More progress against the tar.  More rust found.

That is all for today.

  I finally have a garage.  I've started dismantling the car, and after talking to Matt at SCR, I have a plan of attack.  I'm going to get everything off/out of the car that I can (as close to a rolling shell as I can get, or until I've had enough), then trailer the car to SCR and see where we are with the shell.  I will take the suspension home to finish-- it needs more work in front and a bunch of work out back, and I want to paint or powder coat the individual pieces. 

      The passenger footwell looks good so far, so I have high hopes for the driver side.   I haven't taken out the driver side seat yet because I need to be able to drive it out of the garage to hose off some gunk before I go any further.

Getting there.  No dry ice or heat yet, just a rubber mallet and 1" chisel. 

$200 (give or take) worth of rotten rubber door seal

Rotten turn signal mount. Hoping this can be fixed without replacing the fender. We'll see.

Fenders have gotten more rusty since I brought it back East. 

Hole in the spare tire well. Looks like it was dented at some point and then rusted through.


Found these wrapped in an unmarked tool bag hidden beside the gas tank. Made in West Germany, so I guess it's the BMW toolkit. I haven't ever seen it before so I can't make a positive ID.

She finally lives in a garage!

I bought this car in Santa Fe, NM, a few years back. I have been doing small jobs here and there, but I am really trying to get moving with a ground-up restoration. I got the car mostly rust-free, but the Northeastern winters have not been so kind and it has been living on the street. The car was also the victim of a hit-and-run while parked in South Philadelphia, probably by a Septa bus. The passenger door was severely damaged, as well as the front fender and front clip. I almost sold it after that, but was talked out of it by my then-girlfriend, now-wife. So she gets credit for saving the car.

The engine is pretty much stock, with a Weber 32/36. I replaced the points with Pertronix electronic ignition soon after I got the car. It runs pretty well, with minimal smoke on deceleration. I drove it from Philadelphia to Connecticut with no trouble.
I have been able to rebuild the front and rear suspension with Bilstein sport struts and Ireland Engineering stage 1 springs. The front left strut is bent, however; so the camber is less negative on that side than on the right.

I put in some seats from a Honda Prelude until I can get something nicer in there. The rear seats were deleted.

I am looking for garage space to rent right now so I can get moving on tearing out the interior and planning the next move.