just wheels and a drop and youll be good.

I didn't even know they made 4 banger e34s... maybe we don't have them over here in the states.

[Samza]

200$?
damn yeah just wheels and a drop and youll be good.

I didn't even know they made 4 banger e34s... maybe we don't have them over here in the states.

In here my friend had one.. It was slow but still it did drift at wet tarmac..

[Raarasutra]

You obviously know you have to slam it, but other than that, I would use it as a 200$ canvas to try shit out. Could turn out as an insanely awesome piece of art that started out as a cheap DD, but worse comes to worse, 200$ isn't a big loss if it doesn't turn out the way you want it to

Anyhow, I'm in to see where a car this cheap can go

[calibornn1979]

Hell yea man, I just PCS'd from Germany and I did a budget E36 320i. I had the car for 2 years and got all my parts from the junk yard on post. it was awsome, I wish i would have brought a bunch of stuff back.