rdholland

She arrived home today; 3600 miles over the road. You can tell from the pictures she looks a bit pissed and humiliated. I couldn't force myself to keep it in the driveway and use a hose because I did not want to douse it with any extra water. I will use the damp towel method to clean off the extra weight gained on the trip. I'll tear into the brakes next, while soaking the engine cylinders more with Mystery Oil. Then we'll see if we can get it running with the motor in its present form. We'll need to do a kitchen table rebuild of those Webers first, of course. I am worried about the rust but I'm going to get it running first no matter what because it will at least be drivable from what I can see. There is rust under the passenger side rocker and what you can see in the pics on the passenger side fender with the hood up. I don't have room in my garage for a proper survey of the rust. I'll get it to a friends house / shop next spring to plan the extent of the cut and weld. I tore away more of the grey plastic trunk liner tonight and am very happy with how solid the shock towers and surrounding area is. More pics of this soon and I will draw on your collective opinions for where to look next. Thanks, Rob

Thanks for the positive comments. I am going to keep the car stock; that just seems like the most prudent way to get it on the road. I might get some Panasport rims and wider rubber in the near future but that is just bolt-on. Also, I found a cool Nardi steering wheel, period correct with a BMW hub but it is expensive of course so I'll wait a bit and attend to more practical matters first. I will definitely go through the brakes first. Since it sat so long, I think I should order all new break lines / shoes / etc. Regarding the calipers, my question is should I just order a re-build kit or send them in to be re-built. I am assuming that the reason some of you send yours in is due to the fact that they may be corroded and need to be polished or honed n the piston bores Are there brake upgrades I should consider before spending money on the stock brakes or is a quality caliper rebuild and new lines sufficient? OK, no matter what I need to replace my front and rear roundels. Is it completely ridiculous of me to expect to find the correct cloisonne ones? Cause I want those really bad. Anyone?? My C Pillar roundels are there but not perfect. I would love to have two perfect ones - or Alpina examples just for fun. Regards, Rob Holland Edit/Delete Message

Hello everyone, I enjoy reading your posts. There is so much to learn here. So, I've never owned a BMW before. My son is a student at UTI in Phoenix on his way to the BMW STEP program there. He drives a 95 M3. This past April I find a 1968 2000CS on C/L stored there untouched under a carport for 22 years. I am the first caller 20 minutes after the ad is posted. I buy the car sight unseen and with a lost title because that's always the smart thing to do! The car still had CA blue plates and was driven to Phoenix when the owner drove home from college in 1988. He parked the car there and there it stayed. His mom sold it to yours truly. I had my son arrange to get the car moved to a secure storage via flat-bed tow service. Of course, we know better than to try and start it, and the tires were dry-rotted to pieces anyway. My son borrowed some rims / tires from a friend's M30 ( I think) for the transport. I thought it would be fun to get it started, you know, father son project, right? Problem: 116 degrees, storage unit with no electricity, water or a/c tends to limit such endeavors just a bit. I finally went down to see my son Cody and the car around the first of Sept. I decided we should just simplify life and sell it. Then we worked on it for about 3.5 hours in that storage unit; read: Dante's Inferno. Cody had removed the fuel tank and radiator at my request and had both refinished / re-cored. We put those back in, mounted the wheels with new tires I had ordered. Oh yeah, and put the hood back on - that was fun. During the process of sweating off several pounds and nearly dying from dehydration an evil demon within the car was awakened. It got into my head and caused a sort of crazy, 'where were you my whole life' attachment / possession of my mind. We started tearing into the engine bay / engine from the top down in order to find the beast and reason with it. This was to no avail. The result of this is visible in some of the pics on the photobucket link. Now the car is on a transport headed to Anchorage, AK where I live. It should be here in the next day or two. The lines of that car with the eloquent simplicity of its factory M10 just won't leave me alone. Now the toughest part: do I perform a 'sympathetic' restoration to stock or should I drop the bumpers, strip the interior and start a vintage / rallye race project? I am truly on the fence here - help me out! Here is a link to my photobucket sight which should work: http://s1087.photobucket.com/albums/j461/1968bmw Sorry for the short-story introduction; just had to get that off my chest. Regards, Rob Holland

Hello Norm, I am new to this forum, this is my first post / reply, and a first-time BMW owner. I bought a 1968 2000CS back in April in Phoenix. I live in Alaska but my son lives there as he is a student at UTI. The car has not been started in 22 years. I had my son get it moved (on a flatbed) to a secure storage unit and I visited him and the car the first of September '11. I love the car but was going to just sell it and give up on the idea, during a brief moment of clarity! Then we worked on it a little, as much as we could at 116 degrees in a storage unit with no electricity. This was a mistake as the evil Siren got into my head and now the car is on its way to Anchorage, AK so I can figure out what to do with it. I think I can just get it running, fix a couple of rust areas and drive it some (summer only of course). But I feel a need to cut it up and make a rally car!! Oh, what to do? Anyway, we sure love your car. Had I not seen a picture of yours, I may not have decided to haul it home. Here is a link to photo bucket of some pics I took in Phoenix last month. http://s1087.photobucket.com/albums/j461/1968bmw Regards, Rob Holland