Spending as fast as I can go.

I had tried to check out various BMWCCA boards, message boards, the list of independent BMW service shops (http://www.iaibmwsp.org/MemberShops.htm), and various other boards, and picked three Atlanta area shops. I emailed three, and got an excellent, on-point reply from Vince at Harrison Motor Works.

So, the car gets delivered (thanks again!) to the BMW shop in Alpharetta, GA. The immediate prognosis? Not so hot. The car was really worn out, and in Vince's estimation worth a lot less than I paid (eg: "People offer to give us cars in this condition"). Naturally, I was undeterred and waited for his official estimate of what needed to be done to get the car back to New York under it's own power.

I want to remind (myself?) at this point, I had three things working against me.

- No place to work on the car in Atlanta (and quite frankly, no time);
- No place to work on the car in New York;
- Car was in worse shape than I had anticipated.

When I say 'worse shape' it's not that it didn't match the ebay description etc. It's just that it was a tired car. This car was sitting for awhile, and sometimes that's the worst thing that can happen to a car. The rubber parts tend to dry out (hoses, tires, etc.), the fluids suffer, the paint gets sunburnt. Oi.

But I was undeterred! Wanting to get as much basic stuff done at once seemed like a good idea, and after all, it's all (and I mean, all) getting done at some point anyway. I approved the following work:

- air hoses, belts, throttle body gaskets;
- brakes (rotors, pads, brake sensor);
- fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel lines;
- radiator, thermostat, clutch fan, hoses;
- tie rods, control arms, control arm bushings;
- fluids, oil filter;
- motor mounts;
- muffler;
- couple of relays;
- 4 new Yokohama Avid H4S tired;
- Wheel balancing, front-end alignment.

Whew! Well, let me first say that Vince did a great job on the car. Actually, he forgot to put the A/C belt back on, but that's okay. The grand total, after my BMWCCA discount came to a little south of [edited!]. I know, right? Holy shit: I now had a [edited! a lot more than I had planned]BMW 318is.

Regrets? Well, I've had a few. The brakes, air hoses and radiator I definitely could have done myself, and that was a huge chunk of change. On the flip side, would I have wanted to do the radiator on the side of interstate 80 east? I don't think so. But I did one on my SAAB ....and I can still taste that sweet, sweet antifreeze. Anyway, that's the big regret.

On the plus side... they covered a lot of stuff I know I would not have caught until it caught me. The fuel system, front end stuff, and especially the motor mounts --they make a huge difference on this car.

But, what's done is done, and the car took a big step forward in terms of getting sorted out.