Things I learned about the 320i this weekend

[Ricochet Rabbit]

Just for fun and to see friends I only see a couple of times a year, I entered my 320i in a British & European car show yesterday. My car attached a fair amount of attention among the BMWs, probably because it was the oldest one in the class, and I spoke to a lot of people. I "learned" quite a bit about these cars, especially from one "expert" who was BMW salesman when they were new.

• The 55 mph hour shimmy can easily be cured by replacing the alloy wheels with steel wheels. His dealership's service department had stacks of alloy wheels customers ditched to for heavier steelies.
• The M10 engine is notorious for consuming oil.
• Interior color swaps were easy because carpets and door panels were black on all cars. Only the seats came in different colors (claimed while looking right at my dark grey Recaros)
• And best of all, E21s are routinely selling now for $20,000 - $25,000

Cheers,

RR

[Tony533i]

Just for fun and to see friends I only see a couple of times a year, I entered my 320i in a British & European car show yesterday. My car attached a fair amount of attention among the BMWs, probably because it was the oldest one in the class, and I spoke to a lot of people. I "learned" quite a bit about these cars, especially from one "expert" who was BMW salesman when they were new.

• The 55 mph hour shimmy can easily be cured by replacing the alloy wheels with steel wheels. His dealership's service department had stacks of alloy wheels customers ditched to for heavier steelies.
• The M10 engine is notorious for consuming oil.
• Interior color swaps were easy because carpets and door panels were black on all cars. Only the seats came in different colors (claimed while looking right at my dark grey Recaros)
• And best of all, E21s are routinely selling now for $20,000 - $25,000

Cheers,

RR

Well, I had owned my 1980 320 since new and know the following:

• My 320i alloy wheels never caused a shimmy. the only thing that caused a shimmy on mine was a worn tie rod end.
• My M10 had Mobil-1 in it since the second oil change and at 125k it did not consume or leak oil when the rust ended its life.
• My 320i had a tan interior with tan door panels and tan carpeting so obviously, that part was not true.
• Wow! I would sell my pretty decent 323i for half of those figures!

But who would i be to argue with him as he appears to be an "Expert".

[pofo]

I cant agree with any of this but this might be your experience. When I had my M10 I only added oil when I was doing an oil change. I will give you the 55 mph shimmer but that can be fixed with new bushings. I have blue door cards and they also came in tan and black. I wish I could sell my car for $25,000 but it's probably worth $2,500 before I did the S52 swap. Would be quite a turn around when I paid $600 for a sport model.

[Ricochet Rabbit]

I cant agree with any of this but this might be your experience. When I had my M10 I only added oil when I was doing an oil change. I will give you the 55 mph shimmer but that can be fixed with new bushings. I have blue door cards and they also came in tan and black. I wish I could sell my car for $25,000 but it's probably worth $2,500 before I did the S52 swap. Would be quite a turn around when I paid $600 for a sport model.

I wasn't referring to my experience. I was discussing what I "learned" from a clueless know-it-all.

[epmedia]

Just for fun and to see friends I only see a couple of times a year, I entered my 320i in a British & European car show yesterday. My car attached a fair amount of attention among the BMWs, probably because it was the oldest one in the class, and I spoke to a lot of people. I "learned" quite a bit about these cars, especially from one "expert" who was BMW salesman when they were new.

• The 55 mph hour shimmy can easily be cured by replacing the alloy wheels with steel wheels. His dealership's service department had stacks of alloy wheels customers ditched to for heavier steelies.
• The M10 engine is notorious for consuming oil.
• Interior color swaps were easy because carpets and door panels were black on all cars. Only the seats came in different colors (claimed while looking right at my dark grey Recaros)
• And best of all, E21s are routinely selling now for $20,000 - $25,000

Cheers,

RR

I wasn't referring to my experience. I was discussing what I "learned" from a clueless know-it-all.

lol, we understand now.

[jaredmac11]

This, honestly, is what keeps me from car shows. Well there are lots of types of folks at them. I need to try more but so far its hard to find just your low key car fan.

[Tony533i]

I wasn't referring to my experience. I was discussing what I "learned" from a clueless know-it-all.

I understood that. Just having fun.

Tony

[wally509]

I think it's funny the guy was a salesman for BMW and sold these when new, therefore he must have flipped through the brochure countless times with customers. All of the blow up/close up pictures in the interior section of the factory brochure are of a red car with TAN interior, showing TAN carpets and TAN door cards.

[pofo]

I wasn't referring to my experience. I was discussing what I "learned" from a clueless know-it-all.

I defiantly skimmed over that part.