Driftit

Good to see you back out there. And the best track for racing and antics. No 540 towing E30 convoy though.

It's in NZ. In bits stored away. Depending how I go with convincing the Mrs to stay here for longer I will look at shipping it here at some stage. Otherwise I will just buy a seat in the Spec E30 or Spec E46 class they have here. Raced the E34 a bit with its stock motor. But got the need for speed.

I want to hunt down a nice late E34 M5 next year. But I will look in the southern states where they don't salt the roads. But also have some big trips planned so will see how it goes. There are few really nice E34's, 21's, 2002's and E30's around my area in DC. They are all worth a bit now though. I was thinking an E46 or E39 for a daily too. 330i and 530/40's are less than 3k. I even saw a E46 ZHP 2005 manual for $4500 the other day. Best non M3 E46 you can get. Spoiled for choice. Also you may want to ask on the forums for any local wreckers or stateside wreckers that deal in older BMW's. There are a few smaller NZ style ones around that run more on word of mouth than anything else. But they are the ones that have the hard to find stuff.

Will keep a look out for you. Though it is a long way from DC to VC. Bimmerforums is a good place for market stuff too. I am surprised you found something as old as an E34 in good condition up there though. Was just in Ottawa and every old Bimmer I saw up there was full of rust. Good score. There is an S62 with 6speed for sale here for 6.5K btw

There was an entire mint 525 manual here in DC for $500 the other day. The shipping alone from NZ will cost you over $100. There should be tons of the stuff in the US.

Good man. I drove towards the Hurricane whilst they were all coming the other way. All I got was rain though. Cleared out all the tourists for a clear run of Skyline Drive. Prob the best twisty roads for driving on the East Coast. Just have to dodge the bears and deer.

Careful when selecting a shipping agent. Make sure they visit the closest port to your vehicle often. Had cars sit in the yard over there for a month before they left. Just make sure the car is of a high grade. If there has been any prior damage often you will need an engineers report. I have had grade 3 cars turn up that required me to cut off a rear quarter and stitch it back on because they were not happy with the Jap job. Agent missed the damage... There are a few agents in NZ who will do the whole lot for you. Sitting in customs house getting your paperwork slowly looked over is hair pulling madness. As for collecting the car from the port. It is hard work trying to find a trustworthy transporter. Not only to pick the car up on time. But one that won't rip off anything they can unbolt. Get Insurance that will cover the vehicle right to your driveway.

Hamilton. It's the only answer.

I have looked at them in the US as a possible buy. But anything under $15K US is an expensive rescue. A few being advertised with "Funny sound from engine". Had it serviced just last year.

After looking at that I don't think that is a cheap M5 at all.

I wouldn't have thought the NZ sites would list it as an option. Won't it just be for what stock they have or have coming? Best option for you would be to order direct and pick it up from the factory in Germany. Tour Europe and the UK before they implode. Ship it home afterwards. You will pay much less over the counter but get shafted by GST when you bring it back.

These models with no manual option. What are they? All the BMW models that should have a manual option do. The 1,2,3,4,5,6 series all have the option. Most of the BMW's in NZ are Jap imports. Most of the Jap imports are Auto. It is what they prefer. This has been an issue for as long as I can remember. Hell most of them are silver or white...yawn. If you are in the market for a 2nd hand manual Euro then look at importing from the UK. There are plenty of importers. Or do it yourself (it's very easy). The world is a small place. The services to obtain the car you desire are abundant. Happy to send you as many manual conversions as you like from the US.

Yeah agree. I was driving an 2010 E60 550i manual the other day around DC. Very easy to drive. The hill start assist was great. But on the highways I had had enough after 500 miles.

Rattlegun is what I used. Took a bit.

Plenty of Manual Euros here in the US. Even E60 M5's of which Europe never got. But with the highways over here a manual is just a hassle. Auto for the road. Manual for the track.

You want to lift the carpet if the seller allows. Floor can be really bad.

I'm not entirely sure. It looked like an M30 block. But everything else was customer.

Last weekend I went up to Bimmerfest East in New Jersey from my home in DC. I don't own a car here yet as I haven't had a need for one and have been doing a ton of travel with little time. So we quite often rent a car from a peer to peer rental company called Turo. If you have a spare car or are not using yours and want to make some money, this is where you list it. Ranging from junk like Toyota Prius right up to the latest Ferrari's. Great thing is there are plenty of BMW's. And this time I went for something practical that would still be interesting. So we grabbed a cheap E60 550i Motorsport. Manual. Yep unlike NZ many of the BMW's are still manual. Sadly the 2016 M3 I wanted was being used. 550i was $85 per day and the M3 is $109 per day. And these are peoples cars so they are looked after. Before heading up to Bimmerfest we went to a very popular local Cars and Coffee event called Katies Cars and Coffee. It is a little coffee house just up the Potomac River which has some nice winding roads through the forest on the way there. Being close to DC there is pretty nice cars that turn up. I took a whole heap of photos on my crap point and shoot. Click the link. I was a bit gutted to see a whole bunch of E30 M3's hooning their way there after I had to leave early to get on my way north. Next time. https://goo.gl/photos/QzJWDBgKwxSrnLPw5 The drive up to New Jersey was interesting though. There were a lot of others heading up there in their BMW's also. But the driving was pretty bullshit really. Every stereotype that comes with owning a BMW was on display. There were even groups racing. I have never seen less indicating, more cutting off, tailgating and general sh*t "My cars ability is the only driving skills I have" in my life. But apparently this is all normal here. The event itself is a two day one. It is at Raceway Park which has both a Drag strip and a circuit track. Sunday is usually the busiest day but Saturday had filled out nicely too. The quality of the cars was pretty high. Most of the cars were newer models and most of them were M cars. There would have been a good 30ish M4's. And the new M2 was featured quite well too. Quite a few done up M2's already. Some of the tuning houses were there too. And the big parts suppliers. BMW had their own stand and even brought along Bikes. They were doing some VR thing and having people sit of the bikes for immersion. Drag racing was not bad. There was a turbo E46 M3 running 9's. And a couple of E60 M5's screaming their way into the low 11's. Once again here is some photos from the event. https://goo.gl/photos/mGEmp23ZGRipNUVo6 Till the next event. No doubt some more of Katies Cars and Coffee for the variety. Also trying to plan to meet the RoadKill crew at some stage.

This would go for 15kusd+ here in the states. Where a good 05 E46 330i can be found for less than 5k. NZ is following along. My Tech 1 went for 10k and I am bummed I didn't bring it with me to the US to make a mint.

Does this Evo have its VIN stamped? Check around it for signs of tamper. Body filler, weld etc. Turn it into a Rally car. Write off the money as a loss.

Would rather of had the 535is that was for sale for much less a while back. But the 34 is starting to get popular again. Determined to hunt down a decent 34 M5 before I return to NZ one day.

The US department of homeland security website. If you are old enough. Think early 90's. Before the internet was really a thing. BBS quality website. Contradicts itself throughout the website multiple times. There is no Black and White rules because they leave most things up to the digression of the immigration staff at the time of entry. Fingers crossed you don't get someone who had a complete wanker in line before you. It is all worth it though.

Talk to Kayne. His attention to detail is beyond most I have met. He will send you in the right direction. Or else you can look overseas. VAC have many options. They supply to race teams world wide.

It was. Cheapest I have seen but they are common for under 7k.

Lets see what they do with Episode 3. If they don't change their ways people will switch off for good. If there is no changes then I think that is it for me. Plenty of other good shows to watch of which I am not annoyed by Shouty McShoutface.