TjRubley.com

Here are my picks for this week’s online classifieds highlights:

• 1991 BMW e30 M3 For Sale: Alpine White Driver with Tasteful Upgrades
• Porsche DP 935 Turbo: Previously Owned by Mario Andretti and Pete Rose
• Suzuki GSX-R Blowout Post: 5 Classic Gixxer’s on eBay Right Now!
• 1988 Suzuki GSX-R 1100: Clean and Recently Rebuilt Motor
• Black e28 BMW M5 For Sale with Only 44k Miles!
• 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco 16v For Sale, only 50k miles!
• 1988 Suzuki GSXR 750 Slingshot: Beautiful Survivor For Sale with Upgrades
• 1994 Honda NSR 250 Rothmans For Sale in Reno
• 1993 Suzuki RGV250 For Sale with Title
• 1994 911 Carrera 4 Factory Widebody: Nice Hips!
• 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S For Sale in White on Black
• Sharp Looking 1989 Yamaha FZR400 For Sale
• 1989 Honda NSR250: Another West Coast Bike For Sale
• 1987 Porsche 928 S4: 5 Speed and Black on Black - This is Rare!

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

Dr. Paul from Sports Car Shop has given the 535i a clean bill of health and proclaimed her the buy of the year! While that might be a bit dramatic, Shana and I are still really enjoying our new purchase. Yesterday we went wine tasting at Benton Lane and Tyee, and the modern classic e28 was right at home on the back roads and rubbing shoulders with Merc SL’s and Infiniti’s at the wineries.

The car will need mufflers and front end suspension work soon to be as well mannered as she looks. But otherwise it’s proving to be great transportation at a bargain price.

Here’s a recent glamour shot from an evening photoshoot for practice:

It’s a bit noisey at full resolution (Old Canon 10D doesn’t like low light), but I’m happy with the result anyway!

Stay tuned for more e28 Family Car updates.

dc

This car has received lots of love by someone who is very obviously a huge e28 fanatic! The time and effort to convert the front end isn’t that easy to do or source. The list of important maintenance makes the 108k miles a non-issue. And those recovered seats look fantastic!

1988 BMW e28 M5 Euro Conversion For Sale on Roadfly:

quote from ad:

1988 M5 Euro Conversion
108,146 miles
$17,500

- Euro Bumper conversion (Brand new bumpers and all associated parts purchased from BMW, not some old rusty parts)
- Euro headlights w/working wipers and factory reservoir (Powder coated with new trim rings and Euro factory harness, not a butcher job)
- Euro turns and fogs (Brand new units purchased from BMW)
- Hartge replica front spoiler (Brand new)
- Zender rear valence
- New black leather front seats (Brand new leather)
- Crack free dash
- Strut braces on the front and rear shock towers
- Koni Sport (Yellow) adjustable front and rear dampers
- New spring pads
- New strut mount bearings front and rear
- Front camber plates
- H&R springs
- E34 M5 big brakes front and rear, powder coated black
- New rotors and pads front and rear
- New parking brake
- Dinan chip
- Rear headrests
- Metric Mechanic Sport Exhaust
[...]

I think the $17.5k asking price will scare off many casual onlookers. But for a true e28 M5 enthusiast, this M5 has just about everything you could want short of having a real euro import.

Like the black e28 but can’t swing the asking? You could go the opposite direction with this 85 535i for $1200 Quite a swing in value considering they’re on the same platform!

Update: Also listed on Bring A Trailer

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

We’ve been on the prowl for a modern classic, affordable, sporting German car for a while now. And while we were pretty sure an MK2 GTi or GLi would fit the bill, we couldn’t find one close enough to justify a trip to check out, and those that looked promising were $4-6k believe it or not! Not to mention perfect cars were even more amazing!

My wife has been more and more impatient with our Golf recently and was really ready to shop. Being my favorite hobby of all time, I was on the job. But nothing in the 100 mile radius really tickled our interest as much as the following Portland Craigslist ad did this past week:

535 series BMW - $2500

535 Series BMW 1985 535 Series BMW *Excellent Condition***Very Clean One owner**

$2500

* All service records and original MSRP available

**This car is a must see**

The Good: It was owned for 21 years by a doctor and the sale included an eye popping $28k in maintenance receipts. Not a misprint; twenty eight thousand dollars!! It also includes the original MSRP from the Portland BMW dealership for well over $30k! This car was all stock in their care and nearly any issue or service item was done at the dealership. Almost everything works on the car, except of course for the onboard computer. Most of the 200k miles on this car are well looked after.

The Bad: The past 3-4 years of history on the car are sketchy. Someone junked the stock TRX wheels in favor of e36 M3 alloys. While they look good, I’m not sure they’re fitted correctly. And the front suspension bushings, alignment, and wear items are all feeling like they need attention. The front seats are also feeling really loose, and the driver’s side leans heavily to the left. The exhaust also has holes in it.

While this post would be cooler if it was a perfect car and a 5 speed, I think it’s a car that was rescued at the right time by the right new owners. Even if another $2k needs to be spent immediately, it’s amazingly clean over all. We’ll have a great car for less than $5k that has a ton of style and is a real pleasure to drive. Even with the suspension on the questionable side, the corning is very flat and easy to control. The seating position is great, and the car has some guts too!

Look for e28 project updates in future posts!

dc

Here’s a sharp looking e28 M5 on Roadfly for $13k:

Considering the absurd prices that e30 M3’s now command, are e28 M5’s a decent alternative for the money?

dc