Trick or Treat?

[Liaison19@xxxxxxx]

Hello all,

On Holloween night I ventured out to look at a 1972 2002 that a friend of a
friend was selling.  The car was supposed to be in "show room" condition.  I
arrived after dark, which was only fitting considering it was Holloween.  

I had my handy flashlight along, and took along a mechanic for an extra set of
eyes.  The bimmer was parked in a backyard with lots of barking dogs.  The
2002 was blue and only had a minor bit of rust above one of the wheel wells.
The seats were torn just a tad and the dash was cracked.  Besides that, the
car looked perfect.  I raised the hood and found a smooth running 4 cylinder.

Underneath I found a rebuilt front end and the exhaust looked perfect.  I
simply loved the round tail lights with their amber centers, and the way the
grill jetted out to a point was simply beautiful.  I was ready to put down my
$$.

 The woman threw me the keys and told me to take it for a drive.  I fastened
my seat belts, located the head llight knob, found first gear on the four-
speed, and was off.  As soon as I hit second gear, the lever jumped back into
neutral, forcing me to hold it in gear.

Then I reached up to turn on the turn signal, but the brights came on.
Actually, the brights didn't work, and turning on the brights turned off the
head lights, which was a bit dangerous considering it was pitch black outside.
Not sure why, but the turn signal lever was mounted on the right side, which
made it very difficult to reach when I was trying to change gears.

Of course, I kept forgetting about  the location of the turn signal lever, and
everytime I did, out went the lights.  About two miles down the road, a set of
red and blue lights came on behind me.  The policeman thought I was a kid
playing chicken on Holloween.  After several minutes of ensuring the officer
that I was test driving the car, and showing him the location of the turn
signal lever, he let us go.

I pulled the car under some lights in a shopping mall and continued my
inspection.  It didn't take long before I found a huge puddle forming under
the car.  I climbed under the car and followed a thin line up to the engine
compartment to the brake reservoir.  The reservoir was nearly empty.

Needless to say, my inspection was cut short.  I rushed back trying to use the
brakes as little as possible, while turning the lights on and off all the way
back to the woman's house.  I squealed to a stop in the backyard, threw the
woman her keys, and said, "no thanks."  I was never happier to be back in my
great little 325iC.

If anyone is interested in a 2002 with leaky brake lines, a shaky tranny, and
turn signal lever mounted on the wrong side, I know where you can get one
cheap.

Michael Mynatt
1987 325iC with good brakes, great tranny, and turn signal lever on the right
side.

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End of bmw-digest V9 #427
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