yes oui si

And one out
 

Rare fleet shot today

Good news! Fairly expected ones to be fair. The ULEZ refugee E38 passed another MOT, same advisories as before and 222 miles later, 6 miles more than the year before... With so many other cars around it doesn't see all that much action, the only long trip its done last year was taking family to Cragside in Summer and it's not seeing the roads outside the estate at all during the salty season (which is basically half a year now it seems). A quick trip into town to have some Chinese dinner (it was great) was enough to confirm everything is still spot on.

Why do these look so goooood?! I might replace the rear lower control arms eventually to get those two points off the advisory list, no clue where they still found a seeping powersteering hose. With the replacement rear bumper and plenty of other parts for preventative maintanance and cosmetics in the boot I'm hoping to have another wave of improvements done on it over the next few months.

Nice, I still got my copy as well. This came to be after an editor asked about anyone owning interesting classics they wanted to get featured in the BMW E39 FB owners group iirc. It took them a few months to publish it, its quite a condensed version of the email I sent originally. Also I dont know why but they completely made up my dreamcar lol.

Anyway, the Audi A8 of many shiters has now gone to live with @Split_Pin, thanks again for the easy sale! Naturally I only found out today that it was actually financially completely unnecessary for me to sell this car but I've at least shown some goodwill towards my gf and her parents🤷‍♂️ The BMW Z3 has taken its space in my multicar policy so hopefully I can get it out on sunny, salt-free roads soon!
As mentioned above the NEC happened this weekend and I've been there with two mates who haven't been before this year. It was a good show, still a little smaller than pre-Covid but great nevertheless. The ticket prices are rather high though and charging £17.50 for parking for a few hours on top is insane, especially if you have to walk 15mins to get anywhere. Naturally my favorite car of the show was this first generation Mercury Sable thats been living in the UK since 1992. Of course someone had to turn into into a copcar replica at some point, it was still great to see a Sable in person, I don't think I ever have such an early one!


To get to the NEC the 540i needed a bit of work. As mentioned further above in typical BMW manner it snapped a spring and destroyed a droplink the weekend before, so those needed to get sorted in the short moments of sunlight after work during the week:

Using everyone's favorite, the dodgy spring compressors, I managed to get it all reassembled, only to realized that I wouldnt be able to get the compressors off the moment the strut would go in the car.


So out it all came again, spring compressors released and reinstalled the other way around (none of which was easy), only to now see that the strut wouldn't fit underneath the car without losening the lower control arm.


That fortunately did the trick and revealed that the bushing of one of them must be so knackered that there was very little restriction at all lowering the strut assembly to get it in. Thats of course not good and another thing that needs sorting eventually.
For some reason the ABS sensor managed to remove itself, quite mind boggling considering its held in by a bolt and is usually seized inside the hole it resides in. The bolt decided to just snap at one point so the sensor was just dangling there.

A bit of superglue made sure that its not going anywhere anytime soon, but only after reseating the sensor a second time as it immediately triggered an ABS light the first time around. Extracting that snapped bolt will be a job for another time.

All back together, everything seems to work fine. As always, tighten up the control arm bolts with the car on the ground and loaded to avoid tearing up your bushings. This is the sparewheel that came with the car, which happens to be the same wheel design my Z3 was equipped with from new. I'm planning to keep this car as unassuming and stock as a non-sport pre-facelift E39 can look (pre-fl headlights with gingercators coming soon) but this design of alloys is currently at the top of my list for the Touring.

Which was quickly put into use to deliver the '64 Tbird trunklid I picked up for a mate in Berlin over Christmas. He ended up strapping it to the roof of his Peugeot 106 (only passed its MOT a day before after he had to replace both of his inner front wheel arches) and transported it that way all the way from Shepshed near Loughborough to Norfolk, an easy 140 miles.

Since I couldn't return to Newcastle empty handed after the NEC I toured pretty much the entirety of the Midlands to pick up a replacement E39 Touring tailgate (wouldn't recommend transporting one with 3 people inside the car) and a replacement rear bumper for the E38 later, something I've been searching for in the right color for ages.

As you can see, it all fits, just about. Even with this being a fast V8 estate its still earning its keep being a practical parts and scrap hauler. I left around 7am in the morning and got back at midnight, certainly put a few hundred occasionally pretty rough miles on it on that day.

I didn't have time on the day but had a look into the factory toolkit of the new tailgate yesterday, only to find the fabled original BMW branded blue polishing cloth still in its place. Naturally these are usually long gone and impossible to find nowadays, especially with the logo still in place, making this a very rare and desireable accessory for many BMW botherers. Considering the going rate for them in Germany this made my day as it paid for half the price I paid for the thing. The rest of the toolkit is in excellent shape and worth decent money, too.
To thank the car for its services it finally received a (used) replacement oem drivers mat, have the mandatory before and after for cleaning them for the first time:


Could have another go but considering this car is used regularly this should be ok for now. I've also got replacement sill/kickplates for it but didnt take any photos of that. The car will continue to receive regular action but with a house purchased soon locked in I need to get all the broken Mercedeses back on the road soon, more on those soon!

Sorry your £10 car isn’t more exciting @gadgetgricey, must try harder 

I knew I had got the right street:

First impressions were that it was unexpectedley tidy:

 

Now this is nice, will I keep it longer than a week? Who knows...

Yeah, it's a 535i manual, seller mot'd it for me last week.
I've not had a chance to use it yet but will probably have a go tomorrow.

This month is shaping up to be a great month for shite giveaways.


 
A couple more for this month's lineup!
 

Yup, the tinfoil is almost as strong as the Stockholm Syndrome... 

Highest tax burden since?  What was it? 1948?  The party of low taxes, apparently?  The Conservatives are a complete and utter shower and you know it just as well as anybody.

Who has been in government for the last fourteen years?

Well if turkeys keep voting for Christmas, expect to be carved up.

Quite a bit of persecution complex going on in this thread.  Me9, have you considered beta blockers?

I think there was a collective hysteria within the auto industry after the success of SLK and 206 CC. I remember writing a group test of Megane CC, Astra Twintop, VW Eos and 307 (or maybe 308) CC. Basically all of the mainstream were offering folding metal roofs (and the VW had a sunroof as well - mental!).
I think they all got their fingers burned from warranty claims on leaks and broken motors etc. Horribly complicated compared to a fabric roof, which is a much more mature technology.
Being mainstream, they all offered really mingebag engine options including fume-tastic diesels. 
I'm sure I read there was a class action against Ford and during the litigation an internal document was uncovered stating it was impossible to make the Focus CC waterproof. 

I remember when we first got one in as a dealer demo and we really couldn't figure out the point of them - especially when we were selling ford direct ST2s for £13k.  Wish I'd gone balls deep on one of those!

Although ford have form in this category……

Yeah, just not helpful that it seems the car is inbetween years. Like I said above the car falls under a specific year, but the manual doesn’t include it. 
I knew the moment my mom started rambling I thought I’m not going to get anything done on this. And while I did nothing, and actually it was fairly futile, if I didn’t do it it’d have been another day where I’ve just walked past it and not tickled it.

Not had half the opportunity to do anything like I thought I would today as my mom had a list of pressing issues. I didn’t have the jump leads with me though, forgot those.
I threw the battery back on it as I thought maybe a wiggle of the gear stick would result in life. It didn’t.
But…

The light for saying what gear it’s in is temperamental. I had put it in park but there was no light. Wiggled it and the light came on, then off etc. I think I am going to take this out and clean it properly.
I did also hear a click from the engine bay. 

Cast your votes now.

 
 

I've driven it a few miles around Bristol and so far I like it. I havent driven a P38 for 10+ years but remembered instantly why I liked them. 
It is in rough condition and that's why it was cheap, however the important things are good. Steering feels just how it should, engine is how it should be and I'm amazed how good the gearbox is. You cannot detect gear changes apart from by watching the rev counter. The air suspension is just right too - these cars really lose part of their character when they're on coils. The air suspension is excellent 
 

Will probably make the speedo read correctly as well. 

HMC's P38! 
 

We did a buy today . 
wcpgw

I'll buy you one as long as you promise to sign for it at customs and agree to take it home via a location of my choice.