Today I'm starting the chronicle of the E34 build. Below is the photo of the first time I saw the car. The car was in great shape for a 200k mile car to begin with. Having served daily duty with a good owner previously, much of the maintenance to bring it back up to spec after 20+ years had already been performed. I inherited a friend and car guru with the purchase, and quickly began to meet the amazing E34 community that shepherds these cars.
The first changes I made to the car were absolutely cringey, first-modified-car stereotypes. I'll admit, the first things I did were to order a custom license plate, rip apart my perfect stock headlights to paint the innards black, spray paint the kidney grills, and install some clear corners. Forgive me! It didn't take too long to reverse these faux pas.
Luckily, the previous owner had made some tasteful performance mods that really allowed me to see the potential in this car from the beginning. A UUC short shifter, and Billy Boat Exhaust were a nice start, but I needed wheels. I received the car on plastidipped but otherwise sound Style 5 wheels, and even took it on its first rally in this form (scary considering my lack of ability at the time, and the tires it was on). The previous owner had kept his BBS RC300 wheels, and seeing old photos of the car I always thought those wheels suited it best. Two weeks after picking up the car I had the opportunity to pick up a freshly refinished set of RC300's in E34 spec for a generous offer. Thanks to Greg!
In the next blog post I'll be covering the coilovers, suspension refresh, and a few other exciting mods the car received in the next round!
