///Makes ///Me Cringe + Ballast Resistor Finally Died

[SMILLER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Driving to work today (I usually take mass transit, so I can read the
newspaper or doze off without serious consequences), a Delphin gray
E28 pulled along side me, and I noticed in my side mirror that it was
smoking quite a bit.  Due to traffic speed differences in our 2 lanes (i.e.
he didn't blow my doors off in a race), I noticed that it was a 524td,
which, of course, explains the smoking better than if it was a
gasoline-powered car.  I finally pulled up behind it at the off-ramp stop
light.  That's when I noticed it - on the left side of the trunk lid, where you
usually don't look for them - the ///M badge.

Now, I could understand an enthusiastic owner who doesn't like paying
a lot for fuel, but the car appeared to be bone stock, no aftermarket
wheels, not lowered, no stripes, just the usual tall gray box, the way it
usually comes from the factory.  And I know that, back in the mid-1980's,
a certain dealer in the S.F. Bay Area that shall remain nameless - OK,
twist my arm, it was Weatherford - used to put M badges on half the
cars they sold.  But c'mon, it was a stinkin' (literally!) 524td, how on earth
do you even remotely equate that oil burner with the Motorsport division?

OK, sorry, thanks for letting me vent.  On another note, the intermittant
ballast resistor problem I mentioned a couple of weeks ago isn't
intermittant any more, it's just gone.  So, to get any forced airflow in the
interior, the only choice is fan setting 4.  Did you know that, when the
heater ducts are open and the fan is on 4, you can actually levitate the
floor mats?  And, any dirt or junk you have on the floor in front ends up
under the seat or on the floor in back.  And you can hardly hear the
stereo.  I know it is easy to fix, I just haven't had the time lately.  Gotta
finish building the shed so I can park the car in the garage.  There isn't
hardly any home improvement project that can't somehow be justified as
benefitting your car, you know.  Is there?  Never mind.

Scott Miller
Golden Gate Chapter
BMW CCA #44977
1990 325i/is hybrid with stuff blowin' around the interior, looking forward
to it's new home in the garage...

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