E36 worth restore?

[Vdubchaos]

5mt basically mandatory imo unless one is gimped up or just has a total hardon for slushboxes, and collectible isn't really related to a car being what I consider an icon. Other than if you flat can't afford it or can't do the work, money really shouldn't be part of the issue(because one is going to loose their ass). One of the cardinal rules of car-dom is never, ever, ever count up your receipts. If you gotta count something, count smiles per mile. If that don't add up, ditch the car. If I magically had that car in my driveway I'd be looking for a wrecked or blown motor 5mt example and make one out of the two whatever way was appropriate. One of the nice things about an old car hobby is it doesn't have to make financial sense, or even be logical, it just has to make you happy or satisfied or pluck some other positive feeling string.

That is the worst advice EVER.

It's called, rug sweeping.

By all means count up your receipts and know EXACTLY how much money is going down the toilet (cause 99.9999% of time, money into car = money down the toilet)

 

[Ramses]

I've said exactly that at least twice now. Some of you guys aren't quite traditional old car guys I don't think. The money has nothing to do with it. Unless you are working on a highly collectible car that you managed to buy cheap (which is part of what I do for a living), you'd come out ahead on most cars to just burn the money and save your time and bloodied knuckles. But we still do it, because it's a hobby, a passion. Everyone has a budget and concessions must be made, but to sit there with a calculator you are doing an injustice to the endeavor.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Some of you guys aren't quite traditional old car guys I don't think. The money has nothing to do with it. Unless you are working on a highly collectible car that you managed to buy cheap (which is part of what I do for a living), you'd come out ahead on most cars to just burn the money and save your time and bloodied knuckles. But we still do it, because it's a hobby, a passion. Everyone has a budget and concessions must be made, but to sit there with a calculator you are doing an injustice to the endeavor.

If you mean"traditional old car guy" is someone willing to eat cat food, live in a trailer, and spend the rest of my life surrounded by cars on blocks then hell no. I tred the fine line between rational and car crazy. Long history of all sorts of cars and projects. I may be doing a bit of interpretive reading but the OP started this thread with key word "worth" and proceeded to talk $$$. Makes me think he'd be better off not going down this road.

 

[Vdubchaos]

If you mean"traditional old car guy" is someone willing to eat cat food, live in a trailer, and spend the rest of my life surrounded by cars on blocks then hell no. I tred the fine line between rational and car crazy. Long history of all sorts of cars and projects. I may be doing a bit of interpretive reading but the OP started this thread with key word "worth" and proceeded to talk $$$. Makes me think he'd be better off not going down this road.

Agreed

The key is balance.

Have fun and do the car things, but also not to be broke while doing so.

I used to be that guy that didn't pay attention to receipts, until one day it hit me like baseball bat.

Now I'm on the opposite end of things, I no longer have any desire or care to play with cars. A to B seems WAY more appealing than blowing thousands down the drain.

 

[Ramses]

If you mean"traditional old car guy" is someone willing to eat cat food, live in a trailer, and spend the rest of my life surrounded by cars on blocks then hell no. I tred the fine line between rational and car crazy. Long history of all sorts of cars and projects. I may be doing a bit of interpretive reading but the OP started this thread with key word "worth" and proceeded to talk $$$. Makes me think he'd be better off not going down this road.

That's a little on the 30 year ago deep south profiling side, but the essence of it is true. If you've never skimped on lunches or stayed home or clipped coupons for the grocery store so you could afford a new set of wheels or to get the flowbench time on a set of heads, you've missed part of the experience imo. Most of us get past the point where we have to do that eventually but it's a right of passage as a young gearhead. If you open up the garage of a great many middle class suburban homes you'll find cars with owners that have 2x what they are worth put into them and happy to have done so, most of them can tell tales of working 2nd jobs and late shifts and such to make spare money to dump into a car when they were a kid. It's sort of a thing. It is difficult to find where to draw the line, strictly speaking it's the same rules an insurance company would use to total a car, if repair = x% of resale, ditch the car. Much harder to pin down the emotional/desire part. It's just money anyway. If it takes $10K to make you happy with a car that's worth $5K and it really makes you happy, the doing, the creating, the having, then it's worth it. Regardless of the math.
I don't think it's any crazier than buying a $500 cell phone that's going to depreciate to nothing in two years really. Least the car will still be good for something. We do more monetarily worthwhile European stuff at work and make a good profit on the parts from some and entire cars for others. It's perfectly possible to make money with this sort of thing, but it't not happening with the vast majority of cars. Gotta be love. The financial pitfalls are pretty self evident but there are strategies for dealing with them, one of the best being, don't count your receipts. Count your enjoyment. I agree the OP probly isn't up for what it's really going to take, but there are tons of people with that very car that do what his needs and more and love every moment of it. It'd be a moral failure to myself to not point out both sides of it to someone asking for advice. I think it's selling the issue short to call it a turd and say it's not worth it without exploring the hows and whys and facets.

I help people blow ungodly amounts of money on old cars all over the world, been at it seven years now and no sign of it slowing down, just the clientele has changed a bit as the cars have risen in value. It's all the same deal though other than the really high end stuff which is it's own interesting little world.

 

[Ramses]

Agreed

The key is balance.

Have fun and do the car things, but also not to be broke while doing so.

I used to be that guy that didn't pay attention to receipts, until one day it hit me like baseball bat.

Now I'm on the opposite end of things, I no longer have any desire or care to play with cars. A to B seems WAY more appealing than blowing thousands down the drain.

That happens I'd say to the majority of folks that dip into the automotive enthusiast pool, and it's perfectly ok. In fact it's best that way. But it's not that way for everyone. There is a massive industry catering to those that dodge that metaphorical baseball bat to one degree or another.

 

[Vdubchaos]

That's a little on the 30 year ago deep south profiling side, but the essence of it is true. If you've never skimped on lunches or stayed home or clipped coupons for the grocery store so you could afford a new set of wheels or to get the flowbench time on a set of heads, you've missed part of the experience imo. Most of us get past the point where we have to do that eventually but it's a right of passage as a young gearhead. If you open up the garage of a great many middle class suburban homes you'll find cars with owners that have 2x what they are worth put into them and happy to have done so, most of them can tell tales of working 2nd jobs and late shifts and such to make spare money to dump into a car when they were a kid. It's sort of a thing. It is difficult to find where to draw the line, strictly speaking it's the same rules an insurance company would use to total a car, if repair = x% of resale, ditch the car. Much harder to pin down the emotional/desire part. It's just money anyway. If it takes $10K to make you happy with a car that's worth $5K and it really makes you happy, the doing, the creating, the having, then it's worth it. Regardless of the math.
I don't think it's any crazier than buying a $500 cell phone that's going to depreciate to nothing in two years really. Least the car will still be good for something. We do more monetarily worthwhile European stuff at work and make a good profit on the parts from some and entire cars for others. It's perfectly possible to make money with this sort of thing, but it't not happening with the vast majority of cars. Gotta be love. The financial pitfalls are pretty self evident but there are strategies for dealing with them, one of the best being, don't count your receipts. Count your enjoyment. I agree the OP probly isn't up for what it's really going to take, but there are tons of people with that very car that do what his needs and more and love every moment of it. It'd be a moral failure to myself to not point out both sides of it to someone asking for advice. I think it's selling the issue short to call it a turd and say it's not worth it without exploring the hows and whys and facets.

I help people blow ungodly amounts of money on old cars all over the world, been at it seven years now and no sign of it slowing down, just the clientele has changed a bit as the cars have risen in value. It's all the same deal though other than the really high end stuff which is it's own interesting little world.

It's no news that Car Enthusiasts are some of the most financially irresponsible people on the planet.

I've been one, I've met plenty and I still see many (just like you).

 

[Ramses]

I think irresponsible is being unnecessarily unkind, but absolutely it is a passionate hobby in many cases. It's a human thing though, there are fanatically passionate people for damn near anything these days. Just how we are as a species. We have magazines about walking...

 

[JulesMaximus]

Put a Corvette motor in it.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

. It'd be a moral failure to myself to not point out both sides of it to someone asking for advice. I think it's selling the issue short to call it a turd and say it's not worth it without exploring the hows and whys and facets.

I help people blow ungodly amounts of money on old cars all over the world, been at it seven years now and no sign of it slowing down, just the clientele has changed a bit as the cars have risen in value. It's all the same deal though other than the really high end stuff which is it's own interesting little world.

Well spoken and no denying that the heart wants what the heart wants. I understand and respect your posistion as someone who's job depends upon spending other people's money on old cars. I'm responding as if it were my car and my money. Nobody else's but my own.

It's not that an E36 is a bad project. I think certain ones are highly awesome. Just not one with an undesirable and broken tranny that several tries can't fix, bad tires, bad brakes, bad suspension, bad paint, hasn't run in several years, etc.

OP better come up with some awesome story about an entire cheerleading squad and this BMW otherwise it's still a turd.

 

[Ramses]

Put a Corvette motor in it.

LS1 is pretty much the answer to everything.
Failing that, Miata.

We did an LS1 in a Comanche pickup on CNG not long ago, manual trans even, hell of a truck.

 

[Ramses]

Well spoken and no denying that the heart wants what the heart wants. I understand and respect your posistion as someone who's job depends upon spending other people's money on old cars. I'm responding as if it were my car and my money. Nobody else's but my own.

It's not that an E36 is a bad project. I think certain ones are highly awesome. Just not one with an undesirable and broken tranny that several tries can't fix, bad tires, bad brakes, bad suspension, bad paint, hasn't run in several years, etc.

OP better come up with some awesome story about an entire cheerleading squad and this BMW otherwise it's still a turd.

I really don't disagree in a lot of ways. I've got a habit of lobbying for the path less taken in pretty much any given situation unless it's totally impossible. I'd be down for a cheerleading squad story too, but I can't call that car a turd. Just tired and unfortunate. I've always thought, in all things not just automotive, that those labeling something "polishing a turd" lacked the intestinal fortitude to do the polishing themselves. Nothing personal to any of you gentlemen that I don't know anything about, just a general observation throughout life.

 

[Denly]

LS1 is pretty much the answer to everything.
Failing that, Miata.

We did an LS1 in a Comanche pickup on CNG not long ago, manual trans even, hell of a truck.

Love to get my hand on a SSR w/ LS1 one day, good looking truck.

 

[thomsbrain]

Sounds like a great start for a stripped track day toy or rallycross beater.