Okay, I discovered that my Miata doesn't drive very well in the snow. In fact, it's downright dangerous.

You may be thinking, "And this is a surprise to you, Matt?" Well, yes, it is. I knew a Miata wouldn't be very good in the snow, but I figured it would at least be acceptable for my daily commute (just a few minutes within downtown Indy). Back when I owned a Fiat Spider (very similar to the Miata), I was able to drive it to and from high school in the snow. Nope--new Miatas come with performance tires that have almost zero traction on snow. (I put new tires on the Fiat when I got it, and I'll bet they were "all-season" tires.)

After investigating the cost of another set of wheels and good snow tires, I decided just to buy a 1987 BMW 325 that a colleague of mine was trying to sell, and keep the Miata garaged in the winter.

Here are pictures of another 1987 325... mine is black, though:

http://www.autofindersmal.../87Bmw.htm

It's amazing how solid the car feels for a 16-year-old car... BMW certainly built those things to last. Sure, it has a few quirks (which I intend to fix), but it's good winter transportation. Plus, isn't the 3-series BMW the "yuppiemobile" of the 1980s? It's almost historical.

Anyone else have the same or similar BMW and thoughts/advice to offer? Thanks!

Hey cool matt! Glad to hear you went ahead and bought the BMW. You should post photos soon.

Between your new set of wheels and your nipples rings... whew! Too sexy

hey congrats on your "new" car.i have a new car of my own, it is a new 1961 mercedees 190sl roadster. its a beauty , a diamond in the rough (very rough)

Natsume said:

I'll do that once I get it detailed and replace the shift knob. Right now it has this cheap, ugly aftermarket knob that looks like a studded sex toy, to be frank. I do already have a genuine BMW knob--I bought it from some guy who purchased one around 1990 and never got around to installing it before he sold his BMW. Can you believe that he paid the BMW dealer $82 (in today's dollars--I did an inflation adjustment) for it? He was happy to sell it for $30, including Priority Mail shipping.

I did install a CD player tonight, and I'm amazed that I didn't cause a short circuit or otherwise screw it up. Unfortunately, it wasn't a "plug-and-play" sort of deal--I had to do all of the wiring by matching up wires, stripping them, and crimping them together. Yeah, it's pretty simple stuff, but something I'd never done before.



Well, I don't think a 16-year-old BMW is terribly impressive, but I'll take it as a compliment nonetheless. Now as for the nipple rings, those are sexy.

mpls777 said:

Interesting... are you planning on restoring it? That's definitely a unique car!

I've never done a true restoration, but when I had the Fiat, I was always tinkering with it (out of necessity--it's been said that Fiat stands for "Fix It Again, Tony"), and in some ways, I kind of missed that. I guess the BMW is something of a "project car" for me, even though I just need to do some little things with it.

matt said:

yes i am going to restore it , she will be a beauty!

Natsume said:

Ask and ye shall receive.



Thus far, I've replaced the shift boot (which was torn) and put on the proper BMW shift knob that I mentioned before. And in addition to the CD player, I replaced the rear speakers after discovering that one of them was blown.

My next tasks are to track down a few electrical "gremlins" in the car and to have a little body work done--on the driver's side of the car, there's a dent toward the bottom of the rear door and a few little rust spots that I want to take care of.

I'm going to wait until spring to have the car detailed--there's no sense in doing it now as long as this winter weather keeps up. (I should have been smart like you and moved to a warmer climate.)

Natsume said:

yowsa.

matt's beginnin 2 be like the super-stud outta all the moderators now...