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Date: 10-22-05 09:33
From: AlCanuck in Surrey, BC, Canada 
Subject: My 323i is FINALLY painted!  
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After nearly 8 full months of suffering in the body shop, my car FINALLY got some paint on it a couple nights ago. Horror show around the body shop with the owner taking off to California, and his staff walking out on him, bills not paid, rent not paid, etc. I took drastic measures, acquired a key for the place, and hired a couple key people to come in and help me finish it off last week. The car was all consuming for the past several days, but life should calm down again this week. Anyway, none of that really matters anyway, because......she's painted!
For those that have never seen my 323i, here she is a year ago when I bought her.
Al _________________ 67 1600
77 630csi
81 323i
68 VW Bug
06 Volvo V50
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Date: 10-23-05 04:30
From: robspeed in HELLabama :P 
Subject: Re: I was going to say thats not fair when you have 2 more
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is it just in the states that 323s were badgeless in the rear? thats an amazing story, and im sure there are a million more crazy details to go with it! care to expound?? :) _________________ - Rob S.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!! www.jennaishealed.org !!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Date: 10-23-05 09:00
From: Harv in Willoughby Oh.
Subject: Re: I was going to say thats not fair when you have 2 more
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Al, your 323 looks great! Nice to see so many BMWs getting a good going over.
The US never had a E21 323i. All we got was the 320i:( I think when you got the sports package in Europe BMW didn't put badges on . My dad had a 320is and got it in Europe and there were no badges.
John _________________ "Chicken make no good house pet!"
"Less brake, more accelerator"
#1665778
Last edited by Harv on 10-23-05 09:47; edited 1 time in total
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Date: 10-23-05 10:59
From: cj in the BMW Sauber F1 car
Subject: Re: My 323i is FINALLY painted!
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Imagine a late model twin cam motor in that engine bay. Look at all the room on the left side for the intake. Custom stainless steel header snaking around the steering shaft. What about an electric brake booster to eliminate the clumsy reverse mount vacuum booster on the RHD. It sure looks good.
Cris _________________ The rides!
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/792851
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/792793
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Date: 10-23-05 01:03
From: AlCanuck in Surrey, BC, Canada
Subject: Re: My 323i is FINALLY painted!
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Thanks guys.
Rob, this car has been a pretty wild ride so far. I bought it a year ago this month, and had it ready to go into the body shop just after that. It was supposed to be painted by Christmas last year, but the shop just lied, and lied, and lied about it. No real work actually commenced until about July. I knew what was going on, but I had plenty of reasons to just let it slide. Not the least of which was that I moved my shop this summer, and the body shop was free storage.
I finally started to get fed up a couple months back, and put the pressure on him. That's when he started to screw me over. He did a bunch of subpar work, that needed to be fixed, and re-fixed. I started spending way too much time babysitting the car along, just so it would get done. Not fun. Then, he started to snap, and his life started going to hell. Shop rent was not paid for 3 months, bills not paid, workers not paid, someone stuffed a gun in his face, etc. I was getting the feeling that my car would never be done, and if it was, the end result would be poor.
Last straw was him taking off to San Diego for 10 days. That was over 2 weeks ago. No one has seen or heard from him since. I do not think he's coming back at all. What did I do? I hired 2 real professionals, bribed 2 friends(K-Swiss and Crazy Canuck) with Gourmet Pita, and procured a key to the shop. We spent ALL of our evenings last week getting this thing touched up, prepped, and ready for paint. I was able to hire the tech rep from Vancouver Autocolor(where my paint came from) to come in and shoot it for me a couple nights ago. After all the pain, the end result is gorgeous.
Moral of the story? If you need body and paint work, make your life simple, and send it to the McGinns. If I had this car to do over again, I would seriously consider putting it on a train to Connecticut for those boys to have at it.
Harv is right. There were no US spec 323i's, and only the is models came de-badged.
Cris, the thought of a late model engine is kinda cool, but I'll take a pass on it this time around. The goal of this project is a super clean, original feeling resto. 2.3L M20 with a dog leg 5 speed should motivate it very well!
Al
_________________
67 1600
77 630csi
81 323i
68 VW Bug
06 Volvo V50
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Date: 10-25-05 04:26
From: AlCanuck in Surrey, BC, Canada
Subject: Re: My 323i is FINALLY painted!
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| Matt_B wrote: | | please email me regarding 323 parts, thanks |
You want to buy some, sell some, or learn where to buy new ones?
Al _________________ 67 1600
77 630csi
81 323i
68 VW Bug
06 Volvo V50
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Date: 10-31-05 04:10
From: AlCanuck in Surrey, BC, Canada
Subject: New wheels!
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So, my buddy came by to see me the other day while I was in the office. He owns the tire store in the same complex as my shop. He asked when I was going to get the new wheels on my 323i, and my joking reply was, "when you order me a set of 205/50/15 Falken Azenis Sports". Well, I took off for a few hours, and when I got back, he came struting across the parking lot with a gummy new tire in his hand. He took me quite seriously, and ordered a set of them up! We mounted and balanced 2 of them today, so I thought I'd bolt them on for fun.
They're the older tread pattern, which is fine. I prefer this style to the newer ones, and they are 50% cheaper!
Here's a close up. I have a brand new set of zinc washed BBS lug bolts on theway, but these were all I had right now.
I'll take a better pic outside tomorrow, but I think she's gonna look pretty damn nice!
Al _________________ 67 1600
77 630csi
81 323i
68 VW Bug
06 Volvo V50
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