TjRubley.com

First I want to say how much fun I’ve had bringing readers at TjRubley.com the diamonds in the rough over the past 4 years. I have really enjoyed connecting with like minded enthusiasts and I look forward to making that experience even more meaningful moving ahead.

Now it is time to take my career more seriously, and that means making a transition from passive enthusiast to eventual full-time automotive and motorcycling, web and blogging specialist. I’m a bit premature in the announcement of this plan, but I want to keep TjRubley.com readers in the loop!

The most immediate and visible change is that I am splitting the topics that are most popular at TjRubley.com into their own blogs: German Cars For Sale Blog and Rare SportBikes For Sale. If you’re a fan of TjRubley.com, you’ll love these two blogs! They both follow the familiar “best of for sale” listings and resource guides you’re used to at this site, but both have much nicer .rss and email subscription options than I have utilized before. I hope you’ll consider subscribing. If not, don’t worry, I’ll still be highlighting these new blogs on TjRubley.com on a regular basis.

These two blogs are the first to be part of my new automotive blog network, MotoringBlogs. My hope for the network is two fold:

1. Provide greater focus and detail to the automotive and motorcycling niche that the enthusiast searches for. The ability to provide more than a highlight reel or summary of information, and instead cater to the intense and educated enthusiast with detailed and opinionated editorial blog content.
2. Build a network of authors, websites, and enthusiast readers that grow together to gain access and knowledge via an entertaining and informative blogging style to address sports cars, motorcycles, amateur motorsports, and the latest in breaking industry news.

The MotoringBlogs concept is in it’s infancy, but will grow quickly. More details will follow in the coming months. I will of course keep TjRubley.com readers informed first!

I hope you’ll find MotorBlogs to be an even better resource than TjRubley.com has been and I welcome your feedback in the comments below.

dc

I originally posted this Alpina as a car I spotted for sale on eBay. I noted the condition wasn’t perfect but it was an Alpina B9 for sale in the U.S. Todd recently emailed me the following:

I just want to drop a quick note to show you how the 85 B9 Alpina that you featured in June 06 turned out. The car won the BMWCCA Peachtree Chapter Concourse in 07 and actually turned out to be a great find. The original paint was reconditioned and the original leather interior was salvaged as
well. The car is now undergoing a complete undercarriage detail along with reconditioning the worn suspension and mechanical components.

I have attached a few pictures of the car as in the ebay add along with current pictures.

[...]

I was really worried when I first saw the car and thought it actually looked better in the pictures but I had to tell myself that it was an Alpina and not just a BMW. I was preparing to do a repaint and had removed all the trim and bumpers when I decided to try and salvage the original paint. What did I have to loose? Anyway, I was very surprised and pleased with the way it transformed.

{I’m having issues making the Flickr gallery work, so I’m just going to post all the pics }

A TjRubley.com success story, and for an Alpina no less! Congrats on your purchase and resurrection Todd! The car looks fantastic!

dc

Arghhh, yet another reason to move to Canada: Their classic car import exempt rule is only 15 years, versus our 25 years. Check out this beautiful e28 Alpina that’s providing incredible inspiration for our new e28 family car:

1987 ALPINA B10 (E28) 535i #70 of 77 produced on eBayMotors

quote from eBay listing:

A VERY RARE OPPORTUNITY TO OWN A FACTORY ALPINA B10 E28 BODY BMW. THERE WAS ONLY 77 UNITS PRODUCED DURING THE PRODUCTION RUN OF 1985 TO 1987, THIS IS PRODUCTION UNIT #70. THE CAR HAS NO RUST,IN ORIGINAL CONDITION, ALL ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT. BMW PAINT OF THIS ERA WAS NOTORIOUS FOR THE CLEAR COAT TO CHECK THEREFORE THE CAR HAS BEEN RESPRAYED BY THE PREVIOUS OWNER AND THE ALPINA GRAPHICS ARE ALL CORRECTLY IN PLACE. THE QUALITY OF THE PAINT WORK IS EXCELLENT AS YOU’LL SEE BY THE PICS.

Damn. So sexy!

This car looks like damn good value for $16.5k. Too bad it’s not coming to the U.S. legally because it’s not 25 years old yet. At this price though, maybe it’s worth buying and storing for 5 years and then title it. “Hello, home equity loan office? Yes, I need to cash out!”

Check out the specs on the Unofficial Alpina Pages.

dc

I’m such a sucker for Alpina’s, and here’s another great looking example out of SoCal:

1982 Alpina C1 2.3 For Sale on eBay

This car has the following Alpina parts installed: 323i-based 6-cylinder engine, limited-slip finned-cover differential, front and rear sway bars, 7Jx15″ wheels & wheel caps, rear rubber strakes (mud guards), front fiberglass spoiler, rear rubber spoiler, dash plaque (no. 3-2108), 4 (somewhat worn) floormats, dead pedal, front grille emblem, L&R trunk emblems, decal on front spoiler. The following parts could be from Alpina but cannot easily be verified as such: springs, shocks and struts, extra gauge cluster on dash, close-ratio 5-speed transmission, early mechanical fuel injection system, headers, center muffler, twin rear mufflers, manual (non-power) steering gearbox. The following parts are definitely not from Alpina: steering wheel (needing recovering) and shift knob (although owner has access to used Alpina steering wheel & knob which are correct for this car, which could be substituted at buyer’s request), seats (Sparco driver’s seat, and Recaro passenger seat), US (MPH) instrument cluster. The following stock Euro-version E21 parts are of course installed on the car: front and rear bumpers (currently painted gloss black, along with the center grille), grey “basket weave” fabric door panels and seats, rear skirt-mounted license plate bracket, manual windows, power mirrors, manual sunroof.

Check out other Alpina cars I have listed previously.

dc

Note to self — Go around the to the corner store for a Powerball ticket! ($74m, Wednesday)

1979 BMW Alpina B6 e21 on Roadfly ($28k, PA):

Clean, well documented, one of a kind car. One of only 533 built. Signed by famous German Racer Hans Stuck. This is production number 062 of this true Alpina B6 2.8 (E-21).

Remember this car? I did, and so did long time TjRubley.com reader, Neil, who dug up these 2005 links for this car that sold two years ago for $28k (Thanks Neil!)

1991 BMW Alpina B12 e32 For Sale on eBay ($23k US, Vancouver, Canada)

”BMW’s Flagship Supercar” #139 of 305 ever produced [...] professionally appraised at $65,000 {CAN}.

Being sold by 360Autosports (Importers), I just love this car. It’s so austere and understated. Perfect Q-Ship!

dc

Let’s start with the bad news: The listing shows a buy-it-now price of $48k and it’s in Norway.

1972 Alpina 2002 Touring on eBay

If you watch this blog regularly, you know I’m a 2002 fan. But $48k? Really?!

dc