The first M30-powered “big six” BMW I ever drove was a 1986 E28 535i automatic sedan. It would’ve been 1989, so I’d had my license for about two years at that point and spent the majority of my time driving a rusty Alfa Spider, Mom’s Mercedes 300SD, or a Pontiac 6000 wagon. I remember thinking at the time that the 535 was sort of doggy, and not at all what I thought BMWs were supposed to be. It was quick enough I suppose, but whether it was that particular car, my (lack of) driving skill and experience, or the automatic transmission, I left the experience feeling somewhat underwhelmed, to put it nicely.

Fast forward to 1998, and my good friend and TTS compatriot Jonathan had moved out west, and had found himself the proud owner of Max, the 1972 BMW E3 Bavaria. Max had a sunroof, Weber carbs in place of the stock Zeniths, a 5-speed conversion, and no air conditioning – not that he needed A/C out there. The heater worked just fine. In any case, I flew out to join on a drive down to the Monterey Historic races. We’d worked out a meet-up with a few other E3 enthusiasts and headed south via the 101.  This Bav was nothing like the E28 535i from a decade earlier – it pulled hard, shifted smoothly, and felt very much like the four-door sports car that it was. “Ooooohhhhh,” I thought. “THIS is what a BMW is supposed to feel like!” By the end of that trip, I was hooked, and decided that I needed one of my own. 
Not long after returning to the East Coast, I started looking for a “proper” BMW of my own. I ultimately happened upon a 1984 E28 533i with a 5-speed manual. As much fun as an E3 of my own might have been (and I’ve had a few since), this was going to be my daily driver carrying me from the Northern Virginia suburbs into Washington, D.C. year-round through all kinds of weather from snow and ice to 100 degrees and 98% humidity. Suffice it to say, I wanted something a little more modern with air conditioning and some degree of rustproofing. I loved that car, and put about 80,000 miles on it over the 3 years I owned it. In the end, I snapped a belt which resulted in overheating. That, in turn, basically burned-up the valve guide seals and the car started consuming a quart of oil about every 300 miles. I needed reliable daily transportation and wasn’t super-interested in getting into the engine, not to mention that it was an opportunity to rationalize getting something new, so I let it go.

A couple of years later, making a little more money and having a little more driveway space, I bought my first E3: a 1970 2800 sedan with a 5-speed conversion. It was equipped with A/C, but despite my efforts it never did work. Another great car, and further reinforcement of how much fun the M30 engine with a manual transmission could be. After letting that car go for far too little money, I ended-up getting more involved in the classic Mercedes community and, despite having a few more E3s along the way, largely forgot about those BMWs that I truly enjoyed driving. I love an old Mercedes, but they are really apples and oranges to BMWs. Drive an  E28 back-to-back with a W123 Mercedes and you get the point. The Merc is a better-built car, but the BMW is more fun to tear through the backroads – hands down, any day of the week.

Fast forward to last month: Having decided to flush the whole fleet and start over, I acquired a very nice 2002 Mercedes R129 SL500 “Silver Arrow” convertible and was having plenty of fun pointing and squirting that car around town. Of course, it’s when you’re really not looking that cars seem to find you, isn’t it? I was probably just perusing car listings the way I do any day when I’m procrastinating doing something for my day job or looking for something to write about here, when this very nice looking black 1984 BMW E24 633CSi popped up on Facebook Marketplace. As these things do. I contemplated writing a post about it, but got sort of engrossed in a very detailed writeup by the owner, and found myself fondly recalling that ’84 533i from 25-odd years ago. Plus, I’ve always had a thing for the E24 6-series, despite the fact that my Dad had a weird dislike for their taillights…  I love the svelte Paul Bracq lines with the tall, open greenhouse and thin pillars, his subtle incorporation of the Hofmeister kink, and the pronounced ship’s prow “shark” nose. And don’t forget the very period BMW driver-oriented dash. Delicious. These cars are all that was right about 1970s and 1980s design.

The car had 149,000 miles on it, but among the volumes of history were detailed maintenance records and a bare metal repaint in the original 086 Schwarz (black), complete with photographic documentation. The interior looked like a car with maybe 30,000 miles, and it even came with two sets of wheels – the OEM 14″ bottlecaps and a set of E39 16″ style 29s. Talking to the owner, I found a car enthusiast who is very much a kindred spirit, who’d had the car for a couple of years but decided to sell it on because 1) he felt like it was too nice to drive too regularly, and 2) having had several 80’s vintage BMWs, he wanted to try something completely different: in this case a Corvette C5 Z06. I mean, I can’t fault that.

Beyond that, regardless of the keyboard warriors who will undoubtedly chime-in with “Shoulda got the 635” or “Needs the motor out of a ’91 E34 535” and the like, I’m actually a fan of the 633’s 3210cc engine. Being a later (83/84) 633, it has the updated E28 suspension and the Motronic electronic fuel injection that is miles better than the older and more finicky L-jetronic, and frankly I think the slightly smaller motor – despite having 1hp (!) less than the US-spec 3.5 and admittedly a fair bit less torque (19 ft-lb) – feels a little happier revving than its slightly larger sibling. By the seat of the pants, it feels perfect for my needs and use. If I want to go really fast, I’ll take the SL. If that’s not fast enough I’ll get an EV, or rather another AMG E63. In any case, I like the motor and if I dust off my brain I *know* the motor. Flat out speed is not what this car is about. 1980’s vintage driving engagement is where the 633 is at.

As has been my modus operandi of late, I’d originally planned to have the car shipped from just north of Pittsburgh, PA back home to Northern Virginia. Cost at the end of the day for enclosed transport was around $900, plus another $150 to add the spare wheels to the load. Considering I have a full-sized Tundra pickup with tow capability, I decided to look into renting a car trailer from U-Haul – which would cost a whopping $116. Considering that I’d gladly make the 8 hour round trip drive there and back if someone was offering to hand me a thousand bucks, my wife and I decided to make a day of going to get the car ourselves. Besides, that would give me the opportunity to lay eyes on it before assuming ownership.

And this is where I offer a brief lesson in U-Haul car trailers. I knew I wanted a drive-on trailer as opposed to a “drag behind”, but even then there are multiple options. It seemed to me that the 6er is a decent-sized car, so I’d rather have the larger “toy hauler” trailer instead of the smallish car hauler they offer. Well, live and learn. Having looked the car over and found it to be much better than I’d anticipated, we went to load it up. That’s when it quickly became clear that it would take a better driver than me to both load and unload a 1980s 6-series from a trailer this wide that does NOT have adjustable-width ramps. At best, both wheels would be about 40-50% on the inside edge of the ramps – not to mention that the run was too steep NOT to massively upset the low-ish front air dam.

The seller, my wife, and I contemplated the situation, played with a few boards he had to see about reducing the angle of attack, but none of us were particularly comfortable that we could load the car without falling off the ramps, and I was even less confident in my ability to offload it. Finally, my brilliant wife offered to drive it home. If you’re a car person, do whatever you can to find a partner in life who will support (enable?) your addiction hobby. We’d had a nice drive up to get the car, chatting and listening to music the whole way, and anticipated the same going home. Instead, I’d be hauling an empty trailer and she’d be behind the wheel of an unknown to us 41 year-old car for about 285 miles. At least I’d be following in case anything exploded. I felt awful about it, but she insisted, and frankly, there wasn’t a whole lot of choice. The seller told us he’d not driven it that far but had an uneventful 2-hour drive in it, so what could go wrong?

And the answer to that question, is “thankfully, nothing”. Well, almost nothing. The car – and my wife – made the whole trip really without incident. Save for a gas stop where I asked how the car was doing, and she told me that the “Brake” light kept illuminating on and off, but that the brakes felt very good. I went to open the hood, which was extremely hard to do, and in the process (at least it opened) the cable snapped. I checked the brake fluid, and narrowed the issue down to a bad sender in the brake reservoir, but she had to make the rest of the drive with the hood popped. Having looked into E24 hood cable replacement, it was far better that it was open rather than closed and latched when the cable broke – apparently that leads to madness of epic proportions. Besides, since the E24 has a reverse-opening hood, it was more-or-less a non-issue from a driving standpoint. I did advise to do her best not to panic stop, lest the hood fly forward….

Apart from that little misstep (which has already been corrected by the good folks at London Auto Service in Falls Church, VA), the car was great the whole way. What we learned about it in 4 hours of her driving and my subsequent tinkering with it is that 1) the driver’s seat could use a re-stuff. These weren’t the most supportive seats by modern standards even new, and they certainly didn’t get any better with age. 4 hours is a long time for our aging backs to endure in a sagging 1980s BMW comfort seat; 2) everything right down to the trip computer, A/C, radio, and antenna works flawlessly. The power seats work well too, except when you accidentally unplug their power source when futzing-around with a broken hood release; 3) despite having no ABS (1985 was the first year for that), it stops short and straight. I learned that in a late-evening backroads drive (my first real drive in the car) that was suddenly, brutally, and nearly catastrophically interrupted by a big delivery truck on a small road over a blind hill. Much smoke and noise ensued, but all was (thankfully!!) well when the cloud settled.

Detail-wise, between the folks that did the paint and freshening and the fellow I bought it from who further fettled the things they missed or got “not quite right”, this car is remarkably well-sorted. The A/C gets ice cold when you figure out the controls, and it reminds me so much of how nice the combination of that torquey and smooth M30 inline-6, manual transmission, and firm BMW chassis is to drive. And it looks spot-on with the period Greenwich, CT “Competition & Sports Cars” (now BMW of Greenwich) license plate frame that I “appropriated” sometime in the late 80’s or early 90s..  I’m addicted – again. Now I get to contemplate the things I might like to do. The car came with a set of H&R lowering springs, and a 6er does look very good slightly lowered..  Hmm..  If only it didn’t drive so well as it is…  I’ll give it a think.