1988 BMW 325IS

I bought this car in 2014 as my first car. I had looked at other cars on Craigslist and was looking for something fun but cheap. I test drove a 525e e28 but something told me not to buy it. My father called his mechanic shop that he uses and asked if they had anything there for cheap for his son's first car. They said we have a really crappy red bmw around back for $1,500. The previous owner dropped the car off for a tune up and 3 years went by without him coming to get it. They were able to get a mechanics title for it the same week that we called about a car for me. After I signed the car in my name I did what any 16 year old would do to their first car and replace the head unit, speaker, and added subs. Then I got a junkyard driver's fender since mine was crushed and resprayed it. After that we gave her a good cleaning. I had never drove stick shift before so I spent the next year in the car learning. Slowly I started replacing things, coolant lines, brakes, sensors, etc. I daily drove the car until summer of 2016 when it went in for paint work at S&A autobody. Most people never got to see the car before its respray but almost every panel was either rusted through, dented, or paint was simply missing. We replaced every panel on the car with new oem including, hood, fenders, sunroof, trunk, bumpers, taillights, gaskets, trim, etc. I even got European Hella Smileys imported to put on. I drove the car until winter of that year when the head gasket blew and the motor needed rebuilt. It sat in a garage up until 2019 when I have the motor machined and rebuilt by Obers Performance. Like with the repaint we got everything brand new oem that we could. I had the Intake manifold and valve cover powder coated by Inghams Powdercoating. 2020 I got Apex Arc 8 wheels for the car and I replaced the tan comfort seats with the original black sport seats from a junkyard car. In 2021 we installed a Ireland engineering short shifter and green top injectors then we had Kassel Performance make a chip tune for the car. In winter of 2021 Spangler's Autobody replaced the floor pans and welded in new metal in a couple rusting spots under the car. After they did that I got a clean carpet from a junkyard car and resprayed it. I replaced the Arc 8's with BBS RS 211's (16x8 et11) and they looked great. That being said, my old suspension needed to be replaced if I wanted to run them. I ordered the bagriders air ride kit for my car and had Miller Fab Werks install it early 2022. After that I installed custom made Bi-Xenons that retrofit into the factory Hella Headlights. Now you can actually see at night. I also swapped in an E46 purple tag steering rack which gives the steering an extremely go-karty feel. Most recently in the winter of 23' I had Nine Stitch install factory Design Edition cloth onto my full interior and I had an all black headliner installed as well. That leads us to where we are today. Am I done with the car? Absolutely not. There's still tons of things I'd like to do in time. I'm beyond thrilled with how far this car has come and knowing that all the nights wrenching on this thing with blood, sweat, and tears weren't for nothing. Thanks for reading this far, it's nice to know there are others out there just like me who truly appreciates these cars.

• Full repaint with all new parts, European Hella lights, New Oem Taillights, blacked out window trim, plastic bumper upgrade with euro trim, heritage roundels, powdercoated intake manifold and valve cover, smoked foglights and turn signals