London bound - E23 BMW

[JohnK]

I really don't know what it is about these cars that appeal to me. It probably starts with the 1980 W reg 728i manual in black that Big JK bought when I was 4. Fond memories.

 

Fast forward to June 2013 and I decided to take the plunge - JRO 819Y (Jethro) - 1983 728i Auto in Bronzitbeige with 90k on clock. £750 notes well spent ...

 

 

Had a great summer with it, as with all things many plans but nothing came about. Reason for this was in April 2014, C690 WVN came on the radar in Worksop. For £1000 it was a much better base car for what I wanted so it was bought ...

 

 

I used both cars in tandem for a bit, the Y reg as a daily and the C reg as a second car. Here they are at a car meet me and Big JK visited last year....

 

 

Fast forward to this year and cort16 posted in the eBay thread a link to one spotted for sale in London, posted by a member on the blue forum.

 

 

Phone calls were made, turns out the owner is originally from just up the road from here. He did offer to deliver, but I like a road trip and got a cheap ticket to Kings Cross. Just got to the station...

 

 

To be continued ...

[stuboy]

good luck

[cort16]

Good luck. Remember don't come back without a picture of that massive puppy.

 

I remember that green one being for sale for ages and trying to come up with reasons to buy it as it looked so clean. Maybe it was the odd colour?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Did the green one come from a slightly mad South African geezer?

[JohnK]

I don't remember if he was South African but he was definitely quite a crazy guy.

 

Quite anal too, it's had loads of cash thrown at it in the 5 years he owned it!

 

I will endeavour to get a picture of this 'giant puppy' (I'm expecting some mutant, pony sized Pug or something), but I'm unsure whether I'm meeting at his home or if he is going to meet me off the tube to aid a quick getaway...

[stripped fred]

Are you collecting the Astra today too?

[JohnK]

Are you collecting the Astra today too?

Hi Paul, I passed te number over to Neil who wants it and as far as I'm aware he's made arrangements. Not sure what those are however as I haven't spoken to him since yesterday morning...

[stripped fred]

Hi Paul, I passed te number over to Neil who wants it and as far as I'm aware he's made arrangements. Not sure what those are however as I haven't spoken to him since yesterday morning...

OK mate. Good luck with your collection today.

[JohnK]

Got the car ... And had a breakdown in Central London!

 

Easily sorted tho, overheated in traffic, found a hose had popped off as there was no clip to hold in place.

Repaired with a tassel from my jacket and some water from a lady in the flat I was outside

[cort16]

Good start then? The clip was probably eaten by the unexpectedly large puppy.

[2MB]

Love this shape of BM. Bonus points for a jacket tassel getting you out of this shit!

[Jim Bell]

Nice tassel repair!

I never go on a collect without at least cable ties.

[JohnK]

 

Touch wood, apart from a shaky start it's going well .... Traffic is shit though...

[Jim Bell]

Sharknose is even betterer in profile.

[danthecapriman]

Nice car. I love the shark nose style front end on these old BMW's. Great repair with the tassel too.

 

Good luck with the rest of the journey.

[hennabm]

Nigel is the name of the guy who sold the 728. I can support that he did loads to it in his ownership.

[JohnK]

^^ that's the fella!

[JohnK]

Mid journey tassel check - re-tied to be on safe side ...

 

[RobT]

There you go, old cars are great because you can fix them with tassels. Safe journey home John.

[HMC]

I love the styling of these things, aggressive but not ugly (recent bmw efforts seem to struggle with that) Great improvised repair! What does the BMW count currently stand at?

[JohnK]

Eventually back. 7 hours for the return trip....

 

Drove well though.

[JohnK]

I love the styling of these things, aggressive but not ugly (recent bmw efforts seem to struggle with that) Great improvised repair! What does the BMW count currently stand at?

4 BMW's

2 Mercs

2 Vauxhalls

1 Jag

1 Volvo

1 Ford...

[Uncle Jimmy]

I deeply admired BMWs back in those days, always hoping my father would buy one. Now I don't.

[spike60]

Mid journey tassel check - re-tied to be on safe side ...

 

Is the pipe just under the cap the overflow for when the cap lifts at set pressure? If it is it'll be open at the end so should never have any pressure in it, no need for a jubilee clip. See what the other end goes to.

[JohnK]

From recollection when I replaced some hoses on my bronze one this isn't open at the end. There was a puddle of water under the car which would suggest as you say but then a complete lack of water in the system at all. It's either a fluke or it resolved the problem (I did get stuck in heavy traffic again on the M11 due to an accident) and had no further issues...

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The pipe above is just an overflow pipe and out dangles down open ended by the chassis leg somewhere. If coolant is coming from this pipe then the the system is over pressurised or the rad cap is shagged.

 

Old E23's love to overheat. The main cause is a shagged fan coupling so if it looks old, oily and grotty, just fit a new one. Corrosion in the head's waterways is sadly very common now and causes overheating and pressurising. What I used to do on these was take the stat out, drill a small (3mm) hole in the outer ring and refit it with the hole at the top. On problem cars it used to solve a lot of issues.

[xtriple]

I had bloody loads of these back in the day (God I'm old!) and really, REALLY rate them. They go well for a big old barge and handle okay as well. Counting up, I think I had nine of them one after another! Everything from an elderly 728 manual (4 speed) that went well but I'm lazy to a very late 735 auto that was the dogs conkers and I loved it to bits, I even sold one of them (met brown 28 auto) to my Mum!

 

Only thing I ever found pricey was ignition bits on the 3.5s as (then) you could only get the leads and connectors from BMW themselves and they were very odd shaped (then). The other thing that used to cause wallet pain was some parts of the rear multi link suspension. I used to rob them from one car to MOT another!

 

      

[cort16]

???

 

 

Also, beware when googling the phrase giant puppies at work. 

[smellmycheese]

I have a pair of chrome mirrors and some passenger side glass for an e23 if anyone's interested.

[Shep Shepherd]

E23s are incredibly handsome cars. Paul Bracq really did BMW proud when he was their chief stylist, unlike Chris Bungle.