38th time lucky: Flawed, but floored

[barrett]

Well, thanks to some pony express action from @The Moog I now have some lovely, very rare tail lamps. I just need a car to fit them to now

[Fabergé Greggs]

  On 06/04/2021 at 18:56, barrett said:

Well, thanks to some pony express action from @The Moog I now have some lovely, very rare tail lamps. I just need a car to fit them to now

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They look almost edible to me- that would solve the problem. 

[barrett]

Oh. Well, I've been trying to buy a car since the end of last year. Owner had just come out of hospital when the lockdown came in and was reluctant to let anyone come and have a look. Finally managed to arrange somebody to go and see the thing today, and apparently he sold it 'six or seven' months ago! Somehow this wasn't mentioned a few days ago when the arrangement was made... He thought he had sold it to me. 'somebody with a truck came and took it away'. I don't know if he even got paid for it. Or if he even sold it. Or if it ever existed. Well worth my time and that of the guy who's been dealing with him though.

Fuck's sake!

[barrett]

So, after work today, armed with a fresh two-tonne battery (£99 worth) I popped over to have a look and see if I could get my 'new' car mobile. Actually my mate who owns the storage unit it has been resting in did most of the heavy lifting, I just turned the key and off she went! Shifted a few cars out and drove it outside... looks alright!

Tidy, right? Sadly the engine isn't entirely happy. There is a pronounced metallic 'tick' coming from the top end by the sounds of it. My instinct is that it sounds like a sticky tappet or something. It doesn't sound terminal by any means, and best case scenario it just needs to warm up properly and shake itself off after a couple of years of inactivity.

Apart from one sidelamp bulb everything seems to be working, although the throtte feels like its sticking slightly, presumably just from lack of use. I'm going to get it booked in for a test and ask the garage if they have any opinion about the racket the engine is making and then take it from there... I'm £99 in so far so can stomach paying for a little bit of work if it gets it on the road and running properly. Comes with a huge chunk of service history which I need to inspect, but overall it seems like it's been very well looked after. Barring a couple of blemishes on the body it is virtually mint.

 

 

[horriblemercedes]

Fly by wire throttle on those. I think that the symptom you're describing is an early indication the unit is failing or at least the electrical track is worn 

[cort16]

Looks tidy I really like that weird silver purpley colour. The noise could be vanos (variable valve timing) but as you say it might just need a good drive and an oil change.

Warning video contains germans shouting.

 

 

[Schaefft]

Aspen Silver, best color for the E39 but I might be biased. 99 quid for what looks to be a clean 528i is an absolute bargain. Edit: Single Vamos too which makes it even better. Now of it's also a manual you got quite a desirable spec there! Once again I might be biased.

[Jon]

I'm not going to lie, that's a very nice car in unusually standard looking spec but it's not very you, is it?!

At £99 it's a Bobby dazzler, don't get me wrong. I just hope this isn't the beginning of a fleet of Germans for Herr Barratt - unless it's a Hanomag or something. 

Bring back the old duffers 60's British cars, obscuritues and borderline usable PSA products!

(All in jest of course, should anyone take this the wrong way)

[RobT]

Erm, what the fuck's going on here?  Barrett plus BMW does not compute.

Joking aside, that looks alright.  Just don't make a habit of it plz.  Thank you.

[phil_lihp]

£99 is a mega bargain, well done.  Definitely not what I was expecting to see but top work nonetheless, I have come close to getting an E39 myself in the past, these and the previous generation 5's are quite appealing in a way.

[barrett]

I know, I know, I'm sorry. If somebody else posted about one of these I wouldn't even bother to comment! However, I figured if I could get it up and running nicely with a ticket it might be a way to make some money, so my plan is to drive it for a few months or so and take the strain off the Xantia for a while and then, hopefully, punt it on for a profit and put that towards getting the Mk1 BX running, or having a hood made for the Palladium, or something more interesting. A 'new' car is a real novelty for me though so I'm very much in honeymoon mode (or will be until it fails its MoT on something horrendous).

Anyway, I've been looking through the paperwork and it's been serviced by the supplying dealer right up til 101k (I think it's on 106k at the moment) which is reassuring. It does seem like it's had money-no-object care taken of it in the past, which I'm hoping will translate into a bit of good karma.

I still have one more member of the fleet to officially introduce in due course, which is definitely business as usual.

[RobT]

Should be some profit in that definitely, MoT history looks clean.  I'm happy to help with any tinkering in order to max out the margin.

[barrett]

Oh, I forgot. I don't have a V5 - just a new keeper's bit (which may actually be out of date). What do I do? It's been ages since I bought a car with no V5 - can this be done online yet or do I have to send a cheque off to the DVLA? Or can I do it at a Post Office?

[RobT]

V62 form plus £25 in those instances unfortunately.  You might be waiting a while too as it needs to be posted off to the DVLA.

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-log-book/if-you-cannot-apply-online

[LightBulbFun]

  On 22/04/2021 at 09:58, barrett said:

Oh, I forgot. I don't have a V5 - just a new keeper's bit (which may actually be out of date). What do I do? It's been ages since I bought a car with no V5 - can this be done online yet or do I have to send a cheque off to the DVLA? Or can I do it at a Post Office?

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  On 22/04/2021 at 10:06, RobT said:

V62 form plus £25 in those instances unfortunately.  You might be waiting a while too as it needs to be posted off to the DVLA.

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-log-book/if-you-cannot-apply-online

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wait before anything gets sent does the date of the last V5 issued on the DVLA checker match the date on the new keeper slip you where given?

if so then you can do the keeper change online like nothings gone missing

the 11 digit is still on the new keeper slip it just has an extra digit on the front of it, if you lop that digit off bam you have the 11 digit magic number

you can verify it works by simply just checking the taxation rates on the DVLA checker which asks for the current V5's 11 digit number 

and if that works then you can probably do the keeper change online  

 

this is of course assuming someone has not sent off the logbook with your details to do the keeper change the old fashion way and that you have ended up with just the new keepers bit for other reasons

[barrett]

Well I just drove this home. It goes pretty well actually, and is fairly comfortable (not sure about on a long journey, the seats are fairly hard) and the interior is generally quite a nice place to be. Stereo sounds nice, it picks up its skirts when you put your put down and it makes an okay noise. The 'ticking' seems to have disappeared after a good 40-mile thrash. MoT on Monday, so we'll find out soon enough whether it's a keeper.

I gave my mate £100 beer money, so total ownership cost £199 so far

Oh, and the New Keeper Slip is out of date, so I'll have to apply for a new log book. Presumably this means I can't tax it or use it until this arrives...

 

[barrett]

OH here's some more exciting news.... Palladium work is coming on nicely. Half the body is now done, and it's all stripped ready for paint when the other side is finished. It's gonna look so good!!

[somewhatfoolish]

What was it that took you 6 months to not buy?

  On 11/04/2021 at 11:32, barrett said:

Oh. Well, I've been trying to buy a car since the end of last year. Owner had just come out of hospital when the lockdown came in and was reluctant to let anyone come and have a look. Finally managed to arrange somebody to go and see the thing today, and apparently he sold it 'six or seven' months ago! Somehow this wasn't mentioned a few days ago when the arrangement was made... He thought he had sold it to me. 'somebody with a truck came and took it away'. I don't know if he even got paid for it. Or if he even sold it. Or if it ever existed. Well worth my time and that of the guy who's been dealing with him though.

Fuck's sake!

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[barrett]

The tail lamps a few posts up are a clue!

[colino]

Do a quick Google for recalibrate 5 series accelerator.  Two minute job and it generally sorts out a laggy pedal. 

[wuvvum]

  On 23/04/2021 at 16:02, barrett said:

Oh, and the New Keeper Slip is out of date, so I'll have to apply for a new log book. Presumably this means I can't tax it or use it until this arrives...

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Depends how out of date it is.  If it has a barcode on it you should be able to tax it at the post office, even if it's from one of the old blue V5Cs.

[somewhatfoolish]

  On 23/04/2021 at 17:48, barrett said:

The tail lamps a few posts up are a clue!

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My knowledge of 1950s tin with round lamps isn't strong; a Vanguard of some kind?

[vulgalour]

That engine turning is a surprising addition to the Palladium, and looks like it will be really quite stunning once done.

I thought those rear lights might've been Facel Vega, and then I looked at some photographs and now I don't think that any more.  That and the price tags on Facel Vegas is generally more Barrett-Jackson than Barrett.

[barrett]

  On 23/04/2021 at 23:44, vulgalour said:

That engine turning is a surprising addition to the Palladium, and looks like it will be really quite stunning once done.

I thought those rear lights might've been Facel Vega, and then I looked at some photographs and now I don't think that any more.  That and the price tags on Facel Vegas is generally more Barrett-Jackson than Barrett.

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That's pretty close actually, they're off a Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato

...and also a Phase III Vanguard

I was trying to buy a later Ensign which has the 'arse-lift', and I was going to convert it to the much more attractive round lamps. Now I just need to sell them to a Lancia owner for $$$$ profits

[vulgalour]

I sort of hate the fuel filler flap on the Lancia, it just looks like it's trying to slide off the car.  Shame you didn't get the Ensign.

[RoadworkUK]

How, actually, did you score a 528i for used Beko fridge money?

Yes, E39 hero worship blahdy blahdy blah, but it's all true. Pretty much the last gasp of Munich building and designing a car as well as it knew how to, basically by taking the E38 and condensing it into a smaller, far more efficient package, without making it work any less well. Also, your one has the right combination of wheel, tyre and suspension, as well as the engine with the best grunt to simplicity ratio. Genuinely superb.

 

 

[barrett]

BMW MoT results are in...

Not bad! Annoyed those tyres are worn, as they're not that old and VERY expensive to replace. I'm sure they'll be fine.

MoT cost a bit more than £50 (needed some headlamp adjustment and a bulb) so current total is £255.53. Winning?

 

 

[cort16]

Nice on the mot. Check out Facebook etc for wheels and tyres as you  used to be able to pick up those turbine wheels and tyres for 80 quid a set as no one wanted them.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

  On 26/04/2021 at 12:02, cort16 said:

....you  used to be able to pick up those turbine wheels and tyres for 80 quid a set as no one wanted them.

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Quite a few sets of those ended up on E24s as a stop-gap measure when the metrics were due for replacement......

Weird thing with E39 wheels of any type is that the hub diameter is something like 74.1mm, compared with other BMWs which were 72.4mm or so. You can fit E39 wheels to other BMWs (offsets permitting) with the help of hubcentric converter rings, but not the other way round. I ran on E39 Style 31s in winter, with hub rings:

[barrett]

Also went to check on Pal progress this morning. They reckon the buffing will be finished this week, and then paint next week!