mhoffman
Member
I wanted to pass a very enthusiastic THANK YOU to Murray (Bluemax) and the other folks from this forum who were at the Show and Shine today in San Diego!
Just a synopsis of some of the random events and encounters with members on this forum leading up to today's gathering just to give everyone an idea the caliber of people who are part of this community and forum, which Murray exemplifies and personifies:
-Peter Takacs: Previous owner and inspired caretaker of the car I now have. Everything he did while he had the car was done with care and thoughfulness. If he ever offers a car he has owned for sale, don't pass the opportunity to buy it. If he offered to sell me a used vacuum cleaner and said he had taken care of it, I'd buy it. Peter and the team of craftsmen he put together to restore the car had a focus vision of making the car "right". I think the world population of E9s is going away rapidly- people want quick and easy, and hopefully cheap. Throw it away when you are done with it. These cars require effort to maintain (ask Murray!) and as a community, we serve ourselves and these cars well by taking the effort to do it right. Peter knocked the ball out of the park with the car he sold me. Thanks Peter!
-Coupeking: I have been looking for a while the odd-ball front bumper over rider for a 73 coupe, which seems to be made of unobtainium. Coupeking (Peter) found it in his secret stash and graciously offered to trade my incorrect part for the correct one, without charge. I mentioned I was goign to be at the S/S today and he coordinated with Murray to have him hand deliver it to me. Where can you find that kind of customer service?
-HBChris: Never met the man only traded a few PMs through this site; I was looking for some period correct Beru plugs for the toolkit (try finding those on your own!!) and Chris offered to provide them for me- no charge. He coordinated with another Bimmer guy (Fred) coming down to SD for the show today to deliver them to me. As things would have it, I parked my car this morning completely at random, right next to Fred. He walked up and handed me the plugs- still in the original boxes. Amazing.
-Carl Nelson: shortly after buying the car, I stopped by his shop (he is local) and with the recommendation of another forum member, carrying a six pack of Peroni beer on a Friday afternoon. Carl spent a couple of hours with me going over the car- offering a couple of hardware changes, recommendations for operation and maintenance, and generally being a great guy and mentor to keep the coupe operating properly. Thing like a heat shield to fit around the downpipes to limit heat gain in the passenger compartment that looks and fits like it was put there by the factory. He is an invaluable resource, and has good taste in beer!
-Greg Collins: I had the good fortune to be parked two cars down from him today at the S/S. His Chamonix 3.5 is amazing, but more importantly, another great guy. I have never shown a car before, and I'm new to E9s in general- he repeatedly stopped doing prep work on his own car to point out things with mine, in a gracious, friendly and genuine manner.
-Doug (did not get his last name) was one of the judges today at the event. He was more interested in helping me improve my car and understand what little things could be done to get it closer to "1" and take less hits in an inspection (which would take me years to learn on my own) than he was in scoring the car. What a refreshing approach! I could not be more grateful for the help and information.
-Murray. I cannot begin to describe how giving and helpful he was. First of all, his car is amazing. No other way to describe it. He had a throng of folks around him, and he is the consummate ambassador for E9s. He could not have been more gracious or patient in sharing his insight and passion with anyone who expressed an interest in his car or the marque.
I introduced myself as he was wiping down his already immaculate car and he immediately stopped what he was doing and handed me the bumper over rider. He let his son keep working on Bluemax while he described its history with me.
After the inspection, he offered to look my car over, which I gladly accepted. The level of knowledge of how the car is put together, where to resource supplies, tricks to help maintain the car were simply amazing! Things like how to store the seat belt to prevent scuffing the door, where to find the missing rubber pad on the seat latch and how to take care of the tail light covers are things that on my own I would have broken twice and ended up causing more damage than good.
I had one of John Jacobs "E9 Driven" badges on my dash- John by the way undertook that effort with his own resources and no hope for compensation for his time, just because he wanted to make something meaningful for other E9 owners to enjoy and share his pride of being part of this community- and Murray noticed it and offered that Bluemax was the inspiration for the term. Far out! How often does something like that happen? Take a Ford Explorer out to an event and see how many people you talk to inspired anything, let alone something like "E9 Driven"!
Every person I have asked for help and insight on this forum has offered it freely and without condition. E9s are gorgeous cars- I remember the first one I ever saw vividly (February 1987, a Malaga CSi in a parking lot on the submarine base in Bangor, WA) and have wanted one ever since. Ownign the car is great- neat to look at and drive, but the best part is the community of members here. I am amazed at the uniformity of that experience. I just wanted to say thanks, to Murray and everyone else here.
Best-
Matt
Just a synopsis of some of the random events and encounters with members on this forum leading up to today's gathering just to give everyone an idea the caliber of people who are part of this community and forum, which Murray exemplifies and personifies:
-Peter Takacs: Previous owner and inspired caretaker of the car I now have. Everything he did while he had the car was done with care and thoughfulness. If he ever offers a car he has owned for sale, don't pass the opportunity to buy it. If he offered to sell me a used vacuum cleaner and said he had taken care of it, I'd buy it. Peter and the team of craftsmen he put together to restore the car had a focus vision of making the car "right". I think the world population of E9s is going away rapidly- people want quick and easy, and hopefully cheap. Throw it away when you are done with it. These cars require effort to maintain (ask Murray!) and as a community, we serve ourselves and these cars well by taking the effort to do it right. Peter knocked the ball out of the park with the car he sold me. Thanks Peter!
-Coupeking: I have been looking for a while the odd-ball front bumper over rider for a 73 coupe, which seems to be made of unobtainium. Coupeking (Peter) found it in his secret stash and graciously offered to trade my incorrect part for the correct one, without charge. I mentioned I was goign to be at the S/S today and he coordinated with Murray to have him hand deliver it to me. Where can you find that kind of customer service?
-HBChris: Never met the man only traded a few PMs through this site; I was looking for some period correct Beru plugs for the toolkit (try finding those on your own!!) and Chris offered to provide them for me- no charge. He coordinated with another Bimmer guy (Fred) coming down to SD for the show today to deliver them to me. As things would have it, I parked my car this morning completely at random, right next to Fred. He walked up and handed me the plugs- still in the original boxes. Amazing.
-Carl Nelson: shortly after buying the car, I stopped by his shop (he is local) and with the recommendation of another forum member, carrying a six pack of Peroni beer on a Friday afternoon. Carl spent a couple of hours with me going over the car- offering a couple of hardware changes, recommendations for operation and maintenance, and generally being a great guy and mentor to keep the coupe operating properly. Thing like a heat shield to fit around the downpipes to limit heat gain in the passenger compartment that looks and fits like it was put there by the factory. He is an invaluable resource, and has good taste in beer!
-Greg Collins: I had the good fortune to be parked two cars down from him today at the S/S. His Chamonix 3.5 is amazing, but more importantly, another great guy. I have never shown a car before, and I'm new to E9s in general- he repeatedly stopped doing prep work on his own car to point out things with mine, in a gracious, friendly and genuine manner.
-Doug (did not get his last name) was one of the judges today at the event. He was more interested in helping me improve my car and understand what little things could be done to get it closer to "1" and take less hits in an inspection (which would take me years to learn on my own) than he was in scoring the car. What a refreshing approach! I could not be more grateful for the help and information.
-Murray. I cannot begin to describe how giving and helpful he was. First of all, his car is amazing. No other way to describe it. He had a throng of folks around him, and he is the consummate ambassador for E9s. He could not have been more gracious or patient in sharing his insight and passion with anyone who expressed an interest in his car or the marque.
I introduced myself as he was wiping down his already immaculate car and he immediately stopped what he was doing and handed me the bumper over rider. He let his son keep working on Bluemax while he described its history with me.
After the inspection, he offered to look my car over, which I gladly accepted. The level of knowledge of how the car is put together, where to resource supplies, tricks to help maintain the car were simply amazing! Things like how to store the seat belt to prevent scuffing the door, where to find the missing rubber pad on the seat latch and how to take care of the tail light covers are things that on my own I would have broken twice and ended up causing more damage than good.
I had one of John Jacobs "E9 Driven" badges on my dash- John by the way undertook that effort with his own resources and no hope for compensation for his time, just because he wanted to make something meaningful for other E9 owners to enjoy and share his pride of being part of this community- and Murray noticed it and offered that Bluemax was the inspiration for the term. Far out! How often does something like that happen? Take a Ford Explorer out to an event and see how many people you talk to inspired anything, let alone something like "E9 Driven"!
Every person I have asked for help and insight on this forum has offered it freely and without condition. E9s are gorgeous cars- I remember the first one I ever saw vividly (February 1987, a Malaga CSi in a parking lot on the submarine base in Bangor, WA) and have wanted one ever since. Ownign the car is great- neat to look at and drive, but the best part is the community of members here. I am amazed at the uniformity of that experience. I just wanted to say thanks, to Murray and everyone else here.
Best-
Matt
