re: 320i/is Trivia

[Phil Marx <bmw@xxxxxxx>]

Scott Miller wrote:
>Brian, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you know that rear deck
>spoiler you want?
>In my opinion, a more
>important part of the sport package was the rear anti-sway bar.  It was
>standard on the 320i in 1977, then deleted from the 320i from 1978 on.
>However, it was part of the sport package from 1978 to 1983.

Not completely good advice.  DON'T put a rear bar on an otherwise stock '77
320i if it has been removed.  Remove it if it hasn't.  These cars are among
the worst handling BMWs of all time and mostly due to the "tweaking" of
these cars for the US.  Upon intro, the'77 US cars had 10% softer springs
but kept the rear bar which caused lots of single car accidents that year
(9 out of the 60-some 320i's we sold that year) because of the tendency of
the car to do a pirouette while under hard braking and turning.  The front
would dive (soft springs) and the inside rear wheel would lift.  I totalled
one before Thanksgiving 1976 (the first totalled E21 in the US?) on a test
drive after catching a little gravel on a hot turn.  Upside down in the
middle of the road.  From that point on we removed the rear bars from the
'77s as they would come in for service.  Spring rates were increased after
'78 and the bars are a nice addition in those later years.

I also have a mint front airdam for an E21, factory "S" package unit.  Make
it worth my while or bargain with my widow later.

- -Phil

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