So, I've been looking for a new car for a while, happily tooling around on my motorbike during the summer months, I racked up 10,000km's in the saddle before Canberra's cold and winter and rain broke me and I needed another car. I had a WRX but it was shithouse so I got rid of it, and my RX7 isn't really what I was looking for. I had bought it in 2009, and since then, my tastes had changed, i'd owned (obviously) my 242GT which was the greatest car ever, then I had a '64 Bel Air which was even cooler, so I needed something that was... good for the soul, as cliche and wanky that sounds.
Many of my "I need a car" hunts end up with me at Spacs house dreaming and looking at things, mainly 142's, due to the 242 bring great, but... eh. Then I noticed Spac had a couple 2002's, and I had dreams, aspirations... that never eventuated because although the vision of a sweet 2002 was a very good one, getting a sweet 2002 takes a lot more effort than just dreaming and wishing, well... If you have lots of money it doesn't, but I don't.
So, I went on a 2002 hunt. It's a classic shape, and they're nice to drive. I drove a few, but unfortunately they're all worth more than what I wanted to pay for a car i'm only going to drive on weekends and in rain and such, as motorcycling is way too fun and convenient due to parking and costs of running.
I toyed with the idea of a few other cars, namely old Benzes and even a Studebaker Lark, but they were all too heavy for what I want. I also drove an Alfa 1750 Junior, but couldn't justify the money.
I went in with open eyes looking for something clean I can get in and drive, keep it maintained and make a few subtle modifications to my own taste, exactly what I had with the 242GT. No major body refurbishment needed, good paint etc, and it was becoming hard to find something that's in good condition that won't break the bank or be bland as hell, so when this E21 came up for sale, I snapped it up.
It's a 1977 E21 320, Carby M10 and an automatic. Drives great, has rego, cruises nice. The auto is a let down, but try finding ANY older car with original paint as good as this. It had been owned by an old lady for the first 30 years of its life, before the previous owner fitted GAZ coilovers and the replica BBS wheels.
My plans for it are simple - Drive it. For now the BBS replicas will stay because they have brand new tyres on them. Once the tyres wear out, i'll toy with fitting the factory wheels again, they came with the car and are mint with wheel trim rings and everything. It's incredibly simple to fit a manual, so I may toy with that idea in the future (factory "automatic" badging will stay, no matter what ;)). The carby is tuned right, it starts up great, auto-choke works great, and after the hell the crappy wiring in the 740 is giving me with it's stupid LH2.4, I won't be fitting LH Jet, which is what these M10 powered BMW's came with from factory in E30's, and is the preferred swap. The other option is K-Jet, which... Well, I loved the K-Jet in the 242, and also loved the K-Jet in the 323i E21 I borrowed off a mate one time so... If a well sorted K-Jet system came up for sale well... maybe.
So, yep. That's what is it.
