BMW e34 520 touring Garden Ornament

[HMC]

After leaving things to the last minute and spending too late the night before packing the car and sorting the house out, i overslept and left the house way too late. Trying to make up lost time in a e34 520 touring is quite difficult. It cruises well, but gathers speed gradually. Being an early 4 valve its a peaky engine and the close ratio gearbox they fit it with only goes some way to helping out. BMW soon reallised some low down torque would be nice and made amends with the vanos variable valve timing update, but my car was built a few years too early for all that. So it was steady progress to the Goodwood Revival.

 

It was my first visit having read about it every year but never having the time to make the drive to sussex. This year i was due to visit family in Germany, so decided to make a flying visit.

 

 

 

I didnt bother taking many pics but liked the look of this old jag in the car park.

 

 

 

I was browsing some books and basically minding my own business when an old guy in a hat brushed past and excused himself, I turned around doing a double take. Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss? Well yes actually. I think the other chap is Philip Porter who owns a few early E types including a red one that got bulldozed by the mafia in The Italian Job.

 

 

The following Day I took a few B roads over Romney Marsh to make the Dover ferry.

 

 

The last leg was a cruise through drizzly France-Belgium-Holland, with a stop at some point to down an espresso.

 

Downing an Espresso somewhere in Belgium. No that's someone elses coolant and/or oil

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first bit entering Germany is unrestricted, and usually fairly quiet so I customarily max whatever vehicle ive come in. I didnt have much expectation for this old barge, but it kept pulling reasonably well and over 100 it was stable and tracking well. A van pulled over into my lane somewhere up ahead and i had to slow. One last strech of 5 miles or so for a final go. the last 5 mph were very slow to pass but i had a sat nav indicated 125mph with the needle just entering the red. The quoted max speed i later read is 127 so i was quite suprised that 22 years and 140K and probably a period or two of neglect somewhere in that hadnt shaved more off.

[dollywobbler]

Nice. Is there more to come? It feels like half a story.

[mouseflakes]

Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?

 

Nice! D'you think he travelled there in a Renault 30?

 

No, neither do I.

[trigger]

I'd love to go to Goodwood one day, It's all the toffs and the dressing up part that puts me off, is it compulsory?. 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Good stuff, brookjm ! I will echo dollywobbler's request for MOAR !

 

 

I'd love to go to Goodwood one day, It's all the toffs and the dressing up part that puts me off, is it compulsory?. 

 

Same here. Perhaps next year an underground team of Autoshitters could dress up in their best 'Barrett attire' and infiltrate the event ?

[dollywobbler]

I thought you liked dressing up Trig?! I like dressing the part when I go, though it's been a few years now. It is an incredible event. Silverstone Classic has many of the same cars, but absolutely none of the atmosphere. There's enough other stuff going on that the racing really isn't what you go for anyway.

[Angrydicky]

I'd love to go to Goodwood one day, It's all the toffs and the dressing up part that puts me off, is it compulsory?. 

I wouldn't mind the dressing up, but the toffs have always put me off going. The other thing I don't like is the price. I don't fancy paying £70 for a ticket when the whole car park is filled with Stags, TR's, E-Types and Sherpa Coupes, owned by the type of people who frequent Pistonheads and really look down their noses at cars like mine. Not many people had these cars in the 60's anyway, so it's not even accurate to the period. If the event was full of nice, standard Austin A30's, Standard 10's, Ford 100E's or cars like that lovely Jag above, then I might consider going. But it's not, and the way classic car snobs tend to rave about it lead me to suggest it's not for me. I'm not really interested in racing/motorsport either. I know this one fellow in one of the clubs I'm in, who goes on and on about racing his Austin, optimum tyres and tune and other bullshit. It bores the hell out of me to be honest.

 

Maybe one year when I've got a bit more money I'll pop along and make up my mind properly. 

[trigger]

I wouldn't mind the dressing up, but the toffs have always put me off going. The other thing I don't like is the price. I don't fancy paying £70 for a ticket when the whole car park is filled with Stags, TR's, E-Types and Sherpa Coupes, owned by the type of people who frequent Pistonheads and really look down their noses at cars like mine. Not many people had these cars in the 60's anyway. 

 

I totally agree with all of that Dicky, that's the main reason I haven't gone, I should go really and make my own mind up, I'll properly end up really enjoying it.

[chaseracer]

I went in 2004, after I tore the then editor of Craptical Plastics a new one over some small thing, and he sent me a slightly shady press pass to make up for it.

 

Top day out.

[HMC]

Spent the week trundling about seeing the in laws and family and returned with a bootfull of shopping. The BMW behaved itself, though my suspicions over the waterpump going wrong havent been helped by the car sitting very slighly at a higher tempüeraqture in normal running. Maybe its my imagination, but either way i think ill investigate when i get the chance. Cooling systems on there are a known weakness. Ive just ordered a set of normal amber coloured indicator clusters to replace the mildly barried up clear ones it has at the mo.

 

Have to admit, last time through customs in an old shabby bmw they searched it but this time I got through without any bother

[willswitchengage]

 

 

 

 

Okay so I've never been a fan of people on here advertising that they fart around with phones/cameras/genitalia at high speeds whilst driving, but... really?

 

 

 

[155V6]

I'd love to go to Goodwood one day, It's all the toffs and the dressing up part that puts me off, is it compulsory?. 

Think of it like a horse racing meeting,a lot of people go just to dress up,eat & drink,& aren't actually that interested in the actual racing

[KruJoe]

 

.. just ordered a set of normal amber coloured indicator clusters to replace the mildly barried up clear ones ..

 

I thought you'd been playing with Photoshop to make the car monochrome - but it really looks like that... ACE!

Works really well with the silver - I say leave the clear ones on.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'd love to go to that Goodwood job, yeah there'll be loads of toffs but so what? WHere else are you going to see a load of priceless vintage racing cars caning round a track, or those awesome sculptures that they put up every year, or even those top hat races for old saloon cars? Checking out the characters milling about the place (including the toffs) is part of the appeal FFS. I have not been to it, but I have been to the LM classic two or three times and its easily the best car do I have ever been to. The fact that there are folk there with million-pound entourages following thier GT40's round is part of the appeal. Just go there and chill out and take it all in, I bet £500 that you will love it, if you come away grumbling that 'what a fucking washout there were any amount of Lamborghinis but not a single triumph acclaim' you are just doing the whole job completely wrong.

[Pillock]

Much as I love old rammle with multicoloured panels and an oil stain wherever it sits for more than 30 seconds, I do like proper expensive classics too. There's plenty of shows for George and his Sun-Tor Marina camper but the mega expensive stuff rarely ventures out.

 

I'd do Goodwood, no probs. I'd probably even have a shave and do my hair.

[Pete-M]

I went to Carfest North last year, a brilliant day out for about £60 a head.

So, while it's not Goodwood, it's also 200 miles nearer... and my mates band was playing so I got free VIP tickets anyway. I met Ed China. He seemed slightly grumpy.

Goodwood is on the list of things to do though.

[seth]

Appologies in advance for continuing the thread-jack.  Basically what Mr B said.

 

The two events at Goodwood are very distinct from one another though.  The Revival is unique worldwide which is why it attracts so much attention and so many plaudits.  It IS one of the worlds premier old car events - and its not in America.  Not in Australia. Not in mainland Europe.  Its about as on our doorstep as you're going to get. 

 

I wouldn't worry about what is in the car park because if you've got time to look around in there then you've probably missed out on something else.  There was a Fiat 1100 estate parked just behind us this year but I didn't get a chance to seek out many more of the oddities parked further away that I may have never seen before in the metal. Last year I came across a Fiat Multipla, a Lancia Aurelia B24 convertible, Renault 8 Gordini, Falcon Bermuda, Volvo PV544 van, etc.

 

 

As it says in the bumf, 'dressing up' does not mean 'fancy dress'.  Basically, with a tiny amount of effort, you become part of the scenery yourself.  Smart trousers, shirt and tie, a hat.  And its not like its just 'toffs' who are wearing snazzy gear.  At least 75%, maybe even 90% of those attending have put in that small bit of effort to make it more of an occasion than just any other show.  In fact I would be embarrassed to walk around in 'modern' clothing. 

 

Equally, and has Mr D Wobbler has said, if racing is not your thing there's enough other stuff to gawp at.  We just pick out 3 or 4 races we'd like to see and try and fit the rest in in between.  In a show report someone put up on here yesterday there was some 'fapping' over a single GT40 replica.  A replica!  There were two groups of them in the paddock at the Revival, one with about ten in a line, the other with another fifteen or so.  REAL ones.  If the weather had been kinder I would have witnessed, heard and smelt the lot of them lapping at high speed.

 

 

But the racing is unique in the world too and an impressive spectacle.  There was an interesting story in the latest C&SC about the way the track was re-opened back in the 90s for the first Revival and the works they had to do to persuade the FIA that spectator and driver safety was sufficient without turning it into some horrendous Silverstone style place with huge fences and run off areas.  No where else can you see these cars being raced together so hard in such authentic looking surroundings.  We got to watch a Mini being chucked into a bend totally sideways lap after lap just inches from the back bumper of a Ford Galaxie.  Amazing!  Ferrari 250LM drifting in a torrential down poor. Incredible!  (and miserably wet....)

 

 

And you know what?  Yes tickets are expensive, (a little less than £60 each for the Sunday, kids up to 12 are free) and obviously food and drink stalls are expensive.  But we took flasks, sandwiches for lunch, a small camping stove and some preprepared grub and cooked up dinner in the boot of the Hillman before we left knowing that we'd end up home very late. 

 

So it is what YOU make it (as is the Festival of Speed).  Worrying about what other people are there, how much money they have, how they talk, whether they're interested in cars at all is totally pointless.  Just enjoy the overpowering spectacle of it all.

 

 

 

[Junkman]

Okay so I've never been a fan of people on here advertising that they fart around with phones/cameras/genitalia at high speeds whilst driving, but... really?

 

 

 

 

 

OMG, you forgot the worst that could happen!

 

[RobT]

To add my bit to thread deviation, Goodwood is worth going to.  I went for the first time this year to a club event trackday, spectator only, it was free and I liked the relaxed atmosphere of the place.  So it is possible to go there cheaply without paying out for one of the big events.  The best bit though is seeing classics and the odd bit of shite being used on the track.  Personally I'm a bit bored of static shows these days which is why I haven't done many this year, with Prescott, Brands Hatch and now Goodwood being my favourite places to go.  Saying that, BL day is still a WINNAR of an event and always will be

[HMC]

Spent the week in Germany uneventfully, even there E34s they are less common than i remember. Like here, the E39 successor is so cheap and newer it doesnt make sense to most people to bother with the older model. Got 34MPG on the way back fully loaded which isnt going to trouble a modern turbodiesel at the pumps but i can live with that.

 

Once back i used it as a hack doing the usual daily duties, and in a fit of enthusiasm one weekend i took out all the wheel archliners to clean and waxoyl behind them.

 

 

I did my bit of OMG storm preparations by cleaning the sunroof cassette and rodding out the sunroof drains. It has the massive double sunroof so there was quite a bit to do. That thing is either a blessing or a curse depending what you read, even the makers decided to call it a day and the e39 touring got a sensible normal sunroof instead. The one on mine works fine, but bizarrely the front sunroof drains on all of these empty by a rubber tube into the front jacking point/ sill which then rots out. Hmmm clever. The rear drains go into the rear hatch apeture.

 

I got fed up of being poked by a broken spring every time i sat in, so i found a leather rear bench for a tenner locally and then a set of front leather seats in Germany which my in laws are bringing with them when they come at christmas. The theory was that i end up with a little used passenger LHD seat then as my drivers seat..

 

Today I decided to splash out on the weak spot on the m50 engine- the cooling system. Water pumps tend to lose their impellors eventually and the viscous coupling on mine has losing oil which is a sure sign its on its way out. I ordered them and they should be ready to collect tomorrow. Same the weather doesnt look great as i was hoping to get it done this weekend...

[Partridge]

That's a nice Bimmer. I've always had a fantasy of driving one of those around the continent. I'm amazed it got into the 120's as well.

Although I'd take a 535i given the choice, but then again, I don't think my wallet would have a very nice time of it.

[HMC]

Yeah, i bought it mainly on condition, as it had had an easy life and been looked after.  Would have gone for a larger engine option ideally. a 540 manual would have been great as a poor mans m5. Its quite a slippery shape, with faired in screen and door surrounds etc which helped it crawl up to that speed over a few miles

[HillmanImp]

I well have the horn for the e34. Put in a bid for one a few weeks back when i was looking for an Audi replacement but was outbid in the last few seconds. They are one on BMWs best looking cars IMO. Quite thirsty by all accounts though?

[Rocket88]

They're not too bad. I've got[well until I sell it tomorrow] as E34 323 ragtop, I get 26 mpg over here [Jersey] local conditions are killer for mpg

[Spiny Norman]

Nice old barges the E34, I quite enjoyed my 530i while I had it. The engine was well past its best, smoky and a bit rattly but it still heaved the big bus up to 130 on my private* test track and the rest of it was in fine fettle.
Sadly the 16mpg didn't sit well with my crap paying job at the other side of town so it made way for a Punto.

[nacho man]

I have had two right snotters of e34's with the early 3.0 and 2.5. I would defo have another they are great. I reckon the later 525 with the m50 i think would be ace as there all modern and stuff and prob do a good 25 to the gallon easy. If not more.

 

 

 

[cort16]

525 is defo the sweet spot on these. 520 and 518 are too slow and the 535 and v8 ones are too thirsty. A late 525i sport wod be a great car I recon.

[phil_lihp]

I would rather fancy an E34 diesel tourer in dark green, strikes me as a good compromise. No idea why as I've never been near one but they're handsome machines and seem to have aged well.

[HMC]

Had the cooling system in bits today, After a fight got the knackered viscous fan clutch off, lobbed it in the bin, same with the thermostat and water pump. Annoyingly the water pump pulley was already a bit mangled and getting it off the pump didnt do it any favours. Its a cheap enough part, but the soonest the local factors can have it in by is Tuesday, so in the end it wasnt the rain that stopped me finishing off the job. The jag is sat awaiting a replacement bonnet after it flew off when I was bombing along the A386.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Nice BM m8.

 

I did a Vicous fan and a pump on an M reg 520i Shooting Brake 2 months ago and they were both still the originalz.

 

Is the Jag a Stype or an X?