When I got my permit I started looking for a car. I ended up picking a 1999 Volkswagen bug for about 800 bucks. Turns out that was a bad idea. The car was always giving me problems. It was always overheating and leaving me stranded. So I started looking for another car. I liked how the car was built and how it felt on the road. So I started looking for a euro car. I found a lot but there was one that caught my eye. A 2003 BMW 530I
The next day we went up to Colorado Springs to look at it. It was in really good condition but it had about 215,000 miles. It was slightly concerning but the guy who was selling it said that he kept up on maintenance and that it ran great which it did. So I bought it, I ended up talking the guy down to $2,100. A couple of days later we went up and I drove it back home about 130 miles. That’s when I realized that that was the most comfortable and smooth car that I had ever driven. I also noticed how much the cup holders sucked. I had fallen in love with the car in less than 20 minutes of driving it. When I got it home I wanted to drive it to school but I couldn’t because it didn’t have insurance or plates. After about 2 weeks of owning it, I put in new grills, led interior lights, led fog lights, shift knob, and shift boot.
After all that I drove the car for about 2 weeks and put 2,500 miles on it so I did an oil change and everything looked good. Since the oil change went well and everything looked good on the car I planned a trip on a Friday to go up to my sister’s house that was about 300 miles away. I woke up that morning packed and got ready to get in the car. Then I left the driveway and made it to the first stop sign on my street and the clutch exploded. So I started the car in first and power shifted all the way home. The car sat for about a week and a half until I found a clutch and a garage to work in. I picked up a stage 2 clutch kit with a solid lightweight flywheel for $600 on FCP Euro, and my friend Sara let me use her garage for the weekend. When I started tearing into the car I was slightly intimidated knowing that it is a German car, but to my surprise, the car was super easy to work on. From taking the shifter apart on the inside to dropping the transmission underneath the car.
I drove the car for another 3 weeks after the clutch job putting about 3,000 miles on the motor. At the time I also raced and beat a V6 mustang, not super impressive but it was my first victory in the car. And that was my first two months of owning my BMW.
Project E39 