Like any good story, the hunt, and in this case, the initial resuscitation are some of the best parts. The car was tucked away in a warehouse in Lee, MA, and advertised in Hemmings Motor News sometime in Q1 2006. I only know this because my father bought me a copy of Hemmings Motor news for my birthday, which is in December, and I remember telling him that "Nobody reads this thing anymore." Well, lo and behold, this thing appeared in the classifieds-- I had been looking for some sort of project, and by this time, most of the stuff I was interested in had gotten too expensive. I don't know if you remember the run-up to The Great Recession, but people were doing roughly the same thing they're doing now, and finding cash somewhere (at that time it was Home Equity loans and leveraging assets), and buying desirable cars they always wanted. I was specifically looking for either a 1st gen Z/28 or early Mustang to have fun with, but yeah, that ship had sailed. In addition, my wife said "No way" to either of those, so I started looking for a Mk2 GTI, or if I could find one, maybe a 2002; the 2002 didn't even have to be a roundie. My friend up in Boston had a tii and it seemed really fun, so that is basically the only reason that I found myself in the BMW section of the HMN classifieds anyway.
I will add the letter that I received in response to my interest in the car. Yes, the guy selling the car had no contact info other than a mailing address. Haha - When I told my great friend Brian that I just sent a guy a letter about a car, he laughed and thought someone was trying to steal my identity. So yeah, I sent off a letter and didn't even consider I'd get any sort of reply; all that it cost me was a stamp and about 5 mins of my time, so whatever. Fast forward to April-- I get a call early on a Sunday morning after I had been out way too late (I used to be in a band and had a gig the night before, and def. had one too many...) from a number that was obviously not domestic (these are still the days of land lines and caller ID). For whatever miracle reason I actually answered the call and did not immediately just start yelling at the person, but instead answered. It was Jeff, the seller, calling from France where he spent his winter months gathering antiques to be sold at Brimfield MA and various other high-end furniture markets during the summer flea market months here in the Northeast. He had the car for sale, gave me a brief description of what was there, and I made a deal to send him a non-refundable $50 deposit in order to be the first person to see the car upon his return the first week of May. Jeff is a totally honorable guy and even though by the time he got back he had hundreds of letters inquiring about the car, keeps our agreement, and I'm the first one to see it.
When I go to see the car, there is some guy from New Jersey SITTING IN THE PARKING LOT yelling at Jeff on the phone about the car. The guy wants at the car so badly he angers Jeff, and Jeff said the guy's a psycho and doesn't want him to have it, but the guy is there in case I back out. He wanted to be first. Once again, Jeff is honorable. The car is.... Unbelieveable. Never touched. Sitting for over 20 years in this warehouse with antiques stacked all around and on top of it. Not stored properly, but it's effectively a big humidor, as there are old pieces of furniture all around it. Yes, it's covered, but not well. It was parked and forgotten.
Jeff had had plans to take this car with him to France that year, but he took it to a local mechanic in the Fall of that year, and the mechanic gave him an eye-popping quote to resurrect the car and get it in driving condition. There is a clutch disc and pressure plate in the trunk, and the clutch doesn't work. So I'm like, well, maybe it needs a clutch; I can deal with that. The car is remarkably well-preserved, with just over 70K miles. It is a U.S.-spec late '73 originally delivered to Verona Italy, so it has U.S. bumpers extended from the body, but still the small elegant pre-DOT bumpers. The car was painted when imported, sometime around 1980, as BMW's early clearcoat metallic paints failed. It's not a great refinish as the windows were not out, but it's held up well, and it just nice enough not to repaint.
Over that summer I resurrected the car, starting finding out what was there and what it needed. As I moved forward through each major system it just kept getting better and better, and by August I had the car running and driving. Initial diagnosis - No brakes, no clutch, needs radiator and water pump, engine seized. Otherwise everything else is there and works, even the clock (which still works and keeps perfect time!). First thing I do is figure out the clutch, which is totally intact, so I have no idea why there was a pressure plate / disc in the trunk.... The clutch rod between the pedal is broken, so no mechanical connection. I replace the clutch master, slave, and get a new clutch rod. While I'm there, new brake master, new soft lines, and rebuild all the calipers. She now has a I-think-so working clutch and brakes, and can be moved in and out of gear. OK great. Next up the engine. I was a traveling consultant at the time, so I was basically gone all week. Each weekend I'd fill the bores with oil and Marvel Mystery oil, and see if it would break free. If it didn't seem to want to go, I'd thread the plugs back in by hand, and walk away from it. After about a month of this I think to myself, it's either seized or it's not, and I get a pipe and a breaker bar, and put the big socket on the crank nut. Sure enough, with a little bit of force, it breaks free, and seems to spin around with my ratchet and length of pipe freely and without issue. Wow. Next up, I drain the oil, and it looks like tar. Chunks, clumps, coming out like I've never seen. Wow again. Next idea-- Fill the engine with diesel fuel and let it sit for the next round of consulting. Come back the following weekend, drain out the gallon of diesel fuel, fill it again, drain, and it looks relative clean and coming out without clumps. Let it drain completely, and fill it with oil. Still does not have a radiator in it, and has belts on it. Put a battery in it, hit the key, it turns over and sounds completely normal... Wow. Pull a plug - No spark. Chase the issue down to a bad condenser, and while there, check the point gap, which looks fine. Condenser in, hit the key (remember I had turned it over before)-- Starts right up and seems to want to rev fine and idle . Unbelievable. Since it doesn't have a radiator in it I shut it down, find a radiator on the shelf at Central Radiator in Pawtucket, replace the water pump, thermostat, and radiator hoses, and have at it again. Starts right up, settles into an idle, is in time, does not leak anything, smokes like crazy because of all the penetrant in the bores, but basically just wakes back up and seems to tell me it's ready to go.
I put tires on it, get it licensed and insured, and drive it to the Lime Rock Vintage Festival 2006. Has never left me stranded, has never had a mechanical issue, has only ever delivered smiles. Runs great, sounds awesome, seems to love to run the freeway somewhere in the 3800 - 4400 RPM range (around 80 mph), and feels completely rock-solid and ready to run for mile after mile. I have put just at 10k miles on it, and it seems ready for many more.
It's one of 450 manufactured for the U.S. market with a manual transmission, is in great colors, and has never been restored. Anyone that is a car person understands what it is. Yes I was lucky enough to get in before the prices went crazy, but it's a great car to drive, so I keep it active. Overall, this is a wonderful car, and I am very proud to call her mine.