aka the wallet diet

Spilling my guts…

Over the last few weeks I have accepted that my M3 is a semi-basketcase-no history, no service records, has some gremlins, paint is OK at best, interior is good. But, for some damn reason I love this machine. I truly don’t know why. The racing history? The design? That boy racer feeling? The singularity? The laugh I get when the silly tow truck driver tells me not to buy fiberglass aftermarket body panels because it makes the car hard to tow? Don’t know.

One day the M3 bug hit me hard when looking for another BMW to buy once my old trusty e12 528i died. Must have been the old Noble BMW catalogs with the DS and Alpine M3’s on the cover. That was over ten years ago when I bought my first e30M3. I was enthralled with the overall package-the perfect car. I met my wife in this car, maybe that’s why she liked me? I remember her reaction when she found out it was “only” 4 cylinder. Her ex was a Mustang head. lol.

Then I crashed.

Fast forward 4 years. I buy another m3 just like my former-this time it isn’t as “smooth.” It was kinda rough, ticketty engine, and wouldn’t pass smog. I should have walked away. Seriously. But, the devil on my shoulder made me do it. My fiance and I gave them money we didn’t have and paid it off in a couple of years. The car was driven for only 4 months when the harmonic balancer (crank pulley) flew off on the highway while going to school. Off it went to sit in my dad’s back yard.

Fast forward another 6 years. We tow the M to our new house (see true “tow” reference above). I still love this car, thick cobwebs and all. No matter how much I know we shouldn’t have gotten it I still dream of it running again. We struggled to pay it off with one income. My wife knew I loved it, and I love her for it. Just that makes me attached to it.

So…it’s my M. It’s my problem. It’s my wife’s envy. It’s my greasy hands after working on it in my cramped garage. It’s my endless nights at pondering as to what kind of transmission mounts to get. It is me. It’s my basketcase.

I wouldn’t change any of it.

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Picture of the M at the dealer almost 7 years ago.

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