My Automotive Pursuits

I am not good at build threads; so, I decided that instead I would just put up a what's going on in my garage or my brothers warehouse that I use for storage.

Current Fleet, some are co-owned

95 e36

auto, been in a garage for years; the PO had started stripping it to do some paint work and had pushed it out to clean the bay when a freak hail storm wrecked all the flat panels. He pushed it back in and hadn't touched it for 8 years he thought

plan is probably a dtm style street car

97 e36

also an auto, this will replace my w124 coupe as a cruiser and spare car for my wife and kids to have

88 300ce

been a really good car for me, I bought it with a trans issue before it got crushed and I did 42,000 miles with it in a little over a year fixing and replacing nearly every piece of the suspension and freshening as needed. It's for sale now needing a few things but still here and getting cruised every so often

As purchased, 2016

95 e36

in the background of the last w124 pic. Sold it to my brother who needed a daily. Hawaiian car, needed a roof, interior and lots of little electrical stuff. Still tinkering with him on that list and got a hardtop from jh36 and Ed Higgenbottom for it (thanks guys!).

I'll take this up again in a bit

10 128i

my daily and my kids if they want to drive a stick... pretty high mileage car so not overly valuable and pretty safe for them. Well optioned with msport suspension and sport seats but not an MSport. 

89 Dakota Sport

there is an actual build thread for this but I haven't gotten very far besides getting it to run. Very rare at this point but needs a ton of work

plans are a slammed cruiser for cruise nights and car shows.

For some reason I had you as more of an MB guy than a BMW guy  ... looking fwd to this thread and seeing where it goes. Also good to know an e36 hardtop fits in a pickup bed. 

Looking forward to updates already!

Yeah, I've been an MB, BMW, VW, Dodge Truck guy forever. 
 

I think that covers the cars I'll mentions here besides the free lotus project that hasn't really started while I collect parts and decide on a plan of attack. 
 

74 Lotus Elite

It was purchased out of an impound lot to become a challenge car then changed hands a time or two till Stampie offered it to me. I've always liked them a lot so I jumped at the chance. 

Then I found this parts car that had an engine fire, had been put on the trailer in 1988 and pushed into the garage in Chicago. He thought it was a national treasure so we negotiated for MONTHS before reaching an agreed price so we ran off to grab it

so that's what is around right now, I'm not really a racer and I haven't autocrossed since 2008(though it was every weeeknd I could before that) so most of my stuff is "fun" to drive cruisers rather than potent track equipment. 

Edit: found these old pics from SVrex for sale ad and wanted them all in the same place

Thanks for riding along!

That Lotus looks so much better in the warehouse than my back yard.

So Ive spent the last couple weeks on the road, right now I have 13 locations I manage open and five opening by end of first quarter 2022 and with the holidays I don't have as much time for quarterly inspections and corporate box checking. My place in NW Ohio to Harrisburg, Pa to Canaan NY to home to Valparaiso to Nashville to Valpo to home to Harrisburg to Erie to home just now. I don't do Facebook but I spend a bit of time on CL everywhere I go I can usually find some cool stuff. These Fikse wheels were on CL near Hamburg PA for way more than I wanted to pay but I went and made a decent offer and brought them home. They will bolt on the 300ce or go on the e36 with adaptors. I really like the color

Picked up the red Vert today, bought it awhile back but couldn't break away to actually jerk it out of his lawn and drag it home. This is the view I've had of it for the last five years and no one was ever home haha

obviously he likes cool cars

Had a few minutes today to look at the silver sedan; it had a key locked in the start position which seems to be a common problem for e36. I took the ignition completely apart released the key cycled it a few times and reassembled. All good and started for the first time in who knows how long. 

Edit: dig that minty interior!

Got the red Vert started as well but it pukes fuel out when running, must be a broken or disconnected fuel line. I'll dig for that later on.

Pampered the e82 a little, it'll be driven in the winter so figured a decent wash ahead of actual bad weather was deserved

the Powdercoater text me that the wheel centers are ready as well. Not sure I'm liking them for this so might end up selling them on

Is the red convertible Hellrot?

What are the hardtops made out of on those? Aluminum?

Aluminum, not sure on the actual color I've only been under the hood getting it started not taking stock so far.

Just saw this... cool stuff!

I was in line for the Lotus for a bit, but never could get out there. And that's good, since my life has gotten worse since then, and not better 

I still can't help wanting to get more projects, so if the burnt car you picked up leads to you having an extra chassis, I'd be interested  

Buttoned up the silver car this morning. 

my nephew crashed his 190e last night so my brother is going to try to speed this along so his son can drive it.

Now to try and find some red late 190e body panels?

poor thing

That 190 looked really nice before the crash. 

That pic is oooolllldd, 2014. It has zero clear coat now it just fell off in big sheets. Car has 300k mikes on it though and is rust free. Found it in a field back in 2012 and put it back together since red is such a good color for them. Still has a ton of presence slammed on Volks or Borbets. He found some white body panels so I'll grab those this week in Pennsylvania and we straightened most of the structure out tonight so may wrap the new parts or just put them on. 
 

edit: and the vert is hellrot 

New core support and associated parts are in the 190e, it's been painted under hood and my SIL found a RED hood with the same clear coat issues that looks like it is original lol. 
 

Brought a Gen1 Insight home after it got passed around here. Figured out the clutch switch is the issue and have it running ok. Battery is unplugged but I'll mess with that when I get some more time. 

 

And my Corporate assigned tow pig/DD crossed 160,000 miles today AnD I was assigned a VIN after having ordered its replacement last MAY. 

Pretty excited to see the new one, same truck - super crew F150, 4x4, 5.0, 10spd in white. The old one was driven off the lot August 12th 2018 with 13 miles.

The new truck is on the ground; actually it's been at the dealership for two weeks just no one told me. I'm pretty stoked, hope to grab it tonight.

I also laid out my future shop last night with my wife; I have a 30x60 barn that I use for storage but have planned on a 30x50 shop for quite awhile and am really stoked to have staked it out. Probably won't start it til 2023 since I plan to put a new floor in the barn this year.

As for cars; been teaching my daughter to drive a manual in the E82 which she is calling "her car" and the silver sedan is being dailyed by my brother. It had honestly been off the road Since 2012 and acts like it's never stopped being used. He bought some e39 style 5s for it and says it looks great. Haven't seen it in a month or so. Sorry no pics 

Well, that stinks

After looking for the mintiest e82 I could find a lady hit my daughter and I from behind at a stop light; HARD. She was driving which was a life lesson I guess. Sheriff was right there so no real issues, the fenders wrinkled so I'm not sure how bad the damage really is. 
 

Dang it

New truck has been picked up, need to sell the old one now which doesn't appear to be an issue is this crazy market

Still waiting for the insurance company to even come look at the e82, hope that is a favorable outcome which it probably will be since I got it "cheap-ish" and it has actually increased in value during my ownership.

That sucks on the BMW. I hope it doesn't scare your daughter of driving. 

Do the trucks have the same engine? The redline change caught my attn. 

Both are 5.0 with the 10spd, I hadn't noticed that but I won't get it there to check it out for a few weeks. I'm flying this week and next so won't rack up many miles. 

My daughter took it very well; she cried but wanted to go drive the next day. 

So bummed to see the 128i. Such great cars and yours was a rare spec. Hopefully it will be deemed repairable!