bmwe21.net forums

Agree with what’s been said, the colour and the white wall tyres give it a kind of glamorous 50’s look! I like it, different to the usual E21’s you get on here

Ooooo... I hope that i get a lot more years out of her yet too!

A bit about the history of my car..

My car was born in November 1982... and i got her late April 2003 as a very late 21st Birthday Present almost a year after my 21st! My dad was just waiting for the right car to come along i guess

I know the car originated from Adelaide motors (BMW) which was known as Light motors at the time, as a man who has worked there the whole time remembers the car and how particular the original owner was who ordered it!

It seems that the car has basically only been used for transporting the driver and sometimes one passenger, as the drivers side seat was slightly worn and there is scuff marks on the carpet on the drivers side, but nothing anywhere else. I dont think that the back had ever been used before as there were no marks anywhere, and when i opened the ash tray thingos there wasnt anything in there, it was like they had never been opened before!

I am the 2nd owner, unless you count the car yard in-between. They actually didnt have it for sale, as dad is very involved with cars through being a collector and he was a panel beater for over 30 years until his health forced him to give it up (he now works selling oils and doing whitewalls etc ) . They gave him a call to tell him about this little car that had come in on a trade in. Dad went down to have a look saw it was very straight but by then they had decided not to sell. Anyway, i must have been ment to have the car as due to ill health the brothers had to sell the caryard shortly after, they called dad again and said that they would reluctantly sell! So i was presented with my little E21 much to my total shock seeing my dad is a collector of ford/mustang Muscle cars i didnt exactly expect it!

As for Km's when i got her she had done approx 192,000 and now she has done exactly 245 867kms and still going strong. I don't worry about the Km's as much as a lot of people as our family has had many cars still going strong at over 500,000.

However, there is a sad part to this story. I have been recently rear ended by a stupid red Ford stationwagon who needs to learn how to watch the road (can you hear the anger in my typing!!!). Therefore, the car needs to go in to have the damage repaired. You actually can't see much, except for two impressions in the back panel, cracks in the tail lights and a mark on the rubber in the bumper. I am lucky however due to Dad's involvement in the industry, a crash shop that wouldnt normally touch anything worth under 100k is going to be fixing her and quoted accordingly so the guys insurence company would approve it, so i trust it will be a good Job! I will put some before and after photos up when its done, right now, i cant stand knowing there is damage!..Oh it hurts!

Beautiful, nice job the car looks immaculate!

NIIIICE!

Love the colour, whitewalls and the dark center of the wheels!

Congrats.

Zigolia wrote: Re: whitewalls - Not expensive at all... I am the Daughter of Mr Whitewalls Himself We have a business called whitewalls SA and dad puts red/white/blue whatever colour walls on cars. Costs around $70 AUD for a set of 4... twins and really thick ones cost a little more.

Good get! So a customer would buy the wheels first and then send them to your father to do the white-walling....It is pretty cheap

Nice story about the car too. You folks with pristine Bimmers are so lucky, its f***ing HARD to find an oldie in good nick! Its all about right place at the right time....

Enjoy!
Mathew

I know, i feel more and more lucky all the time I love my little car so much, we go everywhere together

As for the whitewalls - its actually all done on the car, so the customer just lets us know where the car is, dad goes there with his machine etc and its all done, takes around 30min -1hr depending on the size etc

That car looks fantastic, I think I've seen it around a bit lately too.

Stunningly retro!!! I am positively drooling.... Colour looks great and the pin-striping along with the whitewalls finishes her off nicely. Amusingly different from any other E21 I have seen on this forum.
Nice history with the car too!!

Well, welcome to the forum Claire!! Take good care of your baby...

Great to finally see some pictures, Claire!

Loving the white walls and that heater panel is so nice and uncracked!!
Excellent work!

Best colour ever also

Cheers
Windy

...and I am not the only woman on the forum anymore it looks like!

Nikkie

heheh... thats right, now your going to have to share all the E21 men

Besides the fact that you have a nice e21 Claire what I find nice is that you still use it everyday.

I also would like to have a daily e21 but here in the more northern part of europe most e21 are already dead because of rust (weather is not that good). So here it would be a shame to drive it in those weather conditions and also the very heavy traffic.

Enjoy it as much as you can ... never let go off it ... you will regret it later.

Gerrit

The color brings back some memories of a 320/6 that was the same color and was driven by one of the fellows which now run the local garage....

Thanks for the advice re: not letting it go Gerrit. I have talked to a few people who speak of having an E21 as their first cars the same as me, but getting rid of them when they could afford something newer and then really regretting it. Then there are my friends who cannot understand why on earth i enjoy driving something old, and without powersteering!

I personally cannot imagine ever not owning my car, I think she will be with me for a long long time. I can see myself following in the footsteps of my father and always needing a shed as big as the house we live in to store all the cars!

That car is absolutely stunning!

It looks as if it has just rolled off the production line. What an absolute cracker of a car...