How did you get into BMW's?

[Jeroen]

Just thinking of some nice threads to get to know each other!

What got into me well I always liked BMW's ever since I got interested in cars at around the age of 11 or 12. When I was 14 in 1982, my father bought his first BMW after several other brands like VW, Opel and Toyota, an E21 316! So that's how things started haha. Not long after my mother gave up her Opel as well to drive a 315, and a few years later my father swapped his E21 for an E23 converted to Alpina B8. When I got my drivers license my mother was driving her 2nd E21. Also an E21 316 and I made a lot of km's in that car. Guess that's what got me into BMW's and especially E21's! Need to start digging in the family photo albums for some pics, none available at the moment I'm afraid...

[arshad76]

Ha great topic. I was interested in cars from basically a baby. I had an auntie who lived in a posh area in London. She had a silver e21 320 and my uncle a 230e Mercedes in gold. I remember her driving us to town in the BMW and me thinking what a smooth engine. Plus I kinda associated it with the glamour days of the 80's with Dallas and Dynasty.
That was my first car funnily enough and I've liked them to this day

[Thegs]

As my father is into cars as long as I live, cars are a big parts of my life. When I turned 18, I always had a car available, so no need to have one myself. But after a couple of months I found it was time to own a car, so I started seaching a classic tax free car just to own. In the past 18 years my father has owned 200+ cars (having a dealership), but the ones I especially remember are a Mercedes 190 E 2.3, an E34 520i saloon, an E36 318iS in Boston Green, E30 318i Baur and some other japanese cars.

The first I looked at was an W116 350 SE , that was a real shed. At this time I thought it was the only car for sale in the world so I went home really disappointed.

After two months I found an E21 320/6 on the interne, that has been sleeping for 16 years because of money problems. Now it was time for the owner to sell it and I took it home with me. This was basicly the start of my car career and the result is the list below (after having my license for 6 years).

[croma_man]

great thread,

My father had 1602, 2002, 2002i, e21, e30...and also I liked BMW's but never wanted one. Now see where it got me

[Manitoba]

Good thread on how we got into these BMWs!

I think my first words as a child weren't "mommy" or "daddy", but "car" . From the moment I could ride a bicycle I went to all dealerships in my hometown, together with my physically handicapped brother. We went collecting car brochures and key chains from all makes. Was easy for me: I went into the dealerships and said my handicapped brother (who was outside waiting for me on his tricycle) collected those. No man could say "no" to that

An aunt of my mother's owned an E3 3.0L; she had an industrial dry cleaning company in Zeist. I remember it to be one of the most beautiful and majestic cars I had ever seen. That's where my first love for BMW must have started. When I was six years old, our neighbour across the street bought a brand new E21 320/4 in 1976. Don't know the official name of the colour, but it was light blue. That's the car I truly fell in love with. He owned it until he bought one of the first E30s, a 320i in I think Reseda Green and in 1986 he changed it for a new 320i four door saloon in dark green.

When I got my driver's license, my first two cars were Peugeots (couldn't afford BMWs, ha ha!) but tried to trade the second Peugeot for E21s (first a light blue 320/4 and later a silver 320/6), but without succes. When I started living with my girlfriend I found an orange 2002 saloon which we bought for her to be her daily driver. One of the most fun cars I have ever driven. Unfortunately, this car was very rusty underneath, so after 2 years we had to let it go. That's when I found the Brasil Braun 320/6 A, mentioned elsewhere on this forum. What a beauty and boy was it a nice ride... After breaking up with my girlfriend, this BMW stayed with her and I have been "BMW-less" for a few years (did have a Peugeot 306 Cabriolet, but hardly ever used it in the 3 years of ownership).

The rest of my story is known here: since a few weeks I am the proud owner of an E21 323i in Kastanien Rot. Love my BMW and (almost) all other BMWs!

Greetz,
Walter.

[luke]

I too had always been into cars - my Dad was a mechanic.

After having been into Nissans originally and hunting for a Datsun 1600 as a project, I thought I should at least drive the BMW that Nissan had ultimately spoofed. After driving a couple of 2002s I was hooked. Finding that 1600s were more expensive than old BMWs in Australia at the time, I ultimately ended up with my first e21 - a silver 320i 4 speed manual. This was 17 years ago, and was followed by my 323i manual, which I rebuilt and converted to EFI (some members on here would remember) and now my M30B35 manual e30.

I haven't driven anything but BMWs since the first drive of an old '02! Strangely enough my Dad has also now caught the e30 bug, and both he and my Mum drive e30s.

Anyway - off to service the M30 now