So... I have had a few threads on here previously, but one is irrelevant as the car no longer exists and the other one is just plain old.
So I figured I might start one for all my car related shenanigans.
For those who don't know me - I guess that might be most of you, since I mostly just lurk around here - my name's Bastien, I'm a 26 year old German whose first word was GTI, so I guess that means I've always liked cars.
I started my car life in 2007 with a '92 Mk3 Golf GT which I modded in a very early 90ies fashion with ABT and Votex goodies and polished ATS Cup wheels. That thing lasted for a year, then it was time for my first BMW. It was a '94 E36 320i sedan... proper grandpa spec in wine red with cloth seats. Swapped in leather, coils, Azev wheels but then decided a year later that it was too slow. So I bought another E36 to replace it - this one being a '97 323i Touring. I had always wanted a E36 Touring ever since my dad owned one about 15 years ago. I still own that thing. Next up were some very short stints with a Audi 80 Coupe 2.8 and a BMW E30 320i coupe (in hindsight I should have kept that because it was a rust free 87 model with lots of options). Both didn't last very long as I couldn't afford to keep two cars at the time. There was a Mk2 Golf as well somewhere along the way, but that lasted only two days or so.
In 2012 I was able to keep two cars on the road for the first time and so I retired my E36 to fun car status and bought a daily - a E34 525i. Neat car, still miss it sometimes. Lasted only about half a year until I sold it and replaced it with a BMW E38 730i. Had that for about 1.5 years until I changed my job and suddenly had to drive three times as long as with the previous job. Decided that I needed something cheap for daily duties and bought a BMW E39 523i Touring converted to LPG fuel. Sooo cheap to run. Crashed the car into the guard rail two weeks later on the way home from Gatebil in Norway. Decided to repair it. Bought a '00 E39 520i Touring as a parts car and got cracking. Finally discovered some heavy rust under the rear floor of the car and decided to part it out as well - that was early 2015. Then I decided, so many years of BMWs, I wanted something else. So I bought a Audi A8 4.2 and had it converted to LPG fuel.
That leaves us with my current stable - the E36 Touring and the Audi.
Also, I rent a old barn where I can wrench on my cars and I do some other stuff there as well, like fiddling around with multi-piece wheels and such.
If there's any interest, I might tell you more about my previous cars, but I figure I'll just keep it to the current ones for the time being.
The E36... I got that thing in 2009 like this:
In 2010 it looked like this:
In hindsight, this was probably the most fun state of the car in terms of driving. Maybe I'll change it back one day.
Spent most of 2011 like this:
Ever since 2012 it's looked like this:
Then I changed it up a bit this year with AC Schnitzer bumpers. I got the matching skirts as well, but one is bent... I'll either need to source a replacement or repair it.
Then there's my daily driver... a '99 Audi A8 4.2. I was originally looking for a Mercedews W140 S-Class, but all the ones in my budget were goners. I didn't want another 7-series and so I looked at A8s.
Some phone snaps when I bought it:
Car is already lowered on some springs, could do with being a bit lower but it already scrapes heavily at my work so it'll probably stay like this.
The car was soon converted to run on LPG fuel... oh how nice it is to drive a 310hp V8 and have it costing less then a petrol Golf when filling up! A liter of LPG is around 0.50€ here, so about 0.37GBP.
I quickly sourced some 9x19 Speedline wheels...
I even went to the UK like that - we visited Players Classic with a few mates!
However, one of them was bent. I'm currently trying to sell them on...
I sourced some 9x20 Startech Monostar III made by Brabus for a Chrysler Voyager. They are 5x114,3 and the Audi is 5x112, so I'll have to run wobble bolts. I still need to get some tires, but at least I'm all set for next summer.
Photoshop says it should look like this:
I had a big dent in the hood, so I swapped out the hood for another one which I found local to me in the matching paint.
At the moment it just has to drive, and drive well it does.
Next up on the to do list is to re-fresh the front suspension and a brake job.
I mentioned that I do other car related stuff, like fiddling around with split wheels and such.
Here's some examples:
8x17 RH ZW1: Re-painted and lips polished and some curb-rash removed
8.5x17 / 10x17 RH ZW1: Re-painted and re-built to 10x17 front and 11.25x17 rear (3.25inch and 4.5inch lips respectively)
Currently working on another set of ZW1 wheels that are supposed to go on my E36 next summer as a temporary replacement for my BBS.
Also trying to pick up a proper retro project soon-ish. However, I never can't make up my mind what I actually WANT. One day I want a Mk2 Golf. The next I want a Opel Kadett E. Then again, I have a craving for the first german post-war V12 in the form a E32 750i. Or maybe a 80ies Chevy Caprice? Or maybe something Japanese? A Ford Sierra would tickle my fancy as well. Honestly, I'm not too bothered what I'll choose once I find something and have everything else taken care of (need to sort the timing belt on the Audi first.. quite expensive.), just want something to tinker with and improve my skills and also learn welding, hah.
So I figured I might start one for all my car related shenanigans.
For those who don't know me - I guess that might be most of you, since I mostly just lurk around here - my name's Bastien, I'm a 26 year old German whose first word was GTI, so I guess that means I've always liked cars.
I started my car life in 2007 with a '92 Mk3 Golf GT which I modded in a very early 90ies fashion with ABT and Votex goodies and polished ATS Cup wheels. That thing lasted for a year, then it was time for my first BMW. It was a '94 E36 320i sedan... proper grandpa spec in wine red with cloth seats. Swapped in leather, coils, Azev wheels but then decided a year later that it was too slow. So I bought another E36 to replace it - this one being a '97 323i Touring. I had always wanted a E36 Touring ever since my dad owned one about 15 years ago. I still own that thing. Next up were some very short stints with a Audi 80 Coupe 2.8 and a BMW E30 320i coupe (in hindsight I should have kept that because it was a rust free 87 model with lots of options). Both didn't last very long as I couldn't afford to keep two cars at the time. There was a Mk2 Golf as well somewhere along the way, but that lasted only two days or so.
In 2012 I was able to keep two cars on the road for the first time and so I retired my E36 to fun car status and bought a daily - a E34 525i. Neat car, still miss it sometimes. Lasted only about half a year until I sold it and replaced it with a BMW E38 730i. Had that for about 1.5 years until I changed my job and suddenly had to drive three times as long as with the previous job. Decided that I needed something cheap for daily duties and bought a BMW E39 523i Touring converted to LPG fuel. Sooo cheap to run. Crashed the car into the guard rail two weeks later on the way home from Gatebil in Norway. Decided to repair it. Bought a '00 E39 520i Touring as a parts car and got cracking. Finally discovered some heavy rust under the rear floor of the car and decided to part it out as well - that was early 2015. Then I decided, so many years of BMWs, I wanted something else. So I bought a Audi A8 4.2 and had it converted to LPG fuel.
That leaves us with my current stable - the E36 Touring and the Audi.
Also, I rent a old barn where I can wrench on my cars and I do some other stuff there as well, like fiddling around with multi-piece wheels and such.
If there's any interest, I might tell you more about my previous cars, but I figure I'll just keep it to the current ones for the time being.
The E36... I got that thing in 2009 like this:
In 2010 it looked like this:
In hindsight, this was probably the most fun state of the car in terms of driving. Maybe I'll change it back one day.
Spent most of 2011 like this:
Ever since 2012 it's looked like this:
Then I changed it up a bit this year with AC Schnitzer bumpers. I got the matching skirts as well, but one is bent... I'll either need to source a replacement or repair it.
Then there's my daily driver... a '99 Audi A8 4.2. I was originally looking for a Mercedews W140 S-Class, but all the ones in my budget were goners. I didn't want another 7-series and so I looked at A8s.
Some phone snaps when I bought it:
Car is already lowered on some springs, could do with being a bit lower but it already scrapes heavily at my work so it'll probably stay like this.
The car was soon converted to run on LPG fuel... oh how nice it is to drive a 310hp V8 and have it costing less then a petrol Golf when filling up! A liter of LPG is around 0.50€ here, so about 0.37GBP.
I quickly sourced some 9x19 Speedline wheels...
I even went to the UK like that - we visited Players Classic with a few mates!
However, one of them was bent. I'm currently trying to sell them on...
I sourced some 9x20 Startech Monostar III made by Brabus for a Chrysler Voyager. They are 5x114,3 and the Audi is 5x112, so I'll have to run wobble bolts. I still need to get some tires, but at least I'm all set for next summer.
Photoshop says it should look like this:
I had a big dent in the hood, so I swapped out the hood for another one which I found local to me in the matching paint.
At the moment it just has to drive, and drive well it does.
Next up on the to do list is to re-fresh the front suspension and a brake job.
I mentioned that I do other car related stuff, like fiddling around with split wheels and such.
Here's some examples:
8x17 RH ZW1: Re-painted and lips polished and some curb-rash removed
8.5x17 / 10x17 RH ZW1: Re-painted and re-built to 10x17 front and 11.25x17 rear (3.25inch and 4.5inch lips respectively)
Currently working on another set of ZW1 wheels that are supposed to go on my E36 next summer as a temporary replacement for my BBS.
Also trying to pick up a proper retro project soon-ish. However, I never can't make up my mind what I actually WANT. One day I want a Mk2 Golf. The next I want a Opel Kadett E. Then again, I have a craving for the first german post-war V12 in the form a E32 750i. Or maybe a 80ies Chevy Caprice? Or maybe something Japanese? A Ford Sierra would tickle my fancy as well. Honestly, I'm not too bothered what I'll choose once I find something and have everything else taken care of (need to sort the timing belt on the Audi first.. quite expensive.), just want something to tinker with and improve my skills and also learn welding, hah.
