The Best ///M/Barge/General Rant/Look at this/O/T (Vol XVI)

[s m]

0a said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E21-323i-/3012698659...







The wheels would have to go or become less gold though.

For me the front spoiler would have to be replaced by a BBS one.....but yes, I bet it's quite fun with the extra poke from the 2.8

[Crook]

Output Flange said:

I've not had cause to find out TBH.

O/T, I was tempted to get a bucket and sponge from home and head back down to the station earlier

[DJRC]

1300 miles on the Graf Spree and I've got the engine spinning upto 6k now. Another 1000 to open up over the next two hundred miles. All I can say is whichever German nutter decided this engine needed turbos added to it must have been born with some Blackpool in his veins I'm not generally one to eulogise and goes misty eyes over big NA engines but fk me this really is one the worlds great power plants. Lovely in the midlands yesterday so top down to Bicester and back with the wife. First real chance to open her up after the 4500 initial running limit and so allowed upto 5500 and bloody hell. Ludicrous mid range punch amazing noise with the top down and the wife wasn't even complaining. My initial thoughts that this thing would be an A road monster appear to be correct...just demolished anything in its path with a twitch of the right foot. There is nothing subtle about this thing but Good God Almighty. I'm almost ready to give up Griff worship for this thing.

Left field...Loon are you booking up for the Easter members meeting?

[Gruber]

DJRC said:

...the Graf Spree...

For those who've not been keeping up at the back... Ummm... The what?

[sly fox]

Gruber said:

For those who've not been keeping up at the back... Ummm... The what?

SLK55 i think.

Hardly a battleship )

[tdm34]

sly fox said:

SLK55 i think.

Hardly a battleship )

Neither was the Graf Spee

[olly755]

Gruber said:

DJRC said:

...the Graf Spree...

For those who've not been keeping up at the back... Ummm... The what?

Wasn't that a special edition AX? With FM/AM radio, rear wiper and colour coded wheel trims at no extra cost?

[DJRC]

Indeed, hence the pocket reference either way I love this car !

[deeen]

Output Flange said:

Do any Threadists have experience of Rover P5Bs?

Yes, I had a 3.5 P5B coupe once.

[Zwolf]

DJRC said:

All I can say is whichever German nutter decided this engine needed turbos added to it must have been born with some Blackpool in his veins...

Or had another 500kg or so to propel with no lesser sense of urgency and potency. Sounds like you're having fun, love the BDSM colour combo.

[Output Flange]

BMW mechanics are useless s, and car traders are pathological liars.

Happy fking Tuesday, people.

[braddo]

How's the Cayman?

[Output Flange]

What happens in the next week?

[Output Flange]

Ah - you're retrofitting PDK aren't you?

[Output Flange]

Question - when my M5 goes off to Aus, it will be collected by a shipping agent here in the UK. Do I fill in the V5C as if I've sold it to a trader, or do I mark it as a permanent export and send it with a letter detailing the new owner in Aus?

The DVLA site isn't clear.

[Cunning Punt]

Can't speak for Aus, but when you export a UK car to most (all?) EU countries, the foreign registering authority is supposed to require the full V5C to register the car, and is then supposed to be responsible for sending the permanent export bit back to DVLA. So as I understand it, you as the seller relinquish the whole thing, and you have the collecting agent sign and date a receipt so you've got some defence if he clocks 140mph on the way to the docks.

We used to have a bloke who works in a classic car dealership on here, who ought to know about this sort of thing, but God knows where he's got to. In his absence I'd call DVLA and try to speak to someone who can confirm. Assuming you've got a couple of hours to spare, natch.

Output Flange said:

The DVLA site isn't clear.

Their core strategies are inspired by WW1 leadership.
"Ooh, yes, they'll never be expecting that".

[Crusoe]

Threadist - tell me this 550i m sport auto will be boring to drive and a money pit. Fully kitted out spec with a decent sized v8 and I could probably get a bit chipped off the price and a couple of years warranty thrown in as it has been in stock a while. Waiting for a manual but they don't come up very often.

http://usedcars.grassicksbmw.co.uk/showroom/5-Seri...

[Output Flange]

Thanks Punty McPunterson, I shall telex Swansea forthwith.

Today's list of things you don't expect to have to do at a BMW dealership:

1. Provide wiring diagrams for the car you've dropped off
2. Provide parts diagrams for the same
3. Do the fault-finding yourself, and then have to show the BMW "Tech" what's wrong, how you found it, and how to fix it.
4. Pay the hourly labour rate despite 1,2 and 3 above.

[Patrick Bateman]

What did they have to say for themselves?

[Zwolf]

Output Flange said:

Thanks Punty McPunterson, I shall telex Swansea forthwith.

Today's list of things you don't expect to have to do at a BMW dealership:

1. Provide wiring diagrams for the car you've dropped off
2. Provide parts diagrams for the same
3. Do the fault-finding yourself, and then have to show the BMW "Tech" what's wrong, how you found it, and how to fix it.
4. Pay the hourly labour rate despite 1,2 and 3 above.

For a car that was built before most, if not all of their grease monkeys were born? That's exactly what I'd expect.

Odds ar eslim that any of them will have been trained to any degree on models not of the current or one previous generation.

The days of techs being in a place 30+ years seem to be long gone, the good ones set up for themselves as indies...

I've always assumed that's why they charge lower rates on older cars, they have that amount less of a clue what they're dealing with, so spend more time working on it...