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Thread: Thought I’d sell my E24. Couldn’t bring myself to do it.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Posts
    307
    My Cars
    '83 E24-'89 C124-'07 P2

    Thought I’d sell my E24. Couldn’t bring myself to do it.

    So.. I have too many cars. Not expensive ones, just fun ones that I can work on as a side hobby. One Volvo S60 sedan that is the “normal” car, two Mercedes W124 coupes (an ‘89 and a ‘94), and the ’83 633CSi with a manual transmission. Those are just the cars that work, and are fully in my name - I’m not counting the cars and motorcycles I part own with another lunatic weekend shade tree mechanic. It’s not my background or training, I just enjoy putting them back together.

    But I live in the middle of Los Angeles, the garage can only hold two, and I don’t believe in basic insurance coverage in this town, so I spend a fair amount of time and money on this stuff. It’s time to cut down.

    Honestly, I thought the BMW was the odd man out, and then I’d keep the Volvo and one of the Mercedes. I grew up around these 80’s Bruno Sacco designed MB’s and really admired the stout build quality. I hadn’t driven the 6er in a bit, and it was suffering as a result - flat battery, plug wires needed replacing, the little things that go wrong as a car sits around. It’d be outside getting dusty, moving only when it was in the way of something else. When the turn signals stopped working from a short somewhere, I went to drive it to my friends shop to help me track it down...

    And that woke me up. I went to drive over Laurel Canyon and across Mulholland to get to Van Nuys, and it was the first time the car had gone more than a mile in a few months... and I was reminded what a lovely machine it is. It’s an ‘83 so it’s not fast, but it was fun and lively in a way those W124 Benzes simply don’t match. The low beltline and thin window pillars, the slow but direct steering, the raspy 6 which made me heel and toe more often than necessary, just to hear it... I realized I’d absolutely regret selling it. It still needs paint, faded from that SoCal sun, so it’s by far the least attractive cosmetically... but acouple people gave me the thumbs-up like I was in the latest shiny exotic. It just made the case for itself in one drive.

    I know these are getting older, and it’s easy to see them as money pits, and wonder if money could be better spent on something else. And maybe I can justify it since it’s not like I need to rely on it for daily transport (though I’ll add, even at its advanced age, it only ever needed towing once for a broken motor mount in the six years I’ve owned it). But I just wanted to share this because they really are great GT’s, and worth taking care of.

    Maybe I’ll even finally get around to painting mine after all this time
    '83 633CSI manual balticblau/perlbeige
    '89 Mercedes 300CE diamintblau/mondria
    ’94 Mercedes E320 Coupe Schwarz/Palomino
    '07 Volvo S60 2.5T vide grön/beige

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    North Florida
    Posts
    111
    My Cars
    1983 633csi, 2017 540i
    👍👍👍
    Last edited by bmw6fan; 04-14-2018 at 10:37 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Posts
    1,718
    My Cars
    '86 635CSi, '08 128i
    Perfect description! I'll bet a lot of us are in a similar position. I've always been curious about how the big M-Bs GTs compare. If it wasn't for BMW's commonly-fitted manual transmissions, I'd have had myself one a long time ago. The W124 (C124?) is a handsome machine, unmistakable and unique.

    I had an '81 633CSi myself (even slower, LOL). I traded it off for an older VFR, but then I missed it so much I bought the next one that rolled around. It literally only did roll around...until I found a motor for it...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    638
    My Cars
    '85 635CSi, '87 535is
    I almost sold mine in 2001 just before moving from WA to CA but backed out at the last minute. Since I purchased the car in 1997 it's been an automatic but I just had a manual conversion completed using a good 265/6, and almost everything else in the drivetrain between the engine and diff is new. The driving experience has been completely transformed; I had already modified the suspension and made many other misc. improvements over the years, but it was crying out for a manual. Now it'll be one of my "keeper" cars, especially since I believe the values of nice E24s (M6 or otherwise) are going up and now would not be a good time to sell.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    California
    Posts
    476
    My Cars
    '89 635 CSi, '15 535i
    My fiance thought my car was hideous when I bought it and couldn't understand why I would buy a 25-year-old car as my first career purchase. 4 years later, she wouldn't even let me consider selling it to finance our wedding or a new commuter. A few hours of handing me sockets and replacing fuel injectors has really gotten her attached to it. I think she just likes that it's special.
    ___________________
    [|OO==|0|0|==OO|]
    1989 E24 635CSi
    2015 F10 535i M-Sport
    2002 E39 530i Sport [sold]
    2001 E39 ///M5 [sold]

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
    Posts
    1,903
    My Cars
    E24, E34 x2, E36
    Yes room is a problem for me also. I guess it would make sense to reduce my amount of cars as it’s hard to mentally handle more than 2 “projects” at once. I have 5 gawd dammit. What I’ve been doing is hitting one car hard with the view to having it “finished”. E34 is first prob totally done in a month or so. E23 not far off also. I’ll be doing the e24 next along with the 20002. Lucky I have a forgiving wife although she often suggests that it would be a good idea to sell a few cars.
    BMW’s
    90 E34 M5
    84 E24 M635csi standalone ecu with coil on plug
    94 E34 540i/6 SC 5-17psi Flex fuel/standalone ecu
    97 Z3 2.8
    97 E36 M3 euro SC still u/c


    OTHERS
    11 Audi S5 APR stg2
    19 Volkswagen Amarok V6


  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Ft. Lauderdale FL
    Posts
    47
    My Cars
    2012 Alpina B7
    I took my '85 635Csi and my '93 850 Csi to a cars and coffee event on the same weekend. I had no problem finding a friend to drive the other car. The E31 is in much better shape cosmetically. Still the E24 garnered much more attention. I love both, but the E24 will always be a special car. I cannot wait to get my E24 M6 finished!

    Greg

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