This is my garage queen. I purchased it in parts in 1982 when it was only 10 years old and spend several years getting it drivable.

This is what it looked like when I bought it. It was only 10 years old at the time. The tops of the fenders were rusted through for the entire length. The fender skirts had giant holes in them. You could see fuses under the dash and the inside of the glove compartment.

The interior was in good condition. Notice the 8-track player under the dash at the left. A friend of mine wanted it and I didn't.

I removed the fenders to see how much would need to be repaired inside. The box you can see through the rusted hole behind the left fender is the glove compartment. You can see the fuses under the dash through the rusted hole behind the left fender. Remember, this car is only 10 years old.

In the left image the top part is an "Extension" P/N 41141826897 and 41141826898. It goes from the cowl to the radiator support at the top of the fender well. It welds to the fender along the side of the hood opening. It also goes under the fender to provide some support. THe gap between this part and the fender filled with salty sand and caused the original fenders to rust.

The part at the left is a "Supporting Strut Left/Right" P/N 41111833021 and 41111833022. It welds to the cowl, sits under the "Extension" and welds to the McPherson strut tower. There are two designs of theis part. The P/N 41111809681 and 41111809682 has a tab on it that might block some of the sand from getting into the cavity and causing rust. If you use this part you need to trim the tab to fit the fender.

The part at the bottom left is an "Extension" P/N 41131814031 and 41131814032. It attaches to the end of the sheet metal that holds the weatherstrip at the back of the hood.

The part in the middle is a "Covering Plate" P/N 41141814035 and 41141814036. It welds to the cowl and to the "Extension".

The parts at the bottom right are "Connection Plates" P/N 41141814039 and 41141814040, and 41141814039 and 41141814037 and 41141814038. These connect between the Extension and the fender well to fill in the gaps.

The parts below are the sound deadening pads that go on top of the right wheel well. I was able to buy new ones before they went NLA. The part at the left is P/N 51481811693 and 51481811694. The part in the middle is P/N 51481811697 and 51481811698. The part at the right is P/N 51481811695 and 51481811696.

Rust patch panels were not available at the time so I fabricated the replacement parts. I bought a pinch spot welder so I could make the seams look like the original factory welds. Where you couldn't see, I MIG welded the seams. There are lots of parts that get welded in to support the suspension and the fender. There are little filler panels that go between the curved fender well and the straight part of the fender.

Here is my Type-AAA personality friend Ted Drysdale helping with the paint preperation. Every time I came up with a reason why it wasn't going to be ready for the BMW CCA Oktoberfest Ted came up with a solution.

It is now ready to have the nose painted. I really should painted the whole car as Ted suggested, but I really didn' have time.

That is a somewhat younger me painting the nose in my garage at home.

Doesn't look to bad considering I did all of the repairs and paint at home.

The left image is what the engine looked like when I first got it. They commonly overheat and crack the cylinder heads so I expected the worst. It had 87,000 miles on the clock so i dissasembled it and did a complete rebuild. The crankshaft, block, pistons, and rods were all in great condition. There was still some crosshatch visible in the bores. I was amazed to find that the cylinder head passed a pressure check and was OK. We found that the head had been cut, but they didn't cut the timing chain cover at the same time. This caused the distributor drive to be misaligned with front of the camshaft and broke one of the drive tabs off the camshaft. I started shopping for a camshaft and was surprised at how expensive they were. The late Michele Poteau sold me a replacement camshaft nut that included the distributor drive for about $25, saving about $200. I rebuild the Zenith carbs and fiddled with them for hours. I just couldn't get it to idle smoothly, and it stumbled from idle. I was told by an "expert" that the castings were worn and it had a vacuum leak around the throttle shafts. I replaced them with a Weber kit from JAM Engineering. It now runs great, but the gas pedal pressure is very high, and you really need to push hard to get the mechanical secondaries open.

My Mother in-law's BMW Embroidery

My mother in-law gave me a towel and T-shirts with an image of my 3.0CS embroidered on it. Very cool.