Hi Adam, first of all. Your e38 is a beauty. Then: I also waited a long long time for my body shop to finally work on my e34 touring 525tds. But only a THIRD of the time that you waited. And still, it was long ! Others on YT alert us to the risk of being put off by body shops regarding our young timers... I paid five times as much as you. And it shows ! But I don't want to frustrate you. Suffice it to say: keep the e34s and e38s in a heated garage. Replace the rubber lips below the doors with new ones (they don't cost the world) and DRAIN them after each car wash (keep all doors open for an hour, or better, for the whole day), or, rather, seal the window crevasses with tape prior to wash. The rotten sills, wheel arches, and, and, and, they stem from keeping these cars outside year round, and from the luxury of owning a sunroof. Still, e38s (and, to a lesser extent, e34s) are the most elegant cars BMW ever made. I love to look at yours.
I used to own 740d after m57 swapped. Just a piece of advice. Don't even think to put style 95 rims. They are god damn heawy piece of metal. I know what in Ukraine we have little worse roads than in Poland, but still pretty same... however, I almost killed my rear control arms in 3-4 months. So style 95 is tooooo heavy and makes car way worse in hadling... Style 37 is top of the list!
Beautiful car, wish this diesel model was in Canada. What do you about multimedia? I’m sure the cassette system is useless now. Keep it all original mate. Looks good the way it is !
Thank you, I'm glad you like it. I wish to get an Avin, but they're very pricey. For now I installed a bluetooth adapter in the radio (in the trunk) instead of the CD changer.
Is that a Norwegian flag I see there in the back? Nice! :-D Regarding the front hood, it shouldn`t open like that if it has been closed properly. I heard you say it is tricky to close it, was it like that also before you repainted it? If not maybe they dismatled the hood and didn`t mount it 100% correct again. Normally it should close easily. Maybe also it could be the wire which tend sometimes to get stuck over the years often leaving people with E38/39 unable to open the hood. So grease it up real good so this does not happen, it could be the wire is partly stuck in an open position? The opening of the luggage department is def not a problem with a fuse as it can close automatically, but not open. I think they are just tired and old and don`t have the strength anymore. Maybe someone can repair? Otherwise I think you must replace them, I had this mechanism on one of mine 740d`s also, but only was struggeling a bit, could open it even though it took a bit of time, so i didn`t do anything with mine ;-) Anyway nice to see that you take care of it and use it reguarly, that is what these cars are made for! 🙂
Yup, Norge flag in the back. The hood hasn't been causing any problems since, so maybe it was my fault after all. As far as I'm concerned it's not repainted. At the moment the only issue is that sometimes the plastic lever used to open it doesn't come out, but I think that's a common problem and I figured out how to open it when it's stuck. I will try to fix the trunk lid. Thanks for the insightful comment!
What happened with the deer under the car picture. The work on the car looks good but the car is a classic now although around twenty years old. Great looking vehicle.
While it's had its minor issues, it hasn't left me stranded yet. I'd say the fun to reliability factor is pretty good. I would recommend to buy one once you still can. I doubt you'll regret it.
