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Not a Thunderbird, but this is my latest toy.
Last fall the family was in the need of a new daily driver when my daughter's car was totaled. She was cited and it had no collision insurance (it was a $2K 2003 Protege), so the replacement ride was all out of pocket.
At the same time my coworker indicated he was selling his beloved BMW that he had owned for 14 years. It was a 1996 BMW 318ti with 239K miles, but he had just put tires on it and he only wanted $500 because it was lurching on hard acceleration. Sold. I passed my Mazda3 down to my daughter and took this on as my daily.
Pretty solid body and decent interior, especially considering the age and miles. It had some needs, but the price was right. I replaced the motor, trans and differential mounts (a separated motor mount was the source of the lurching), the oil filter housing gasket & bushing (oil consumption went from 300 mile to the quart to near zero), front brakes, lower control arms and one sunroof riser. I've got a total of about $2K in it so far.
It's a lot of fun to drive. It's not particularly quick, but the engine loves to rev and it handles great. I've put another 11K on it so far.
I decided that I wanted to experience a wide variety of cars from here on out, and this BMW has been a great start. I plan to drive it for a year or two and then try something new.
Plus, it ended up featured in Hemmings Sports and Exotic's "In Your Garage" section:
Last fall the family was in the need of a new daily driver when my daughter's car was totaled. She was cited and it had no collision insurance (it was a $2K 2003 Protege), so the replacement ride was all out of pocket.
At the same time my coworker indicated he was selling his beloved BMW that he had owned for 14 years. It was a 1996 BMW 318ti with 239K miles, but he had just put tires on it and he only wanted $500 because it was lurching on hard acceleration. Sold. I passed my Mazda3 down to my daughter and took this on as my daily.
Pretty solid body and decent interior, especially considering the age and miles. It had some needs, but the price was right. I replaced the motor, trans and differential mounts (a separated motor mount was the source of the lurching), the oil filter housing gasket & bushing (oil consumption went from 300 mile to the quart to near zero), front brakes, lower control arms and one sunroof riser. I've got a total of about $2K in it so far.
It's a lot of fun to drive. It's not particularly quick, but the engine loves to rev and it handles great. I've put another 11K on it so far.
I decided that I wanted to experience a wide variety of cars from here on out, and this BMW has been a great start. I plan to drive it for a year or two and then try something new.
Plus, it ended up featured in Hemmings Sports and Exotic's "In Your Garage" section:
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