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By Tuesday I had found the previous owner on M-car SIG’s & Google searches. I reached out to him, but got no responses. A favor from a “friend” found the car not to be stolen on a worldwide vin search, but was last registered in Texas in 1985! How to get a title was ferreted out through multiple phone calls to the secretary of state.
Through all my research I learned the car was pampered its whole life and spent most of its life in Texas and Florida where the last owner brought it up to Chicago during law school. I found pictures from 2003 -2005 where the car still wears its original Sapphire Blue metallic paint and appeared to be well-loved and in show quality. But how did it end up in such disrepair in Felix’s yard?
2003 in Florida (click to enlarge):
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2005 in Illinois (click to enlarge):
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This is what I deducted: the car wasn’t registered after CarFax came into vogue and lived under the radar since. The previous owner acquired the car and brought it to Chicago from Florida in 2003. The M535i was traded it at a dealer in 2005, which was then sent immediately to auction to due to dealer ignorance of its pedigree. I believed it lived at auction for a while due to its age and 330,000 kilometers on the clock. A back alley car dealer selling on Cicero or west North Ave. picks it up cheap. It gets sold to a gang banger who never registers it and proceeds to kill it. It gets wrecked and brought to Felix for some discount repairs in his 7 car garage. Felix replaces the hood and paints it greener shade of metallic silver. The gang banger doesn’t return for the car, so Felix puts it in his yard where it starts to succumb to the ravages of Mother Nature.
A good friend from Coffee & Classics was very interested in joining me on my return to try to get the sleeping beast started and truly assess its condition. Dave and I arrive early Thursday morning. Felix Sr. brings us around back, this time with out the drama of pit bulls barking. Dave has the skills to bring it back from the dead so he jumps right in and checks compression, electrical issues and vacuum connections.
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Dave and Felix Sr. replace the battery and shoot starter fluid and get the car to sputter. I proceed to inspect the body and interior. I crawl inside after I remove hampers of old clothes and stinky boxes.
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Damn! The floor is flooded. Why? The sunroof is jacked and the windshield has popped its seal and cracked. The Recaros are blown out and the M1 wheel is peeling its leather. Yes the dash is cracked like the Mojave desert. So I inquire with Felix Sr. “cuántos lo tienen que se sienta?” “Quattro,” he replies. My mind keeps racing how a car that seemed so well cared for can slip so fast in five years. I move to the exterior.
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OMG! the paint finish resembles the pebble grain of a football. Felix’s paint job has boiled its clear coat from 4 years of direct sun exposure. The top skins will need a bare metal respray. But the only real rust is in driver’s door lower corner. I then spot the old original hood against the fence and it has a dent in the nose but the paint is excellent. I’m thinking that Felix’s paint skills match the neighborhood and my paradigm suddenly shifts. I’m out. I don’t care if it’s the last M535i in the country, I’m not dumping the $35K it will take to make it worth $10K.
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So I then entertain myself with helping Dave. The mounds of animal feces in the engine bay don’t phase Dave, but it’s just affirmation of my new decision. The spark plugs have 3/16ths of carbon and oil build-up and will never fire. We conclude there’s varnish for gas by now and the whole ignition grounding points will have to be gone through before anything will happen. So we decide it’s time to go. We thank Felix Sr. for his help and tell him I’ll make an offer to Felix Jr. that night.
On the ride back north Dave is still optimistic about the car. At the very least, one could salvage the rare M parts from it. I grant him full permission to pursue my ghetto find. That evening I talk with Felix Jr. and explain why I’m going pass on the car and that he will have to be honest about its true condition and lower the price considerably in future ads if he wants to sell it. It’s pedigree was never mentioned.
Dave is currently in negotiations with Felix Jr., so we’ll see what he drives to this year’s Coffee & Classics to find see what pans out.
I thank many of my Fuelfed friends for their time, patience and help during this random week in the exciting world of “Fuelfed carville”.
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