Your first BMW?

[Jeroen]

I'm curious with what BMW it all started with for you guys! Let me kick off with my story:

When I grew up, my parents both had an E21, a 315 for mom and a 316 for dad. That's where it all went wrong! By the time I got my drivers license my father had moved on to an E23 Alpina, but my mother's E21 was still there and that's the car I used for my first legal drives .

No wonder I had to have one of my own and in 1992 I found a nice car that became my first BMW: a 1981 1766cc 316 that was just redone by a guy working in a car body shop. So, fresh paint, no rust, bumpers painted as well. OK you can have a different opinion on the tinted rear lights but I never did anything on the outside. Oh and the guy also welded a dual exhaust under the car. I fitted a fresh suspension and OZ Alpina replicas, the rest I left as is. But I did have a friend with a succesful tuning business and he offered to do some tweaking on the carb and adjust the carb and ignition on the rolling road. Now that made for a fast 316 that put abt 210 kph on the speedo! I had to do a head gasket job twice after some spirited driving, but other than that it was just an oil change and the car kept on going without any problems, never even ruined the head itself.

Think I sold her after abt 4 years. The next owner took even better care of the car than I did practically licking her clean at least once a week, but the guy he sold it to after two more years crashed it a couple of times and I guess that was it for the car. But for me it was a wonderful start with BMW's and I could never stay away from E21's since!

[323baur]

Hm, nice topic.

Sadly my posting here will be without pictures - I don't have them anymore.
I started with an e3. Very rotten, very fast. After 2 month's a friend of mine took her into a canal..
That was the end off the 3.3li..I'm still sad about that.

After this one I bought for too much money an e21 316. I've still very good memo's about that car. Very reliable, very clean driving.
But after a year, the women won the battle...I went on some elcheapo Renaults ..

Now after 10-12 years, there is a little bit more money, my wife isn't as beautifull as she was before, so I have more to say
Now I have 5 BMW's

[Peter V.]

I started to drive in a Renault 5 Alpine and after that a Opel Kadett 1.2.

In 1995 i bought my first BMW and it was an E21 315 from 1983 in the colour Bronzit beige. The reason of buying and having a BMW was simple. My sister's boyfriend worked at the local BMW-dealer as a mechanic. I had the car for about 2 years. After that a BMW E30 316i and many cars more. Now after a lott of years i own three BMW's.

[garyw51]

For me it was a 1969 red 2002 which I bought in 1972 and used it to go to university (and many other places). Jumped in it one day and drove to Melbourne (from Sydney) and back just for the fun of it - before the Hume was upgraded. I really ran it into the ground. Left the fold for a while with a variety of Australian cars (mostly V8s and Valiant Pacers) but returned with multiple e21s, an e28 535 which I loved, an e12 528 which I didn't, 2 x 633s which were great but rusted out while I looked at them, and a couple of e30s. Still have 3 x e21s and an e30 and have found a 2004 - the South African Glas which used 2002 engine and gearbox and eventually morphed into the Mazda 1500/1800. This is a long term restoration - it needs a lot of work. Still having lots of fun with the e21s!!!!

[e21-Mark]

Mine was in 1989 when I saw a Kermit green 1502 tucked away on a second hand car lot down in Kent. It was £200 and had about 6 weeks MOT left. It looked quite nice from about 3 miles away and you couldn't see the ton of filler in the front panel. It ran and drove really well though.
On the way home I had a bit of a traffic light grand-prix with a guy I knew in his Dolomite 1850. The plucky little 1502 won easily! That was it really and I've had a BMW of some sort ever since. I also remember I ran over a cat in the 1502. Not on purpose obviously but it was so horrible I've never forgotten it.

[nas80]

I have driven a fair few BMW's but not actually had one with my name on the log book till i bought my e21 that I have now.

I had an rx7 prior and sold it due to a lack of use and I wanted the money to relocate out of my home town.

I got settled and was bored as I had no project car, well I did have a brief stint in a Corrado g60 but that was written off when some tool crashed into it.

Anyway im sat at work and said to one of the lads - man i get bored i need a new project car any ideas?

He says well actually i know a guy who has an old bmw for sale, he cant drive it as it doesnt have any power steering as hes too old.

I went to go see it and i couldnt believe the condition of it, I pretty much snapped the guys arm off he made me promise him that id look after it and not "chav it up" lol.

Unfortunately the car was totally stock apart from a daft spoiler and on the way home it was pretty windy and drove it home crapping myself - i decided to break that promise as the car drove like crap standard even though it was very well maintained.

So wheels and suspension then brakes were changed and the car handled much better but lacked power. now it has a 24v engine it is immense fun and sounds much nicer then the m10 that was in there.

BMW's, they are ok but ive had cars with better driving dynamics. the best thing is the scene and the way people give me the thumbs up when im driving along, unlike when i had my rx7 where people gave me the one finger ringer or a dissapproving look.

if i sold my car and wanted another BMW it would definately have to be an M powered one.

[TopCat]

My first BMW was a very spoiling 1972 CSI in black with tan leather which I bought LHD whilst serving in Germany in 1979 in the Household Cavalry

(I also had a tax free Alfasud Tii)

I then had a rusty 74 2002- how come you easily won the Mess Horsepower race and now you only have a rotten 2002 my colleagues enquired (I had bought a house in Battersea) A house? they exclaimed why on earth do you need one of those?
Reason being I have a 1200 round trip to get home and back between postings abroad (Inverness to RAF Brize Norton etc)
I then had another 2002 Touring, which belonged to a titled fishing tenant- was also a bit rusty!
Then in the 80's a series of E21s 320s - one was a Baur, one I bought from Dennis Nodern the TV comic, who when asked by me how many gears did it have he replied does that include reverse?
I used to buy them with 30k miles on them drive them all over Europe and sell them after 60k miles for the same price!
Quite a lot of the time I just left my E21s in UK - whist in Belize I had a Jeep, in Canada I bought an enormous Plymouth, and with the UN in Cyprus all I had was a motorbike (used to carry my polo sticks under the saddle to and from matches!)

Then my first Company car was an E30 320i in 1990 when I joined Board in that year, my next company car was my Hartge H26 a 1991 325I E30 which I got again when it was about 3 years old- which I still own.
Lastest acquistion is Herman the Alpina B6 E21 which goes for Test tomorrow morning- fingers crossed!!

The Camaros appeared late 80s (which I still own) and having learnt to drive at the age of 9 in Scotland in a fleet of Austin Champs, and Jeeps, I did the Welsh Hillrally in a CJ Jeep 2 weeks after taking my licence as a 17 year old- so now indulge my love of all things CJ Jeep as well.
I got my Race licence in 1990 and my International C race licence in about 1996
what is funny is that the Camaro and the E21 are very similar! Same door trims, same Oversteer a whiff of throttle away, same solidity and evidence of over engineering!

[Rteyp]

Hi

My first ever BMW driving experience was a 1975 3.0 CSi when I was 19 (1979)..... sadly I was not the owner but allowed to borrow it to pick my girlfriend up ! Loved all of the 8 mile journey ... hooked and still want one !

First BMW purchase wasn't until 2008 a Silver 06 120d MSport which we still have as our daily driver.



Then if a 07 Mini Cooper counts we have one of them too , something everyone in the house can drive.



And in July the E21 320/6

[Jason_323i]

I grew tinkering on cars, mainly Jags/Mg's/Lotus. Bought my first car at 14 which was a morris minor which rebuilt with MG midget 1275 running gear, then my sister wrote it of. Next car was a beetle which done the cal look thing with but being a 1200cc it was tad slow compared to taking out my dad's v12 xjs or lotus europa.

When I was about 18 my sisters friends big brother who worked in the oil industry turned up in a new e30 m3 he had collect in Germany on his way home from work int he middle east. I was hooked it just better than anything else i had been in. At the same time my mum had a e21 320i so I bought that off her and used it for a year before going to uni. Since then I have probably had owned about 25 Bmw's (and about 50/60 cars) of which about 15 have been e21's, and sad to admit now but i have probably fragged at least 10 323i's.

Jason

[rjuk1982]

Interesting stories.

Before I could drive I went through a phase of really wanting an e30, then didn't get one.

My first BMW was actually an e46 316 compact. believe it or not it was my ex-girlfriends car and I ended up with it when we split up because I was paying the finance for her.

I drove that car for 3 years and really enjoyed it, even though it was dog slow and not very economical (A/T) but had to sell when I settled down and my son was born (wife demanded 5 doors).

When the wife got her own car I briefly went back to a high miles e46 316 sedan which was a mistake, then it got interesting:

I picked up an awesome e34 535i sport, favorite car of everything I've owned so far then mistakenly swapped it for an e38 740 because I wanted to tick the V8 box:



Beer ebay and self pity over my 535 put another 535i sport on my drive, this tatty offering, oops!



And I've always wanted an e21 which lead to me picking up my 320/6 a couple of months ago!

Rob

[Wondermike]

My dad always drove Opels and so did i most of the time. Opel Kadett B, C and D and as hobby cars Commodore A coupe and B coupe.
The last one a 2.8 GS/E, that was a great and fast car in signal green.
Then found out about girls, sex and where kids come from, some strange steps out of the box, Ford Fiesta 1.1, Peugeot 405 and Renault Laguna I and my current Laguna II which i own for more then 6 years now.
(Yes Jeroen, it's still there )

Then in 2007 i bought my first youngtimer BMW E21 and a new world opened for me, and i fell in love with the eighties models from Munchen.



Now she's sleeping in the garage waiting for the new season to start.
As you can see in the list below, i didn't stay with one BMW after that and parking space is my biggest enemy.

[dannyboy]

my first bmw was when i was 19, an e21 323i (x reg) henna red... totaly standard till i wrote it off( sidways into metal railings..) then i owned another henna red 323i and a bright yellow one as running spares with a 325 lump... sold both and bought a very nice 320 auto( big mistake..3 speed auto)... then came along my current 323/3.5... y reg owned for the past 13/14 yrs and still have a 316 (wifes driving lessons) did own a year or so ago an e34 540 6speed touring.. great car.. in total i've owned over 65 cars so far... had a brief affair with the old saab 900 turbo's(4 owned) and mk1/mk2 golf gti's(7 owned) also 4 mk2 escorts... .. i have never owned a vauxhall funnist wierd car i had was a nissan cherry turbo.. strange but quickish...
but i still miss driving my 323/3.5 (aka the red baron)... need to get it back on the road asap!

[DC]

my first BMW was poor e30 318i in 2003, then few e30 325i and now collection of e21,e23,e24 and e30



all my bimmers are here -> http://bmw.zpevak.net/

[bumface3]

Mine was in the 90's...an E30 5 door 316i....very clean...but very slow.

[OLE97P!]

Mine was a Fjord blue 320 Auto, XJX898R. I bought it for £300 in 1987 with a cracked head, replaced that and ran it for a bit. It had done 150'000 miles and the bottom end was just starting to rumble - it had been run on oil/water mix which did it no good at all.
Loads of other E21's including the one in my sig, two 323i's, a left hand drive 1976 320 with aircon and blue leather and three 6 cylinder 320's.
My Dad worked at BMW Bracknell from mid 1982 to mid 1984 and I can remember the staff car park full of new E21's, E28's etc. A fully optioned 635CSi cost the same as our (very nice) house. Those were the days!