Problems us Car Guys have owning a Classic

Updated: 22 Dec 2015

So recently I bought myself a 1989 E34 BMW 525i and to say the least, I’M IN LOVE! And within the first week of owning it, I’ve already faced so many problems, not with the car, but with the people i know. Bearing in mind that I am 18-year-old so you can imagine the reactions of my friends with their Vauxhall Corsa Limited Eds and their MK7 Fiestas. I did not buy it to get reactions anyway, I bought it because I am simply in love with the E34; I truly believe it’s one of the most beautiful looking motors to exist, but that’s just my opinion.

Problems us Car Guys have owning a Classic

The main sort of comments I get straight away are “Why’ve you bought this, the cars older than you!”, “Does it even work?”, “It must be crap, where’s the built in Sat-Nav?!” that one makes me laugh, i just have to stand there and know that there is no way of explaining to these ‘non car guys’. It really is a shame, how I can have so much love and passion for something that someone else sees as a lump of old worn out metal. But that’s just us car guys have to live with! I feel very sorry for the JDM guys that have to explain to their mothers why putting £5000 into a 20 year old civic is wise, but its just what we do!

Another problem I face is when I’m sat in traffic lights and next to you pulls up a 1.4 litre VW Polo with a straight pipe and 4 certainly not straight lads in it thinking they’re going to smoke you, its always good fun seeing their little faces drop. But people just underestimate these old birds to thinking that they are too fragile to wheel spin off the line, but that’s what makes them great, what puts the smile on my face. Hearing my straight 6 lump rev up to 6000 rpm, its like ecstasy to my ears.

To conclude, everyone thinks I’m silly for buying it, but honestly i could not care less! Its my baby, slightly broken baby, but never the less I’m going to be putting money into it, and this is the start of my Car journey, with many more projects to come. Thank you for reading!

Francis Connor

Comments

Awesome E34 Francis! I know well about that from the time when I got my first car, a VW Jetta MKII. It was in 2006, when the car was 15 years old and thus at an age where everyone considered it nothing but a worn out piece of cr*p.
Things didn’t really get better with my 90’Golf, which I bought in 2010 and still own!
In the beginning of this year I bought a 85’ Dacia 1310 - mainly to provoke people and to make them reconsider their attitude towards elder cars :) Well, and because I wanted the car … :D

Thanks man, i just love the mk2 golf, can be an unbelievably fun car aswell as the Jetta, and its all about what we want! aslong as the motors are special to us, does anything else really matter? im sure a few things considered may but for now not really ;) awesome cars man

I got similar issues with my car, non car people trying to pick it apart and stuff
But very light 3l rear wheel drive manual ends their argument.

Sweet scimitar, always remind me of mini muscles

I feel your pain Francis! Good luck with your project!

thanks matey!

Good to see someone else keeping a classic going!! I ran a rover with a Honda quad cam v6 for a couple of months remember people in vtr saxos and polo’s trying to pull on it! Was a mini sleeper! Shame it drank fuel like no body’s business!!:)

haha, love it!

Love your car. Looks sweet.

Also it’s pretty funny how car cultures differ. Here in Estonia it’s other way around. Thats really normal to see e34s/36s everywhere owned by young people and guys who buy hatches mostly get a weird look for not getting a rwd car over the fwd. :D

That’s so strange! here in the UK people just lease little hatches and think they’re ballers because they’re in newer cars, crazy!

I kinda get alot of it with my ‘89 escort. There’s no way to explain to people why it’s a better/more ‘real’ car than their fiesta St or r-type civic.
It’s not quick - only a 1400 - but its fun!

love those escorts, always wanted to buy one and turn it into a rally car, be so much fun!

I just recently bought myself a 1985 528e! Looks like i face similar problems to yours. Just not many people try to race me and if they did i would most definitely lose. Lol!

Well written friend.

Thanks matt!

Love the E34, ok maybe not just as much as i love the E30 haha. I too myself am young (only 17) and my hope and dream is to once own an E30! Goodluck and have fun with your absolute stunner of a car!