BaT Sh*t Crazy
My fellow gear heads understand that the first dangerous step towards your next project car is when you add a vehicle to your notification list at the Bring-A-Trailer auction site (i.e. BaT). Two years ago I turned on email notifications for the BMW E21 3-series line of vehicles just to monitor the market and then take a shot at car when and if I was ready. These cars were sold from 1977 to 1983 in the USA and in particular I was looking for a 1981 to 1983 model to target as a restoration project.
I didn’t want a car too perfect where the only thing left to do was polish & wax on the weekends but I also didn’t want a car that needed extensive bodywork. My sweet spot for project cars is cosmetically clean, rust free, but in need of mechanical love. However, for this effort I am willing to go even further as I feel ready to try my hand at a complete restoration. Restoration means removing every nut and bolt on the car and then putting it all back together with refurbished or new parts. Then I can say I have conquered this car instead of it conquering me the way it did when I was 20.
Just prior to leaving on my first “empty-nester” vacation with my wife to Spain, I received a BaT notification email that a new auction started for a 1982 BMW 320i. It checked all the right boxes for me: cosmetically clean but not perfect, almost 100% rust free, mechanically sound, and with the added bonus items of the Euro bumpers, Recaro sport seats, and a cool steering wheel. Excellent condition but not so perfect you would feel bad tearing it apart and restoring it. Let the games begin!
So that is how I found myself at 10:30pm, in Granada, Spain, at the Alhambra Palace Hotel bidding on a car located in Los Angeles, California. And to my surprise I won the auction rather quickly at a lower than expected dollar amount! However, the auction reserve price was not met. Thankfully BaT connects the winning bidder and seller when that happens to see if a negotiated post-auction purchase is possible.
Oleg, the owner, quickly contacted me and we agreed upon a purchase at his reserve price. Thankfully he was willing to wait for me to fly to LA to complete the purchase in person and then drive 6 hours back north to my home in the Santa Cruz Mountains. You can’t time travel but you can try and relive your youth by purchasing an old, slow, BMW.
Auction photos below
