First few days after having traded my Merc Benz E320 for a 2000 740il. I was looking for an E38 2000-2001 ( really dislike the newer seven design ) Although I live in Portland, Maine, I bought the car from Morristown BMW in NJ and had a very good experience (nice surprise!). I'd recomend Morristown BMW to others based on this buy, although they will not be servicing this car after the initial CPO and sale servicing, so I can't speak to their servicing after the sale.
David Burkhardt ( Sales ) was very responsive and easy to work with over the phone & internet: I did 90% of the prework via internet & phone until I narrowed my search down to five "New England" BMW dealers with cars/inventory as I wanted a Titanium Silver with Grey leather iL & a CPO car. After doing my research and many calls, I made a few weekend road trips to pick the particular vehicle (lost a few good ones just due to timing...) and work out final numbers & close the deal with my MB trade. I'm pleased with the car and the purchase service/sales from Morristown: they had the best selection of E38 7 series cars and are a high volume dealer (read better selection! )compared to other dealers in NJ/NYC area. Certainly more so than dealers closer to me in ME, NH, or MA & CN in my opinion...at least for later model E38 7's.
Pic's taken in late October are at the marina in Maine where I keep my sailboat, and before I did anything to the car. Sorry for the sometimes low quality of the photos of the car and sometimes out-of-focus step by step shots elsewhere: still playing with my digital camera and how it focuses. After having looked at many of the 740's on CarDomain websites,and lurking the last few months on the Roadfly E38 forum & archives, I've got many upgrades planned and will upgrade this site as I progress. The first is to lower the car with H&R's ( Front 1.3" / rears .6" from TireRack.com @ $250/for 4 springs) and to confirm/check the rotors and pads all around. Although I had asked for the CPO inspection report when Morristown did the CPO review, I never did get it, so I wanted to check the more obvious things myself. I'm still asking for it, but by now I'm not sure I'll ever get it. While I'm replacing the springs, I'll paint the calipers to offset the 18" M-Par's. While the wheels were off, I replaced the Conti's with Michelin AVS's ( TireRack, again @$250 each ) more for wanting a better all season tire than anything else. The Conti's seem fine in the dry, but won't cut it here in coastal Maine where we get more slush than snow in the Winter. Since purchasing the car in late October, I've had the windows tinted ( after these pics where taken...) with Llumar Metallic Platnium for $325 which offsets the silver color well and is a superior film compared to other brands including 3M IMHO. JCarey's exhaust/rear valance mod is coming soon, as is a Hamann front spoiler ( from Bavarian Autosport in NH ) and painting all the lower car silver once winter and salt/sanded roads are "clear" here in Maine!
Next pages:
Page #2: Installing the FRONT H&R springs ( and pad replacement if needed)
Page #3: Installing the REAR springs ( bigger job than you might imagine due to the rear interior removal, but still just "time" intensive...not difficult ).
Page #4 Coming soon: installing slotted rotors & Mintex red pads.
Page #5 Coming soon: installing the Hamann front spoiler and painting the lower body cladding silver to match the rest of the car.
