Last Spring, our 2nd son bought a 1987 535i BMW. He was being adventurous....it is a 5 speed and he had never driven a stick. This son has not had good luck with cars. The car had some "minor" electrical issues that involved the driver's side window not rolling down some of the time and the power locks on the doors and trunk being finicky. A mechanic supposedly fixed the "short", but the car continued to blow fuses on a regular basis. I successfully taught my son to drive it and for about 2 weeks he was absolutely THRILLED with the car. Then it overheated on him in downtown one night and in his frustration he parked it in an out of the way parking garage with the intent of going back for it the next day. This was last May. He was also in the midst of jumping through the final hoops to graduate from high school and working a LOT of hours in hopes of financing a fun Summer.
It was August by the time he got the car towed home and it has been sitting in our driveway ever since. Somebody determined that the heater core was the problem causing the overheating.....when he would put water in, the water would almost instantly run onto the driver side floor board. As I have said before, Hubby is not mechanical. Well, our kids aren't overly mechanical either & this kid is especially pessimistic when things have started not going his way. He was ANGRY with the car. The kid talked about getting the brother of one of his friends to fix the car, but it never worked out. He talked about selling the car as is, but never did. My Mother tried to lay claim to the car, she wanted the kid to give it to her & she would find somebody to fix it so she could drive it.....he didn't go for that one. He had paid a pretty good chunk for the car and giving it away, even to his grandmother wasn't what he wanted. As time went on, he grew more frustrated with it and the more frustrated he got, the less he wanted anything at all to do with the car.
Hubby's car died last Spring and I have been driving him back and forth to work ever since. Hubby likes the BMW, Kid doesn't like the BMW anymore, so a plan was hatched. Hubby and Kid went out and found a Subaru wagon that the Kid really likes. We helped him buy it, and helped him get the brakes completely replaced. He is mobile and he LOVES it!!! The BMW is now Hubby's car.
Last week we had the BMW towed to a shop recommended by a friend of our oldest son. They took a while, but it was worth it. $350 later, they have fixed the "short" and they by-passed the heater core. We are pretty happy. Unfortunately, we discovered that the tires that are on it are over 15 yrs old and how they still manage to hold air is beyond the mechanic. The tires are some weird outdated size. To get new tires, we have to replace 3 of the rims (somebody else already replaced one of them), new rims and tires will end up costing us almost another $600, but overall, I'm hopeful that it will be worth it in the end. We pick it up tomorrow!!!
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