Tale of fixing my 525i...

[DaveVoorhis]

If y'all are interested, my tale of turning a 525i from junkyard fodder to daily driver is at http://shark.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/525i/

[ArtemLepilov]

Hey - I remember your site!!! You gave me an idea that it was OK to fix my car... :) I have a similar one right now.. I got mine for $1200 and so far its been about $2500 total.. It still need s a lot more work though.. hopefully i will be done this summer - I really want to tear it up, but I dont have a garage to do it in.. I did my tune up in the past few days in a parking lot :(

-Artem

[Gayle]

OK. I loved it. Photo-documentaries are the best and yours has very witty commentary. Except that it was missing some swearing that should have been there between the arrival of the 4th and the 5th head.

So, tell us--what did you pay for the cheapest 525 in the UK? And what did it end up costing you after the repairs?

And finally--you have to be an American, right? How else could you say with such confidence that a BMW is the Oldsmobile of the UK? Or how could you toss around the term "trailer trash" with such casualness. The real give away is the hood/bonnet issue.

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[Alexlind123]

That was great! It makes me want to make photo documentarys so that other people can enjoy them.

[Scott C]

Dave,
That was really cool, I got tears in my eyes with quite a bit of that stuff you had to correct. Multiple alarms, hacked together wiring, broken head. I can't believe you kept with it - I am sure I would have parted it out!

Well done!
Scott

(PS - I really do thank you for taking the time to put that together - it was enjoyable)

[Kobe Diesel]

Bravo~~~
Love the trunk spoiler

[DaveVoorhis]

OK. I loved it. Photo-documentaries are the best and yours has very witty commentary. Except that it was missing some swearing that should have been there between the arrival of the 4th and the 5th head.

Thanks!

All appropriate cursing was expended at the seller of useless heads. By the time I wrote up the page, I was completely spent, and barely had enough energy to type let alone swear.


So, tell us--what did you pay for the cheapest 525 in the UK? And what did it end up costing you after the repairs?

I purchased the car for £300, including delivery. If you convert that to US$, it sounds like a lot, but £300 here is roughly the same financial hit -- as a percentage of salary and relative to cost of living -- as $300US.

After all repairs, including the rip-off head from eBay and gratuitous cosmetics and silliness like new floor mats, a complete set of tools for the boot, the CD player, a new centre console (I hate those pop-up cassette contraptions), and suchlike, it cost (including purchase and government-mandated test) £1644.53 to put it on the road.

I have since spent £255.04 replacing every coolant hose and the heater core.

I still have to replace some rear suspension bushings, to get rid of a minor clunk and tendency to waggle on long, sweeping corners.


And finally--you have to be an American, right? How else could you say with such confidence that a BMW is the Oldsmobile of the UK? Or how could you toss around the term "trailer trash" with such casualness. The real give away is the hood/bonnet issue.

I'm American by birth, Canadian by upbringing, and British by choice.

[Gayle]

I'm American by birth, Canadian by upbringing, and British by choice.


Just another example of how bimmer.info is the United Nations of the automotive world.

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