Re: <6er> Pondering purchase 85 635CSi (longish)

[Tom Mathews <bimrone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If I was you Gary, I would walk right pass that one and do not bother to give it a second look. It is probably worth about $1,500-2,000 plus a gross of aspirin.

With that many miles, you are talking about replacing most of the suspension components and shocks ($500-2000), complete brake replacement ($400-1000), air conditioning conversion (R-12 to 134) ($1,000-2,000), and probable catalytic converter and muffler replacement($1500-2500).  After you do all these repairs, you are going to have to replace all of the hoses, tubing, and belts.  Now, that you have the vehicle running,you can think about a quality paint job ($4,000 + rust repairs) and redoing the interior ($400-1,000) for the drivers seat.  A used dashboard is about $300 plus installation if you can find one.  The automatic trans typically lasts 150k on this model ($3,000 plus installation).  The good news is that the motor is probably in good shape.

The model that you are looking at is a great design concept, but.....with that many miles on a BMW, you are looking at some serious repair dollars.  In fact, if you drive by a typical independent german car repair shop, you will probably see similar older bmw's out front in the parking area.  No doubt left by the previous owners who could not afford to repair them.  I recommend that you look for a model with less than 100k and that has been garaged.

Tom
Been there and done that.
78 320i  150k+
88 535is  142k
95 740i 82k