My e23 733i has a 16” steering wheel. Like a Greyhound bus. It may be the best 16” steering wheel on the planet, but it is still 16” in diameter. My body is of large Operatic Tenor proportions. Think Luciano Pavarotti. So it occurred to me that I could acquire more free space between the wheel and my corpulence by acquiring a wheel of smaller diameter. I noticed that the wheel of my wife’s e24 L6 was only 14” in diameter and that perhaps one like it might fit on my e23. After asking several in-the-know people about it, and being assured that such a wheel would fit, I steered my Mac’s browser to eBay in search of a wheel. And that’s where my direction was changed.
I had purchased my e23 733i from the widow of a Silicon Valley lawyer whose untimely demise left her with a two year old car she didn’t want. My purchase helped us both. Having stepped out of a Porsche 928 that I had happily owned since new, I had learned my lesson about the very large depreciation of upscale autos, and had resolved that in the future I would let someone else absorb it.
While kicking tires at the local BMW dealership the salesman, who couldn’t help me with my search for a one or two year old e23, did know about the widow’s car. And a deal was made.
I was delighted with my alpine white over tan e23 until October 1988 when I saw my first photos of the forthcoming e32 750iL. I was enthralled. Imagine the scene in Disney’s rendition of Wind In The Willows, when Mr. Toad sees his first automobile. His eyes light up like a Las Vegas slot machine just hitting a Jackpot. Steam comes out of his ears. He levitates 3 feet off the ground. Whoops and hollers of pure lust flow from his mouth. Yes, like him, I really liked what I saw and read.
What I didn’t like was - SEVENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!
And business wasn’t so great right then and I wanted to stay married to my bride of many years, so I took a cold shower and chilled my lust for an e32 750iL.
But deep down, my lust never abated.
Fast forward now to the fall of 1994. I had owned my e23 for 8 years and was quite delighted with it. One day while visiting Peninsula BMW in Monterey, CA for service, I noticed an e32 750iL on the used car area - alpine white over tan. My heart lept. When I enquired about it, the salesman offered a test ride and when I said yes, he flipped me the keys and said, “have fun.” This was to be my first actual driving experience in a 750.
Only politeness and my gentlemanly upbringing prevents me from describing just how much fun I had. On the freeway, into the Del Monte Forest, around and about. Slow and easy, fast and furious...EGAD! As good as I thought! No car since my 928 and some early Ferraris of my jaded youth had such a turbine-like application of power. Dial an acceleration curve with your right foot. All in an environment of tomb-like quiet. Oh egad Mr. Toady, I know, I know!
But it was not to be. By 1994 the MSRP had grown to over NINETY THOUSAND DOLLARS. Of course commensurately less for a pre-owned example. But once again the realities of finances and preservation of my marriage forced me to walk away.
In 1995 the e38 was introduced and quite frankly it did not have the pizzaz of the e32 to me. My lust remained underground.
Which brings me back to my steering wheel. So as I tried more and more keywords to try and find a wheel, a number of 7ers for sale came up. Glancing at the listings, I thought to try a search on 750s “just for the H*LL of it”.
And from the listings, it spoke to me!
1994 e32 750iL, Alpine White over Tan, one owner trade-in at the Porsche store in Dallas, TX. Purchased for resale by the guys at ecarlink.com (more on them later). Low miles, service records show it in the dealer every 4 months for regular maintenance. YIKES! A LAST OF THE E32 750’S! IN MY COLORS!
And the “Buy It Now” price was on the low side of in between low book and retail. Fair, if it was as good as it looked. The listing had no less than 30 high quality fotos over which I pored and pored and pored. Not a mark. In or out. Amazing! Really like a new car. I called the dealer and we discussed the typical details of how a long-distance transaction would be handled.
And then... I sat on it. You men all know this one. How do I tell my wife I’m serious about this?
What I didn’t know was that she had noticed over my shoulder my intense attention to the eBay item. When I told her the story, she simply said...”then why don’t you get it?”
“Ahhh, bah bee buh duh... OK.” I intelligently replied.
And so now my tale changes from a story of anticipation to one of realization.
I had never before bought a car over the internet. My experience had been more mundane. My experience had been a more-or-less normal one, I thought. An obsessive engineering type, I would spend months choosing target vehicles in the pages of magazines and listening to the verbal opinions of people I knew, club members and car nuts just like me. Then the visits to the new car dealers for up close hands on examination, and “test drives”. Once prospective choices had been made, a search through local newspapers and club publications would find likely candidates to visit. Phone calls, appointments, driving to see them, BS-ing with the owner, all the while evaluating the prospect. The test drives, the “I don’t knows” and on to the next one. Next comes the sorting out. Which one(s) made the cut. Then the re-visiting, re-driving, finding out some had been sold. And on and on. The ritual dance of the selective searcher. Then the deal making dance. A symphony of BS up to your ankles from the dealers, even worse from some private parties. Caveat Emptor is the watchword.
And when the lunge and parry of the negotiations were over you hoped you didn’t screw up, even if you did have the Kelly Blue Book numbers for the car.
Curtis Chistopherson <curtis@ecarlink.com> was a most reassuring fellow. Very matter of fact. With over 30 pictures on the internet of the 750 he simply said - “the car is as good as the pictures.” Now good as pictures are, the typical screen of a PC is only 72 to 96 DPI. A Kodak print is about 2000 DPI. So internet pictures can leave a lot to be desired, and can hide a lot. I have learned this with other smaller items I have bought on eBay. Generally OK, there have been times when I was disappointed. He assured me that I had the right to refuse the car upon personal inspection or inspection by a third party ‘expert’, despite the fact that eBay’s rules about this are that all won auction sales are FINAL.
As an aside - eBay has a device on their auctions called “Buy It Now”. This is a link that can be clicked anytime before bids are made that reach a reserve amount the seller has set on an item. Since most savvy eBay buyers wait until the very last minutes, if not seconds, of auctions in order not to tip their hand and force prices too high, many items show almost no activity prior to ending. The 750 had a few bids, but the reserve price had not been met, so a “Buy It Now” would trump all the others and seal the auction. I asked Curtis what his reserve was, and he quite believably told me it was $500 below the “Buy It Now”.
So, while on the phone with Curtis....I moved the cursor slowly over the “Buy It Now” link ... and clicked!
In my life I have known quite a few acquisitive men. Driven to ‘win’ at all costs in business, they bring this same drive to everything they do. And without exception, these men have told me that after they win - the thrill is gone. It evaporates like a puff of smoke. For them it is all anticipation and no realization. I can remember my favorite working mate who, upon reaching great wealth rewarded himself with a Ferrari Daytona Spyder. He was alive with excitement as we discussed his purchase and all its details. After he had the car and we were out for a drive he told me that it ‘just wasn’t the same’. You see he’d won and now there was nothing more to win about that Ferrari. The cure was to go after something else.
I am not such a man. For me the anticipation is wonderful - and the realization is even better!
For me and my new 750iL the first phase of anticipation was over. Unless the car had hidden problems that I would discover on personal inspection, it was going to be mine! Mine! MINE!
Now I am in San Diego, California and the car is in Dallas, Texas. One thousand five hundred twenty three miles (1523) as the road wanders. Curtis offered to have the car trucked to me for a reasonable price. Why would I do that when I could wallow in the realization of the car on the long drive from Texas to California?
To understand this you have to be a car person. If you said - “Why would he choose to take two days and drive 1500 miles when he could just have the car delivered to him?” Then you are NOT a car person. A car person would not ask the question.
And my friend Dennis Keck certainly did not ask that question when I asked if he’d like to fly out and join me for the ride. Nor did he hesitate for even a minute to sign on for the drive.
Dennis and I go back a long way. Waaay back. We met in 1959 at the University Of Illinois in Champaign as Freshmen at the founding meeting of Scuderia Illro - the U of I sports car club. We got to talking and quickly saw that each was already a card-carrying car nut, immersed in sports cars and all the associated goings on that sports car nuts did for self defense and amusement in those days. (Despite the fact that life had separated us - he in New Jersey, me in California - for about 15 years.) Now, Forty four (44) years later our passion for things automotive is undiminished!
Dennis is the ideal traveling companion for such a trip. Having owned many interesting cars which he maintained himself, including a seminal Triumph TR3, Sunbeam (Alpine) Tiger, various 2002 and 3er BMWs with which he won MCSSC class championships three years running, a few airplanes, a Ferrari 275GTB, and a Ferrari 330 GTC which he still owns, along with a Honda S2000 roadster, Nissan Murano, and a Suzuki Grand Vitara SUV turbo diesel! Oh, and did I mention airplanes? Dennis is a car guy who can speak authoritatively on just about any mechanical device that moves through space. Having shared many of those experiences with him myself over the years, there is no end of stories to tell and gaps to fill on such a drive.
I hate airplanes. I feel like dead meat on the hook in back being hauled to the slaughter. In my mind’s eye a large counter is mounted on the forward bulkhead - like the mach meter on the Concorde - and it counts down ‘one’ every time I board in anticipation of my number being up!
We left San Diego at 6AM on American Airlines bound for Dallas. On arrival at DFW we were met at 12 PM (Dallas time) by Curtis with a Cadillac Escalade and driven to his office at the Arlington Texas Airport. a private civil aviation airport just north of DFW. Parked outside Curtis’ office was a private Boeing 737-400 - they do things big in Texas. A light rain was falling. And I was experiencing a diabetic low attack which made paying attention to anything impossible. I retreated to Curtis’ office to take some meds and recover while Dennis pored over the car and rejoined me in the office. A wink and a thumbs up told me the story. Later we both returned to the car and after a good look, we took off for our first drive.
Curtis had not misrepresented the car. It was as good as the photos and drove that way as well. Smooth, responsive and very powerful, it was intoxicating to drive. Unfortunately Dallas traffic and a light drizzle falling made enthusiastic maneuvers impossible. But a half hour on freeway and other roads confirmed that this was an ‘honest’ car without evidence of damage or lack of basic maintenance. Hurray!
Later in the day we, after we had wandered about and enjoyed Texas style Bar-B-Que for lunch and Louisiana cajun style fare for dinner, we waddled into our hotel and collapsed for the night.
Four AM came around pretty quickly. We checked out and hit the road West. Interstate 10 out of Texas. I took the first leg. A light rain was falling and everything looked an eerie sepia color in the lights of the freeway as we navigated a series of freeway transitions until we were on I10, which we would remain on for a rest of the morning. I10 out of Dallas is basically flat. It rolls a bit, slightly similar to the glacial morraine country of central Wisconsin, only a bit less relief. The freeway of course, mostly flattens that. Just as well considering the weather. It was very green. Much greener than California which hasn’t had much rain in Five (5!) years. As the sun came up we stopped at a roadside restaurant for some breakfast, then Dennis took over for the remainder of the day. Destination El Paso.
I’d never been to El Paso before and was surprised how mountainous it was and the bend of the Rio Grande was up against the scarp of the mountain. Originally we had planned to stay the night there. But it was only 4PM or so and we thought that Los Cruces, New Mexico was do-able before dark. And we made it with no problem. Checked into a handy motel for an hour nap, and headed out for dinner at a New Mexico style Mexican restaurant. Hunger sated, we headed back to the motel and a good night’s sleep.
I’m sure lucky that Dennis is the most agreeable fellow on the planet. I had to rise at 2AM to relieve myself and when I came out of the bathroom Dennis was up. “Are you up” he said. “Sure, I said”. “Let’s hit it!” we both said, almost simultaneously.
What loonies, you must be thinking. But there was a method to our madness. Dennis is a pilot and had always wanted to visit Davis Monthan Air Base in Tuscon, AZ. This is the place where the USA keeps all its mothballed airplanes. Acres and acres of bombers, fighters, freighters, etc. There is also a great Aerospace museum - The Pima Air and Space and Titan Missile Museums - across the road with an outstanding collection of history making airplanes such as “The Columbine” President Eisenhower’s plane, the Air Force One that was in Dallas when President Kennedy was shot and in which Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as President, an SR71 BlackBird, a B52 from the VietNam era, and more, more, more! Also, there is a bus tour of the graveyard which goes only once per day and which Dennis thought left at about 10AM and was first come first served. We wanted on that bus! Hence our 2AM departure from Las Cruces.
Even including a breakfast stop along the way we arrived in Tucson with time to kill before the 10AM departure of the tour bus. And what a tour. Just imagine acre upon acre of war planes of every description lined up like soldiers at the ready, wrapped in white plastic form fitting shrouds to protect them from the dust and the desert sun, ready to be in the air in 36 hours from the command being given. It is an awesome sight. The aircraft there are mainly in four categories: excess inventory ready for quick activation; excess inventory for sale; inventory being dismantled for spare parts; and inventory being scrapped. Each of these categories is larger than the air forces of most countries. After the bus tour we spent some more time at the museum before continuing our journey.
We left Tucson at about 12PM. Destination - San Diego. By this time Dennis and I had settled into a routine. I’d take the AM leg of driving and he’d take the PM leg. This worked out well as since El Paso the scenery had improved greatly, and this gave each of us an opportunity to study the passing scene in more detail than when driving or to take a cat nap.
Since this was a ‘new’ car to both of us we took it very easy. We did not want any surprises far from home out on the open road. Generally we held around 80MPH. A speed which it seems nowadays is pretty safe from harassment from the gendarmes on the major freeways between cities. I must tell you though that out on the flat open spaces of Texas, it was tempting to go faster. It can be noted that, on several occasions I found that I had crept unconsciously to over 100MPH. Tsk! Tsk!
By the time we crossed the California state line at Yuma only the sand dunes and mountains of East San Diego County lay before us, along with the setting sun, of course.
For over fifteen hundred miles the car had performed beautifully. It is clear that the 750 was designed to eat miles like this all day long - and ask for more.
Delighted does not even begin to cover how I feel about this car. Every time I sit behind the wheel...I smile. When I turn the key and I am greeted by that special sound 750s make as the fire off...I smile. As I meander down my country lane heading to the freeway... I smile. As I enter the freeway and accelerate quickly to 100MPH in a very few seconds...I smile. As I cruise effortlessly on the freeway at extra-legal speeds listening to Puccini on a CD...I smile. When I bend it fast through the twisties of our country two laners, ASC+T off and rear end coming around...I smile! At night, the soft amber glow from the dash is a light show to behold...and I smile. If I smiled any more I’d break my face!
My wife now has the task of finding a guy with a big enough backhoe to bury me in this 750... and an undertaker who can capture my big SMILE!
A word about maintenance costs. In the following months I have shaken out, debugged, and performed deferred maintenance probably neglected by the former owner. For years Chris Koch and I have claimed that with any used car purchase, no matter how good it looks, you should understand that you will spend about 5% of the car’s new MSRP value in maintenance and repairs in your first, and subsequent, years of ownership. I knew this going in. I even had a pretty good idea of exactly what would be needed with this car, as e32s are quite predictable on many maintenance items, and Chris Koch and I had discussed ad nauseam just what I might be faced with. And it worked out just about like that. With a surprise or two. But since I knew this going in, and was prepared to deal with it, it was no shock to me - or my wallet. To not do this is a mistake that many people make in purchasing high-end vehicles like the 750. They think they can grab a depreciation bargain and cruise in the lap of luxury and performance and the only cost will be the acquisition cost. Not so! Those are the people who bad mouth 750s... and Porsches, etc. They just do not understand that these very special cars are not Honda Civics made to be as reliable as a refrigerator. These cars were made to PERFORM. And to perform at a level unmatched by any other like kind of vehicle in the world. And for this there is a price - generally high, and frequently in direct proportion to the excitement. After all, a McClaren F1 was $1,000,000! You wanna bet they don’t take at least $50,000 a year to maintain?
As I close this story I have now owned the 750 for about one and a half years. I have driven it about 15,000 miles.
And I still have a real big SMILE!
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I never did find a steering wheel for my e23, which I sold thereafter to my dear friend Mike Harris, who is now a member of our group.
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