1988 BMW 535is
In October of 2002 when I acquired this car (my first car, in fact), it was a largely stock US-spec 535is in need of much love, but fundamentally sound. It had severe psoriasis of the paint, and ample holes and cracks in the seats. It also had an awesome set of chromed TRX's that were peeling. Oh, and tint that had turned purple and was bubbling, and a stereo that didn't work, and those awful chrome wheelarch trims.

The Motoring Enthusiast

At the present, 31,000 miles, lots of blood, sweat, tears, and a few paychecks later:
Exterior Mods: European shadowlined bumpers (powdercoated), European headlights, new custom paint, Hartge front spoiler, Zender rear valence, clear front lenses and smoked rear ones, French-market yellow foglights, 17"X8" Mille Miglia MM II Sport alloys with 245/45/17 Yokohama ES100's, powder coated door handles.

Interior/Stereo: Fresh 2-tone custom leather upholstery, AC Schnitzer steering wheel, Euro rear headrests, Alpine CD player with hardwired iPod input, Rockford Fosgate and MTX amps, Infinity components, Infinity 12" subwoofer, Momo shift knob, Sparco harness.

Stop: Brembo front calipers with slotted rotors and stainless lines; Pentosin fluid.

Go: B&B stainless exhaust system including resonators and muffler, dual 3" tips; TCD cold air intake, BavAuto 8mm plug wires, rebuilt cylinder head with hotter 272 degree 533i cam.

Turn: Dinan springs, Dinan/Bilstein shocks, Sparco front strut tower brace, BMW rear strut tower brace, Dinan 25mm/19mm adjustable sway bars with reinforced mounts and big M5 brackets, 25mm front spacers and 18mm rear spacers, polyurethane (Grunts) upper and lower control arm bushings.

Other: Z3 SSK, E23 hood shocks, FIAMM air horns.

Awaiting installation: full M5 leather interior (plus leather sun visors), rear sunshade, 3.73 LSD

After a waxing accident, the car is now just an 'is'

With the XJR:

Interior:

Vehicle in use:

These pictures are from before the conversion to European bumpers:

Incidentally, I am looking for a red Alfa Romeo 164S in good shape west of the rockies. On the off chance that you know of one, kindly let me know.

The Family Fleet:
1988 535is-black (son 2's)
2000 BMW M Coupe Dinan ISC 3 with supercharger and intercooler-estoril blue (dad's)
2001 BMW M5 Dinan S2-le mans blue (dad's)
1982 FIAT 124 Spider-gray blue metallic (mom's daily driver=daring!)
2003 Jaguar XJR-black (mom's)
1969 Lamborghini Miura S-fly yellow (dad's, purchased 1973 in Italy, currently apart after fire #3) Click for more info on the Lamborghini
1992 Land Rover Range Rover LSE-british racing green (mom's workhorse)
1989 Mazda MX-6 (son 1's)
1975 Mercedes 280SE-hellgrun metallic
1987 Porsche Carrera '74 Carrera look
1989 Porsche Speedster-guards red (mom's)
1989 Porsche Carrera 4-velvet red (dad's)
2004 Subaru WRX STi-world rally blue (son 1's)

Our Cardomain Page

The BMW M Coupe, with Dinan supercharger, intercooler, and oil cooler, puts out approximately 400hp. Dinan built only 10 cars to this specification, 8 of which were roadsters. The other coupe is no longer street legal because it is a race car, so we have our own little one-off, of sorts.