aka the wallet diet

retrospective

So, my 1989 m3 has been in storage at my dad’s house for 5 years now. I’ve been putting the fact that its been rotting away out of my mind; I cringe at the thought of rain, rust, and neighborhood kids denting sheetmetal. But, thats the price I had to pay for a college degree. Now that I have it, the M needs the attention it deserves. I think of the car as art and history. Crazy talk for the normal, understood by many.

I bought the car on impulse with my fiance, now wife, when scanning an autobuys rag. I was still in grief over the total loss of my ’88 M3 a couple years back, so we got it. In retrospect, we shouldn’t have bought it as we put it on the card (she just graduated, I just started school). We both loved this car, it brought back memories of our “dating” days.

So, the M wasn’t in perfect condition, kinda far from it. The bad: interior seemed dyed, formerly tan; the engine was noisy, valves and timing chain clapped in harmony; shift lever “spongy”. The good: average price for an M3 in fair condition; all vins matched; it’s an M3; it ran. Seems pretty optimistic of us to see the good in the car, especially with the racket the engine made.  A month after its purchase, the crank pulley spun off, landing nicely on the front bumper extension.  I took that as a hint, no more M3 until school was done.

So it starts.

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