e24 newbie:635 m30 and 170K?

Why not spend the extra on a lower milage car in the begining, rather that make a higher miler mint?

Obviously the engine has done 170K, but so has the rest of the car. That said, I have seen cars around with 230K + and still going.

Is it auto? if so that could be pretty worn, but not necessarily. It all depends on how the car has been cared for, maintained and driven.

Have a good poke underneath though, both for signes of oil leaks on the mechanicals, and corrosion on the bodywork (sills, fron wings, rear arches).

guys

forgot to mention that she is a late highline without any chrome and full history mainly from munich legends. it has also just had 3500 spent on it from them and the front seats retrimmed by rolls royce, so clearly she is loved! also comes with genuine 17" alpinas from that era with a £2k bmw receipt for them to prove! just passed munich mot aswell, and had a complete genuine bmw exhaust fitted!

vehicle is circa 2500 and has never been welded. the interior looks brand new.

this is why i dont mind restoring the car as it seems such a nice base to begin with.

my bmw mechanic also knows these inside out and is ready for a complete inspection 2 to see what she may need.

what are these like as daily drivers? where can i take her for a complete underbody and sill waxoyl/stone chip application?

many thanks.

p.s - i restored my 325 sport (circa 9K) and my e30 m3 (circa 12K) so am quite used to getting stuck in!!



Edited by rezaq

I bought my Highline for £3K about two months ago, and although that's not long, am chuffed to bits with it so far. It's done 149K miles but has a very comprehensive history which shows it's had a lot of money spent on it when it's needed it. I am using it as a daily driver and it still turns heads and gets thumbs up at 8am on my way into work!  In fact knowing I have a half hour drive in my 6 to and from work makes the rest of the day bearable!! I know it's going to cost me money and so have got some saved for the inevitable, but I preventative maintenance is the key so am doing this bit by bit. Only time will tell if my £3k was money well spent but I suspect it will be the tip of the iceberg!!

Anyway I say go for it!!

There are two for sale @ £2500 by the same guy.

Take your mechanic along if you can. It's easy to get swayed by over-enthusiasm with these cars. It seems awfully cheap if it's as good as you say. It's easy to spend double your purchase price on fixing this & that. My own Six had £3000 of work done by ML when I bought it & it was 4x the price so beware.

Give ML a call. Barney should be able to give you an idea about the car.

As far as a daily driver - no problem. Used mine for over a year before I got too precious about leaving it where numptys could bang their doors on it etc. & got the Touring for daily use. You might find you do the same

AndyS wrote: There are two for sale @ £2500 by the same guy. ...

This is one of them, I presume:

Long-term readers of "BMW Car" magazine may recall an E24 feature article published in about 2000 entitled (I think) "Six Appeal". E690 BFG, the car in the above pic, is the same one which was used for most of the photos in the feature. At the time of publication, one of its front wings was quite rusty, and this was shown in the article!!

So I suppose it has some quasi-historic interest. It was on the same genuine Alpinas, too.

One other thing, before I forget. The E-prefix plate suggests it may be one of the last chrome-bumpered E24s to be sold or registered in the UK before the production changeover to the "Highline" model.

Edited by Horsetan

Brucey wrote: .... they changed from chrome bumper to the highline spec in the middle of 1987 production.

September.

...On the minus side it probably won't...be worth quite as much (for some reason no-one knows...)....

Might have something to do with an article written by a certain Mr. Everett....

Rezaq, mine has never been welded and the sills/wings are solid. There is a minor spot of rust on front wheelarch (stoneship though, not the usual front wing place) and one of the rear arches. Also make sure you check the area around the rear number plate lights as I overlooked this and found some rust the other day . Apparently I am the first of it's previous owners not to garage it every night so will keep a close eye on the rust situation and do the minor bits this summer.

Regarding power and performance, it is an auto Highline which I believe is a second or so slower to 60 than the earlier models, however it pulls very strongly and feels quicker than any of the earlier models I test drove. It is quickish around town but it really comes into it's own in sports mode on a nice wide country road - perfect for blasting past other sunday motorists . Handling was a pleasant suprise the car feels well balanced with not too much body roll, coming from a mini though I now have to be mindful about when I stamp on the accelerator when cornering!!

There are other niggles such as the rear leather is a bit cracked, it has a couple of minor dings in the front and rear bumpers, headlamp wash/wipe seized (this always happens apparently), elec headrests not working (ditto), and a few other bits, however I can live with this minor stuff and sort it gradually. Oh, and as Andy S said, some numpty has already opened their door on it.. lucky for them I wasn't there to see it !!

There are a couple of photos here if your interested, I keep meaning to take some decent shots, will post them up when i finally get round to it!

http://photos.yahoo.com/mjf297

Cheers, good luck

Is the actual leather used on the highlines different to the earlier 6's? I have seen a number of highlines with leather in really bad condition, and when I look at the rear seats, which are identical to the rest of the range, the leather looks different somehow.

My 6 is fitted with black comfort seats, and the leather is in great nick, has no wear at all, not even on the drivers seat where you rub as you enter. I clean and feed the hyde every 6 months to a year just to keep it supple.

Yeah I reluctantly put it up there, I did'nt want everyone to know what a chav I really am!

 

BTW, if anyone knows a historic Bedofrd van collector who is willing to give me top dollar for that CF2, or if you want a petrol van that does 10MPG please PM me!

On the plus side its got absolutely zero rust, and 22k on the clock. AND its got a double garage door on the roof to protect it from harmfull UVB radiation, so the paint's great too. There you go Ivan, I have confessed my sins to the world!

Edited by phb10186

There's a forum for everything these days!