Storm!

In my opinion one of the most classic automobile designs of all time. The BMW E24 6 series has got to be one of the models that created the following that the Marque has earned...simply stunning! I always wanted one and I hope you will enjoy the photos and story behind my time with "Storm", my 1980 Euro Spec 635 CSi!
Note: Some of these photos take some time to load.

I purchased "Storm" from the son of the gentleman who imported the car to the States from Germany. Technically I became the third owner of the car as the son had never transferred ownership from his father and really never drove the car much. It sat in storage with little to no use for about 6 years. The original owner was a pilot who apparently worked for a flying medical ambulance service as there was still a decal in the lower right hand corner of the rear window!

I was very fortunate in the fact that there was quite a bit of import documentation that came with the car as well as some records from Germany showing prior ownership, original equipment, modifications such as Hartge chassis components and the 7x16 front and 8x16 rear BBS wheels.

One of the somewhat unique things about this car is that it was a "Slicktop", meaning no sunroof, and it also had factory Air Conditioning and green tinted glass.

Although most "Gray Market" imports have their instrument clusters changed to a North American spec, the original German cluster was retained in "Storm". The significance of this was that the original mileage is documented which in this case was 160,537 Kilometers or just shy of 100K miles! Before I started to work on this car I put approximately 9 more miles on her.

Being an Euro 635 CSi the car was equipped with the highly sought after Getrag Close Ratio "Dogleg" 5 speed transmission that worked very well with the 218 horsepower Euro engine and 3.07:1 Limited Slip differential (25% lockup). 

One of the telltale signs of the M90 218 horsepower 3.5 liter Euro engine is the capital letter L painted on the block just below the injection system. I also checked the engine number which is stamped on a pad just behind the starter motor and it matched the VIN of the car. I should also note that one of the other characteristics of the M90 3.5 engine that makes it differ from a regular M30 3.5 is that it has a larger bore but shorter stroke which makes it a bit more "oversquare" and a little more "Rev" happy!

I was very happy to see that the inside of the engine was very clean when I pulled the cam cover to perform a valve adjustment.

The car was fitted with Recaro seats from the factory and fortunately the "Build Tag" was still glued to the back of the right rear seat which made verifying the factory options with BMW Archive easy.

When I first got the car I worked to get it running after it had been in semi-storage for 6 years. I only put about 9 miles on it before I decided to delve into it since it was running very rich. This was the start of the old "One Thing Leads To Another" syndrome! Here I took the Air Flow Meter apart to clean the carbon track and make sure it was postioned properly. The following photos really don't need any captions but are included to show the scope of the project.

Now that I've given you a brief pictoral essay of what the car was like when I got it and what I began to restore I'd like to show you some of the finished photos. Regarding the partial restoration, aside from the normal maintenance items that one goes through I went a bit further to make the car a bit nicer. Some of the things I did included a complete interior and exterior detail which included wet sanding the paint (starting with 600, then 1200, then 1500 and finishing with 2000) buff and polish and wheel refinish. Once the wheels were refinished I mounted a nice new set of Continental DW tires and adjusted the ride height to give it just the right stance. The photos will show a lot of the detail and attention given to some of the little things including the addition of a Sport Steering Wheel, Complete Tool Kit right down to OEM BMW Antenna wipes, an Original First Aid Kit and Warning Triangle. Obviously I could go on and on, and if you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them, or add any other photos if I have them...oh and by the way I'm happy to say that this car won the award for "Best German Car" in the 2014 Route 66 Fun Run!!!

 So there we have it, one of the nicest cars I've ever had and such a sweet ride...classy and sophisticated!
I really enjoyed working on this car and sourcing all of the bits for it. Of all the cars I've had it's the only one that my dear old departed Mom really commented on when she said it was the most beautiful car she ever saw...she was 91years old at the time!
 

If I may answer any questions or provide more photos that I may have please ask and I'll be happy to oblige!