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Well it's finally happened.....

After hanging around my BMW Club Racer friends I have purchased my first German car. This replaces a rollerskate bic lighter Elantra that my family was QUICKLY growing out of.

1988 BMW 735i with a 5 speed tranny, 127,000 miles, new tranny and clutch, waterpump, exhaust and tires.

I don't have pictures yet but am excited to own a car that actually is comforable to ride in.... a first for this pick up truck/mustang man.

I paid $3500

Did I make out alright? Is there anything that I need to watch for with the late 80's 7 series?

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http://greenjacketracing.blogspot.com/
1987 Mustang GT Track Car-
1999 Toyota Tacoma
1988 BMW 735i 5 speed
1989 BMW 325i running like German Junk
2004 F-350 Super Duty (NC taxpayer owned)

Wow, good find. A 5spd manual was only offered in the E32 735i in 88 and 89 model years, and most had to be ordered by the customer. I had a 1988 735i 5spd, limited slip, etc. that I sold about 7-8 years ago now. Overall, it was a great car. In fact, we had two of them but sold the other one in 1996 after it served my wife as a daily driver for over 5 years. Hence I have a fair amount of E32 experience.

The "box" will give you trouble, but it has likely been replaced, perhaps more than once, by now. Said box is the AC/heat box buried in the dash. Brackets which mount motors that control the distribution of air to the vents have their mounting break off/fracture. It's a monumental pain to attempt the repair yourself. If you have any issues with the heat/AC distribution, that's likely the culprit. When it happened in mine, heat would blow mixed with A/C in the summer, so it was a required fix. Both of our E32s had this fail, but after being repaired, they worked fine from then on. Hopefully your car is well past the point where this has been taken care of (i.e. it was ~$2k to fix, huge labor hours...fortunately under warranty with the first one).

Look out for headlight relay issues. Both of ours needed the relay box (large black box in relay box next to fuse box under hood) replaced somewhere around 100k miles. Both of them displayed the same behavior -- headlights blinking off over bumps.

Other than those two things, I can't think of much else that was an issue with either car other than typical BMW stuff. For the most part, they were reliable cars for me (sold my wife's with ~110k miles and mine with ~165k miles). The front thrust arm bushings come to mind though...get the stiffer versions places like Korman Autoworks sells which will eliminate the shimmy. The car is easily to work on for typical stuff...oil changes, brake work, etc.

What kind of cosmetic shape is the car in?

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Current stable:
2019 BMW M2 Competition slicktop 6MT
2011 BMW M3 sedan slicktop 6MT
2007 BMW 328i wagon (slushbox for now)
1975 CanAm 125MX2

The body is great, straight and rust free. The paint is original and the typical clear coat peeling is happening in a few places after 20 years in the south.

There is AC/heat issues with this car, two of the main gates within the system have now been redesigned so you can simply reach up and manually open each gate. It does blow hot and cold after some tinkering and seems to have a mind of itself.

I don't mind a bit of personality within a car, the elantra was really starting to nickle dime us, plus they don't make cars like they used to, its amazing to see interior pieces made of this odd stuff called METAL. Plus when you shut the door there is a feeling and sound of quality.

_________________
http://greenjacketracing.blogspot.com/
1987 Mustang GT Track Car-
1999 Toyota Tacoma
1988 BMW 735i 5 speed
1989 BMW 325i running like German Junk
2004 F-350 Super Duty (NC taxpayer owned)

One other thing to watch out for is the radiator plastic end tanks and the joints off those for the main hoses...a known weak link.

Chuck

_________________
Current stable:
2019 BMW M2 Competition slicktop 6MT
2011 BMW M3 sedan slicktop 6MT
2007 BMW 328i wagon (slushbox for now)
1975 CanAm 125MX2