Arrival

If you've found your way to this website, you probably know the basics of what Ryan and I are doing- driving a well cared for, meticulously maintained, pristine condition copy of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's debut album to New Orleans in a less than new BMW 528e. In fact, this 528e came to our world in 1986 and has covered the equivalent of the circumference of the earth about 8 times since then. Well, we think about that, since the odometer stopped working.


The wonderful Irish man we purchased the vehicle from posted this enticing tidbit on Craigslist for a rather long time before we came along:

"

1986 BMW 528e – The 2^nd Greatest Story Ever Told $500 obo

We’ve been together for five years and she has been the toast of many a dinner party tale, but I must part company with my beloved Beamer. Ill-health has made her too much for a restless lover like me to look after and it is best for both of us this way.

If you like BMW’s, love the 1980’s and are excited to restore glory to an emblem of both, then buy this beauty. Otherwise I will sell it for parts and that would be a terrible shame altogether.

Work you will need to do:

1. Replace the brakes with the brand new front and back pads sitting in the trunk. Don’t know about rotors.
2. She hasn’t started unassisted in a month and so either the battery or the starter is dodgy
3. The driver’s side door and window do not open from the inside.
4. The rear passenger’s electric window does not function electronically
5. The locking mechanism doesn’t always work.
6. I lost my gas cap.
7. The hood doesn’t always fasten down properly and so has a short length of precautionary rope doing the job just in case.
8. About 160,000 miles before the odometer started working slowly.
9. Oh and a hole somewhere in the muffler.

So if you want a 21 year old BMW ready for a road trip from Boston to Germany this is not it. Love the era and love the car this is a tremendously fun restoration that was on the. If you like that sort of thing. Oh and it’s automatic and grew up in rust-free California."

We're in the process (throes?) of getting her ready to leave on Wednesday for New York city and the start of the rally.

Repairs so far?

• Hot-wired trunk lock
• New battery
  
• Soldered-battery connections
• New right front suspension
• Patched exhaust
• Black paint on hood, roof, trunk
• Disconnected high beam lamps
• Hood pins

More to come before we leave. The car has developed a worrying thunk in the left front quite similar to the one that caused us to replace the right front suspension. The brakes need a close look over, and we may need to pay some attention to the smoking HVAC system....