Well if anyone read my trip summary getting home in my newly acquired 1972 2002 about 4 months ago, todays maiden voyage in my own E9 was more trying. (I had two cigarettes this evening to calm down and then gave the pack away...I don't smoke anymore).
After a very long wait, my 71' 2800 arrived in Buffalo New York. It went from Idaho to Texas, then back up to Michigan. It got there too late to make the border crossing on the weekend, so it sat in a Towing facility till I could pick it up today. The folks there were very friendly and loved the CS. All kinds of people had stopped by to look at it.
The day started with a bus trip from Toronto to Buffalo. I left my house at 10:00 am.
Borders and buses are slow affairs. I arrived at the storage facility around 2:30. I was expecting to see a temporary transit plate in the window which I had purchased from the dealer. It was not present. So I figured I had no other option but to drive it with no real plate. I taped a transfer form from Idaho in the window. It looked a lot like the temporary permits Ontario issues , had some numbers on it and did say "Idaho" on it. I kept a very close look in the rear view mirror hoping to be low key and avoid Police interception. Since the gauge was showing empty, the first stop was for a filllup. Someone rolled down the window and asked me what year it was and how long I'd owned it. I said about ten minutes. He said it was great to see such a beautiful car in that part of New York. I can see you get in a lot of conversations with these cars.
I was now ready to make my dash home. It started to rain as I pulled out of the gas station. I noticed the car had an intermittent noise that sounded a bit like a compressor. 15 seconds on and then off.
When I arrived at the border, I had to check into US Customs to get them to sign off on the car leaving the States. The guard came out to check the VIN and asked if I had a license on the car. I said yes. She looked at it for 1 second and signed me out. Great, 1 down , 1 more to go. I got to the Canada side and the guard there asked me what my license plate was, as he could not see anything in his camera. I said it was a temp plate. He directed me to the place to pay my taxes. That went very smoothly and I was on my way.
It was still raining quite hard and starting to get dark. I kept a steady 65 MPH and knew that my piece of paper in the window would not get the pass three times. As I approached Toronto, the traffic got very heavy and the rain kept up. The car has 15 year old BFG Comp TA 's on it and they are as hard as a rock. I could spin them just barely leaving a stop sign, so this not a comfort in 45 f weather. Around Oakville Ontario (A suburb of Toronto) the car just died on me. It stumbled a couple of times and I had to nurse it onto the shoulder where it ceased to run at all. I could not restart it. I was in a very dangerous situation. The 71' has no hazard lights, and the silver colour, rain, getting dark made me think I was a goner. Just getting out of it was trying. Once I got out, I decided it was safest to sit on the cement wall and I planned on jumping down about 8 feet if a car was coming to take the E9 out. I had a cell and called 411 and asked for a local towing company. AA will do. I kept thinking the Cops would be the first to get to me, write me a big ticket, but at least put their lights on to avoid a wreck.
I sat in the rain for about ten minutes before the tow truck arrived. I was hooked up in less than 5 and was very relieved to be off that highway.
When the driver asked where to, I knew there was a BMW dealer a mile or two away. He mentioned there was an old guy who works on BMWs nearby. i decided to head there. It was getting to be closing time. The owner pushed the car into his shop. He said he had had one years ago but it rusted out. Hmmn.
The intermittent noise I heard had been the fuel pump. He tapped it with a wrench and got it working intermittently. He said it was toast and would not get me home. He suggested we put in a universal pump, but his assistant plying the phones could not locate one. He scratched his head a while and then took out my pump , took it apart and cleaned the contacts that shut it off via a pressure switch. He figured it would work for quite a while. I left his shop at 7:30. He missed his dinner. Final dash home was about 30 miles in hard , dark rain, with cars swerving all around me. Hopefully I can get a safety check tomorrow, some real plates and then tuck it in the garage and start seeing what I got. I noticed the owners manual is written in French, so that gives me a clue about where it started.
Hopefully it never sees 45f rain again. I think it is rusting as I type.
The tires are more than useless on this car. I have 4 Continentals ready to go in.
After a very long wait, my 71' 2800 arrived in Buffalo New York. It went from Idaho to Texas, then back up to Michigan. It got there too late to make the border crossing on the weekend, so it sat in a Towing facility till I could pick it up today. The folks there were very friendly and loved the CS. All kinds of people had stopped by to look at it.
The day started with a bus trip from Toronto to Buffalo. I left my house at 10:00 am.
Borders and buses are slow affairs. I arrived at the storage facility around 2:30. I was expecting to see a temporary transit plate in the window which I had purchased from the dealer. It was not present. So I figured I had no other option but to drive it with no real plate. I taped a transfer form from Idaho in the window. It looked a lot like the temporary permits Ontario issues , had some numbers on it and did say "Idaho" on it. I kept a very close look in the rear view mirror hoping to be low key and avoid Police interception. Since the gauge was showing empty, the first stop was for a filllup. Someone rolled down the window and asked me what year it was and how long I'd owned it. I said about ten minutes. He said it was great to see such a beautiful car in that part of New York. I can see you get in a lot of conversations with these cars.
I was now ready to make my dash home. It started to rain as I pulled out of the gas station. I noticed the car had an intermittent noise that sounded a bit like a compressor. 15 seconds on and then off.
When I arrived at the border, I had to check into US Customs to get them to sign off on the car leaving the States. The guard came out to check the VIN and asked if I had a license on the car. I said yes. She looked at it for 1 second and signed me out. Great, 1 down , 1 more to go. I got to the Canada side and the guard there asked me what my license plate was, as he could not see anything in his camera. I said it was a temp plate. He directed me to the place to pay my taxes. That went very smoothly and I was on my way.
It was still raining quite hard and starting to get dark. I kept a steady 65 MPH and knew that my piece of paper in the window would not get the pass three times. As I approached Toronto, the traffic got very heavy and the rain kept up. The car has 15 year old BFG Comp TA 's on it and they are as hard as a rock. I could spin them just barely leaving a stop sign, so this not a comfort in 45 f weather. Around Oakville Ontario (A suburb of Toronto) the car just died on me. It stumbled a couple of times and I had to nurse it onto the shoulder where it ceased to run at all. I could not restart it. I was in a very dangerous situation. The 71' has no hazard lights, and the silver colour, rain, getting dark made me think I was a goner. Just getting out of it was trying. Once I got out, I decided it was safest to sit on the cement wall and I planned on jumping down about 8 feet if a car was coming to take the E9 out. I had a cell and called 411 and asked for a local towing company. AA will do. I kept thinking the Cops would be the first to get to me, write me a big ticket, but at least put their lights on to avoid a wreck.
I sat in the rain for about ten minutes before the tow truck arrived. I was hooked up in less than 5 and was very relieved to be off that highway.
When the driver asked where to, I knew there was a BMW dealer a mile or two away. He mentioned there was an old guy who works on BMWs nearby. i decided to head there. It was getting to be closing time. The owner pushed the car into his shop. He said he had had one years ago but it rusted out. Hmmn.
The intermittent noise I heard had been the fuel pump. He tapped it with a wrench and got it working intermittently. He said it was toast and would not get me home. He suggested we put in a universal pump, but his assistant plying the phones could not locate one. He scratched his head a while and then took out my pump , took it apart and cleaned the contacts that shut it off via a pressure switch. He figured it would work for quite a while. I left his shop at 7:30. He missed his dinner. Final dash home was about 30 miles in hard , dark rain, with cars swerving all around me. Hopefully I can get a safety check tomorrow, some real plates and then tuck it in the garage and start seeing what I got. I noticed the owners manual is written in French, so that gives me a clue about where it started.
Hopefully it never sees 45f rain again. I think it is rusting as I type.
The tires are more than useless on this car. I have 4 Continentals ready to go in.
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