Well, my car came on a flatbed last night. Exterior is FILTHY. Glass is FILTHY. Ants EVERYWHERE. Leaves and chewed up nuts and acorns jammed all over. Interior is GREAT, just musty. Dash has one 1/4" fissure in a corner.

But...no dents! Hardly any rust to speak of! And 100% complete!! (OK, I lied, one bulb in the tail is missing). Pretty good Polaris paint.

I hooked up a battery tonight and, true to BMW form, the clock started humming, the fan works, most of the lights work, etc.

All my controls are in German, except the instrument cluster. It does have a US gauge cluster (MPH).

Tomorrow I drain the oil and chage it, add some Marvel Mystery Oil, and try to get her running. Maybe hook up my Hi-6 if I get ambitious.

Question: I have 3 buttons (one dummy) on the left side of the dash. Running their labels through Babelfish I get front fog (dummy), rear fog (real switch?! wtf?), and a purple button labeled heckschiebe (which translates to 'tail -shift'). What's the purple one??

As for comparing a 320 to an '02 (I sold my '70 1600 a couple days ago), it's kind of neat. Granted, I LOVE and will never grow tired of the go-kart-ness of the '02s. OTOH, comparing my old '76 with this '77 320 is night and day. This cars /feels/ solid. The doors thunk. The dash is nice. The instruments feel solid. It seems to be more "car" and less "cart". Blasphemy to some, but then again I suppose BMW could not have sold '02s forever. Time marches on.

I can't wait to get this bad boy running. I'm hoping against hope the AC works, although that's pretty far fetched.

Anyway, just babbling :)

-Dave
bmw02.org
'77 320i

The purple button is the hazard switch (at least as far as I can remember).

I have also owned a 320i, albeit an '83 with the paperweight motor. It got DAMN good gas mileage (1.8L on the highway, 70mph, got ~34 mpg) and was as dependable as the day is long. However, after driving my 02 at 80mph, I found the 320i to be less stable at high speeds and generally less "planted." Though the 02 weighs less, the 320i always felt more jittery, and I can compare as both were running stock suspensions (up until the last week, when the 02 has become a real go-kart with ST bars and H&R springs).

But, as I search for another car, I'm looking for a 320i, strangely enough. Not that I don't like them, I just found myself enamored with their unparalleled reliability. Plus, having a 5th forward gear once again will be reward enough, though the 02 will get a 5-spd transplant when the 9.5:1 engine goes in in about a month.

Good luck with the 320i. If'n y'all should need a hand, gimme a holler!

Marty
'73 02