1980 BMW E26 M1
Discussion
Looking forward to further updates on this thread and more pictures !
Here is one for sale in belgium:
https://www.autoscout24.be/nl/aanbod/bmw-m1-price-...
Garage is about 20km from my place so plan to have a look and see if I fit :-) (at 1.86m).
As far as wheels are concerned, I used to have a Ferrari 308QV . Wheels were also Campagnolo magnesium, and decals were availabe at different companies selling ferrari parts , so if you ever need new decals to stick on the wheels, would suggest also having a look there... .
https://www.eurospares.co.uk/
Cheers from Belgium,
Frank
Here is one for sale in belgium:
https://www.autoscout24.be/nl/aanbod/bmw-m1-price-...
Garage is about 20km from my place so plan to have a look and see if I fit :-) (at 1.86m).
As far as wheels are concerned, I used to have a Ferrari 308QV . Wheels were also Campagnolo magnesium, and decals were availabe at different companies selling ferrari parts , so if you ever need new decals to stick on the wheels, would suggest also having a look there... .
https://www.eurospares.co.uk/
Cheers from Belgium,
Frank
After rather a long time without much to report, I took the opportunity of lockdown to have some minor cosmetic repairs.
A previous owner had fitted a stainless steel exhaust which was one of the first things I removed when I bought the car, replacing it with the OEM system. However, in order to fit the exhaust, they had to enlarge the cut out in the rear bumper. Although largely unnoticed by anyone else, this had always irritated me, so I decided it was time to do something about it.
This is the enlarged cut out
You can see where the profiled of the edge of the hole changes where it had been cut. The remaining piece on the right of the hole was very thin and had started to crack.
I used a local body shop, Chris Gregory, that I have used before on my E39 M5 and who do a lot of work with TVRs so know a thing or two about GRP. The repaired hole now looks as it should, and as it did when it left Ital Design in 1980.
A previous owner had fitted a stainless steel exhaust which was one of the first things I removed when I bought the car, replacing it with the OEM system. However, in order to fit the exhaust, they had to enlarge the cut out in the rear bumper. Although largely unnoticed by anyone else, this had always irritated me, so I decided it was time to do something about it.
This is the enlarged cut out
You can see where the profiled of the edge of the hole changes where it had been cut. The remaining piece on the right of the hole was very thin and had started to crack.
I used a local body shop, Chris Gregory, that I have used before on my E39 M5 and who do a lot of work with TVRs so know a thing or two about GRP. The repaired hole now looks as it should, and as it did when it left Ital Design in 1980.
Dr G said:
1602Mark said:
Beautifully executed repair.
Looks good, doesn't it?M1 is still top of the Lotto win car list for me. Alongside my old E30 M3 obviously.
Alfiechops said:
Saw this car at Castle Howard on Sunday it is absolutely superb a real credit to the work you have put in....
Thanks. I was a little apprehensive of the weather forecast and it was raining lightly when I left, but in the end it was quite a nice day, even quite warm when the sun briefly came out.Pretty much since I bought the car I've wanted to be able take a picture like this.
Not particularly note worthy in itself, and shows the dire state of the tarmac on our drive. But it does show three things that have changed since I got the car.
1) As in a previous post the exhaust cut out is now correct.
2) As a side effect of fixing the exhaust cut out, the demarcation line between the white bumper and black central strip on the back of the car is now much straighter (maybe not 100% perfect, but not far off). There is a small grove running around the black strip and it's depth was not uniform in the area above the exhaust cut out. This meant that the line could not be straight. Here is a picture of how it used to be :
3) Finally, Pirelli have started re-making the original Cinturato P7 N4 tread pattern tyres that the M1 came with when new, somehow the rhomboid blocks of the tread pattern just look right on the car and keeps it in character as a car from the 1980's.
Not particularly note worthy in itself, and shows the dire state of the tarmac on our drive. But it does show three things that have changed since I got the car.
1) As in a previous post the exhaust cut out is now correct.
2) As a side effect of fixing the exhaust cut out, the demarcation line between the white bumper and black central strip on the back of the car is now much straighter (maybe not 100% perfect, but not far off). There is a small grove running around the black strip and it's depth was not uniform in the area above the exhaust cut out. This meant that the line could not be straight. Here is a picture of how it used to be :
3) Finally, Pirelli have started re-making the original Cinturato P7 N4 tread pattern tyres that the M1 came with when new, somehow the rhomboid blocks of the tread pattern just look right on the car and keeps it in character as a car from the 1980's.
RichardM5 said:
The rear light gaskets are a good example. They are shared with the E24, so there should be a reasonable demand (they said at the festival there were over 50 sets on back order). They were shown as on Back Order for several years, then they cancelled all the back orders and went NLA. After some e-mail moaning they have said that they will make them again but there are no timescales and they are still shown as NLA. Unfortunately they are quite a complex shape, not just a flat neoprene piece, so difficult to replicate. I have a NOS right, but not the left.
Just a thought on this as I work through the thread of a beautiful car - might be worth getting someone who does 3D printing to scan one of these in, not to reproduce in a 3D printer but it’s quite likely you could get them machine/laser cut out of the rubber foam somewhere using that scan file.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff