Nod to an Old Car and an Owner Years Ago.
A couple of months ago I found an add for a 1980 e12 and think maybe I could grab some bits and pieces off it for a project on my e9. The car was only ten minutes from my house, so I go take a look. As I was expecting, it’s a total mess. Flat tires, faded gray paint, rust all over. Florida is hell on a car, and even worse on an old car that was most likely from up north. Great car to part out with all the good stuff still there. Perfect, except the owner wants too much money. I let the weeks go by making contact a couple of times. No one buys it, and eventually it’s mine for a realistic parts car price.
After getting the car to my house, I start exploring. All the gaps and panels are very straight, almost no dings and it appears to have never been hit. Zender air dams front and rear. I find a car cover rotting in the trunk with an embroidered Roundel on the front and “528i 1980 Ascot Gray” stenciled on the sides and back. Attached to the sun visor, a friend finds two lapel pins with roundels on them and an eagle pin with a roundel on it as well. The tool kit is complete including the two red handled screwdrivers, and I can’t help but think that someone really loved this car. I charge the battery, drain the fuel, put in fresh gas and fire it up. As I drive down the street going thru the gears, she wants so badly to get up and stretch her legs, but that would take time and money and this old girl is a parts car right?
She has been sitting at my house for three days now, and will be parted out this Sunday or next. Her parts will live on, but even now, she looks so eager and only wanting to please. I can’t help but occasionally gazing in her direction. The faded gray paint barely shows a hint of what it must have once been. The darn car is starting to speak to me. “I am not gray, I’m Ascotgrau”! What else would this old car tell me? I bet she has many stories, stories of driving through storms, sliding on icy roads, and getting that person who loved her so much, home safely. I think I’ll put her car cover on her tonight, one last time.
A couple of months ago I found an add for a 1980 e12 and think maybe I could grab some bits and pieces off it for a project on my e9. The car was only ten minutes from my house, so I go take a look. As I was expecting, it’s a total mess. Flat tires, faded gray paint, rust all over. Florida is hell on a car, and even worse on an old car that was most likely from up north. Great car to part out with all the good stuff still there. Perfect, except the owner wants too much money. I let the weeks go by making contact a couple of times. No one buys it, and eventually it’s mine for a realistic parts car price.
After getting the car to my house, I start exploring. All the gaps and panels are very straight, almost no dings and it appears to have never been hit. Zender air dams front and rear. I find a car cover rotting in the trunk with an embroidered Roundel on the front and “528i 1980 Ascot Gray” stenciled on the sides and back. Attached to the sun visor, a friend finds two lapel pins with roundels on them and an eagle pin with a roundel on it as well. The tool kit is complete including the two red handled screwdrivers, and I can’t help but think that someone really loved this car. I charge the battery, drain the fuel, put in fresh gas and fire it up. As I drive down the street going thru the gears, she wants so badly to get up and stretch her legs, but that would take time and money and this old girl is a parts car right?
She has been sitting at my house for three days now, and will be parted out this Sunday or next. Her parts will live on, but even now, she looks so eager and only wanting to please. I can’t help but occasionally gazing in her direction. The faded gray paint barely shows a hint of what it must have once been. The darn car is starting to speak to me. “I am not gray, I’m Ascotgrau”! What else would this old car tell me? I bet she has many stories, stories of driving through storms, sliding on icy roads, and getting that person who loved her so much, home safely. I think I’ll put her car cover on her tonight, one last time.
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