Sentiment gets expensive really quickly! I had an argument about this just last week with one of my mates. Many moons ago, when they were still plentiful i learned to drive in this thing of beauty...
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7791/17466306990_d59f795322_b.jpg)
It was then sold, and i always wished that it was mine. It was nothing particularly special, but i liked it. Eventually about quarter of a century later i set out to find it (i'm still looking if i'm honest!) But it was nowhere to be found. So i decided to find another one, but in the time between my family selling the one i'm looking for, and me getting around to find another one they had all dissappeared. In the end i figured that any mk1 Carlton estate would do, and i would embark on whatever work it needed to return it to the road. Finally, this one showed up, and i jumped on it...
![](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/575/23333954815_e3578e8d75_b.jpg)
No prizes for guessing where i got this one from. Yep, it was a bit frilly around the edges, but when would i find another one, and, this one had a current MOT! I wasted no time in driving it, and it was great! Eventually MOT time came around, and i put it in for one. It failed... A LOT!! The MOT inspector took 47 minutes to type up the four pages of MOT failiure sheets! His parting comments to me was that the last MOT must've been done over the phone! I dragged it home, and sat down to formulate a plan. This needed a lot of work, and over a year later, it still does! It's biggest problem is rust, from the roof down everything, and i mean everything has had some rust cut out, and new metal grafted in, and the closer i got to the floor, the more metal needed to be cut out, and repaired. Places you've never even known existed needed repair, or indeed replacement. However i am now here...
![](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/739/31603490000_3c37c00d1b_b.jpg)
I have spent a fivetune (obviously a lot more than a fortune!) and six months ago i pushed it into my garage while i waited for my bank balance to recover a little before i progressed some more! I have bought so much for this car, and still need to buy so much. The body is now structurally sound, but to get it that way i have had to travel to Germany twice to collect panels and parts, and Holland once to collect panels! I have replaced the rear wings, the doors, the sills, the inner sills, the suspension towers, the tail gate, the floor, the petrol tank so on and so fourth the list really is endless! However, like i said it is now structurally sound, and more importantly, it has no rust anywhere. But even though i've done all of this, i'm still finding things that need doing. For instance, i've recently discovered that the whole car needs to be re-wired! I'd never even taken that into consideration. Why does it need to be re-wired? Well i have discovered that the wiring loom is litterally filled with scotchblok connectors, crimp on connectors, the terminal connector strips that look like lego blocks, and wires just twisted together and taped with sellotape! Further more i have discovered wiring that appears to have had the insulation chewed off by some rodent, plus of course i've burnt some with the welding! So this is something i never accounted for, and also something that will be both time consuming, and expensive! No doubt that once the wiring is done, i will discover something else that needs doing.
Also, you get the knock on effect. For example when all the bodywork is done it will look great, but the interior will need doing because it will look very tired! The engine, and mechanicals will also need looking at, not because there is anything wrong with them, but they will look rubbish next to the newly restored bodywork, this will go on and on for a bit. But eventually it will be done, and when it's done it will be cooler than penguins wee wee!
But, once its done how much will it be worth? £1000? £1500 maybe? Well i've already spent much more than that! Much MUCH more than that! I'm probably not even half way through, and this is what my mate cannot understand, he said why waste my time and money on that when there are much better cars out there. And he's right,there are much better cars out there, i even own better cars than this! But when this car is done, it will be my car, nobody elses, mine, and only mine as i had absolutely no plans to sell it, ever! So in my opinion, it doesn't really matter what it costs, i'm doing it for me, and not for the money. Somethings are not about the money, and this is one of them to me. But try as i might, i could not get my mate to understand this, to him its all about pounds and pennies. Which is probably why he will never own a car that is different, or unique, and why he thinks that his brand new 3 series estate is the best car ever! But anyway...
My feeling is e28needshelp, that this E28 of yours, for whatever reason is to you what my rusty crappy Carlton is to me. It's not about the money, it's not about the time, it's about the car, and once it's done, it will probably be unique to you, and it will be your car forever. I say crack on, do a build thread on here for both your own personal record, and for the advice and encouragement from others, i think you'll find it very rewarding. Good luck fella, keep us all posted!
![](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7791/17466306990_d59f795322_b.jpg)
It was then sold, and i always wished that it was mine. It was nothing particularly special, but i liked it. Eventually about quarter of a century later i set out to find it (i'm still looking if i'm honest!) But it was nowhere to be found. So i decided to find another one, but in the time between my family selling the one i'm looking for, and me getting around to find another one they had all dissappeared. In the end i figured that any mk1 Carlton estate would do, and i would embark on whatever work it needed to return it to the road. Finally, this one showed up, and i jumped on it...
![](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/575/23333954815_e3578e8d75_b.jpg)
No prizes for guessing where i got this one from. Yep, it was a bit frilly around the edges, but when would i find another one, and, this one had a current MOT! I wasted no time in driving it, and it was great! Eventually MOT time came around, and i put it in for one. It failed... A LOT!! The MOT inspector took 47 minutes to type up the four pages of MOT failiure sheets! His parting comments to me was that the last MOT must've been done over the phone! I dragged it home, and sat down to formulate a plan. This needed a lot of work, and over a year later, it still does! It's biggest problem is rust, from the roof down everything, and i mean everything has had some rust cut out, and new metal grafted in, and the closer i got to the floor, the more metal needed to be cut out, and repaired. Places you've never even known existed needed repair, or indeed replacement. However i am now here...
![](https://farm1.staticflickr.com/739/31603490000_3c37c00d1b_b.jpg)
I have spent a fivetune (obviously a lot more than a fortune!) and six months ago i pushed it into my garage while i waited for my bank balance to recover a little before i progressed some more! I have bought so much for this car, and still need to buy so much. The body is now structurally sound, but to get it that way i have had to travel to Germany twice to collect panels and parts, and Holland once to collect panels! I have replaced the rear wings, the doors, the sills, the inner sills, the suspension towers, the tail gate, the floor, the petrol tank so on and so fourth the list really is endless! However, like i said it is now structurally sound, and more importantly, it has no rust anywhere. But even though i've done all of this, i'm still finding things that need doing. For instance, i've recently discovered that the whole car needs to be re-wired! I'd never even taken that into consideration. Why does it need to be re-wired? Well i have discovered that the wiring loom is litterally filled with scotchblok connectors, crimp on connectors, the terminal connector strips that look like lego blocks, and wires just twisted together and taped with sellotape! Further more i have discovered wiring that appears to have had the insulation chewed off by some rodent, plus of course i've burnt some with the welding! So this is something i never accounted for, and also something that will be both time consuming, and expensive! No doubt that once the wiring is done, i will discover something else that needs doing.
Also, you get the knock on effect. For example when all the bodywork is done it will look great, but the interior will need doing because it will look very tired! The engine, and mechanicals will also need looking at, not because there is anything wrong with them, but they will look rubbish next to the newly restored bodywork, this will go on and on for a bit. But eventually it will be done, and when it's done it will be cooler than penguins wee wee!
But, once its done how much will it be worth? £1000? £1500 maybe? Well i've already spent much more than that! Much MUCH more than that! I'm probably not even half way through, and this is what my mate cannot understand, he said why waste my time and money on that when there are much better cars out there. And he's right,there are much better cars out there, i even own better cars than this! But when this car is done, it will be my car, nobody elses, mine, and only mine as i had absolutely no plans to sell it, ever! So in my opinion, it doesn't really matter what it costs, i'm doing it for me, and not for the money. Somethings are not about the money, and this is one of them to me. But try as i might, i could not get my mate to understand this, to him its all about pounds and pennies. Which is probably why he will never own a car that is different, or unique, and why he thinks that his brand new 3 series estate is the best car ever! But anyway...
My feeling is e28needshelp, that this E28 of yours, for whatever reason is to you what my rusty crappy Carlton is to me. It's not about the money, it's not about the time, it's about the car, and once it's done, it will probably be unique to you, and it will be your car forever. I say crack on, do a build thread on here for both your own personal record, and for the advice and encouragement from others, i think you'll find it very rewarding. Good luck fella, keep us all posted!