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Joe the Plumber to Families of Isla Vista Victims: 'Your Dead Kids Don't Trump' the 2nd Amendment

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wheat-dogg, raker of forests, master of steam5/27/2014 8:17:22 pm PDT

re: #92 ObserverArt

Love it. I had both the fortune and misfortune of owning a ‘71 BMW Bavaria. That was one of their first 6 cylinder sedans for America. It had that beautiful 3 liter straight 6 with the huge timing chain. It would purr like a motorboat at idle or low throttle and then growl with the whine of the chain when opened up.

I only got to drive it for a few months though, as it self-destructed the rather costly 3-speed ZF automatic transmission. The guy, a client, I bought it from had tranny problems with it, and got fed up, had another company put it together for a second time and then he sold it to me for some graphics work I had done for him.

By the time it blew up on me there was nothing left to fix, and I sure didn’t have money to get a used one from Germany. Company that looked at it said the main shaft had been scored by someone not having the proper tools to put the gears on it. They also saw ‘peen’ marks on the gear faces. I guess that was how they stacked them.

Sold it to a BMW mechanic for him to restore. He may have put a 2800 4-speed in it. Fastest sedan I ever drove for the time. Very rare car.

In the ’80s, before my second child was born, I had a multi-colored ‘71 BMW 2002. It was mostly yellow, but different patch panels never got painted. No front bumper. No front grill. I had to spend a fortune getting the rear shock mounts repaired (unit construction), or one day a nice big bump would have ejected a shock and spring through the trunk floor. Everything else was operational, even if the car was ugly. Boy, was it fun to drive! I even drove it cross-country one or twice.

A doctor friend of mine had a Bavaria. His had the manual trans, so there were no tragedies like yours. He loved the car, but like me, had to face facts that our pet projects were too expensive to keep while also raising famlies - - even for him, a bone doctor.

With child #2 on the way, I had to upsize to a four-door car, at least. While tooling around town, I spotted a beige 1986 SAAB 900 parked in a car lot. I was not in the Bimmer, but our other car. (Forget which now.) There was a new salesman working that day. We talked about the SAAB. It was a used car, maybe 3 years old at the time, and in very good shape. We took it for a drive. (I had to show him where the ignition key goes in a SAAB.) He asked me if I had something to trade in. I said, sure, a ‘71 BMW 2002. Well, this guy estimated the trade-in price at around $2000 or $3000, sight unseen. I had warned him the car was a little rough looking, but decided I’d keep my mouth shut about the valuation.

Next day, I drove to the car dealer in the BMW. I can still remember the look on the guy’s face when he saw my car. It was not one of joy, let me tell you.
My ‘71 BMW 2002 Traded in for $2000 in 1989