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Reviews

Further Thoughts on Bertha

With about four hours to kill and no choice but to sit in my chair and behave, I finally had a block of free time to read Rob Siegel’s Resurrecting Bertha, something long overdue. If you’re familiar with Siegel, either through his “Hack Mechanic” column in the BMWCCA Roundel magazine, […]

Projects

Budget Bimmer: Installment One

What better thing to do on a Thursday night when your wife is out of town on a business trip than buy a wagon? Right?

Truth be told, I’d been looking for a wagon again for some time, but as it’s only an occasional use vehicle, it didn’t have to be […]

Drives

Sometimes, you should read the manual!

After a couple of weeks in storage, it was time to break out the E23. The weather’s been holding steady, so a blustery 48 degree day is the perfect weather for a classic BMW. But then I remembered…the windows don’t work. That’s why I put it away in the first […]

Projects

The Audiophile Garage, Part 1

One of my least favorite car things to do is clean a dirty engine compartment. The older a classic gets, the more potential it has to get really, really dirty. This is a bad thing for more than just the aesthetic element. Whether you wrench your own or take it […]

Reviews

Putting BMW’s new Z4 in perspective

It’s always exciting to me when anyone introduces a new roadster, not just BMW. Considering that topless models account for just below 1% of US car sales, I’m amazed anyone is doing convertibles, or manual transmissions. Wait – the new Z4 is not available with a manual (or even that […]

Drives

Strolling With My E12

Going from an M240 X Drive to the 1976 530i is a quick lesson in time travel, as well as automotive travel, showing just how far BMW has come in a little over 40 years. The level of refinement is unmistakable, from the operation of the heater and air conditioning […]

Drives

Why So Many?

Whether it’s turntables or BMW’s I usually get asked the same question, but with a slightly different variation on the theme. “You can only drive one,” or “you can only play one record at a time.” But it’s not about that.   Rob Siegel, known to BMW lovers world-wide as […]

Projects

Lowering the i3!

You can’t make your i3 go faster, but you can spruce up the handling significantly by the mere addition of a set of H&R sport springs, available here, at the Tire Rack for only $249. BMW quotes seven hours to change them, but some dealers will not fit aftermarket parts […]

Drives

E39 M5: BS

The V8 powered E39 M5 certainly lives up to its legacy, nearly 20 years later. In this case, the “BS” means before supercharger. My BMW Genius, Eric has this lovely example of the marque and as we’re driving along the backroads nearby, he explains why he needs even more power […]