50 Years
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Pole Position
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 318
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From: OR
50 Years
Hi out there in SC-Land,
This is an article that I wrote in the Summer of '04 for a PacNW BMW magazine & when I still owned my '97 840Ci.
It is just for entertainment & maybe a trip down Memory Lane for some of you.
Fifty Years of Motor Vehicles
It was the summer of '54. Ike was in the White House and the Korean War was behind us. A guy named Bill Haley and a group called the Comets were about to change the music world forever with a song called Rock Around the Clock. I was a gangly 13-year old with a paper route.
My brother and I had been wrenching and modifying our bicycles for about four years and seeing what length of skid marks we could put down on the sidewalk. But I wanted something other than a Pedal-Matic. So I saved my money and for about $20 bought a DoodleBug.
This was a two-wheel motor scooter about thirty inches long and about twenty-four inches high. When I sat on it. I looked like an NBA player on a 3-year old's tricycle. It had a single cylinder two-cycle engine with a straight exhaust, no muffler. It had a throttle with a slip clutch, a brake, a kick-start system and no lights or electrical system of any kind. She would do about thirty MPH flat out. Crack the throttle and you were on your way.
For about fourteen cents per gallon of gas, plus a little oil, I could fill the tank and go clear across Portland (before freeways or interstates). As long as I stayed off of the main streets, the police didn't bother me. The DoodleBug wasn`t licensed and neither was I. But, I had mobility - a life-changing event.
I had the DoodleBug for about a year, followed by (in no particular order) another motor scooter (a larger one that would carry two people), a motorcycle, a hot rod, a drag race car, two convertibles, two Porsches, two 1957 Chevy two-door hardtops, two Ford Falcons, two VW Camper vans, a Volvo, a half dozen pickups, a bunch of four-door sedans, and one airplane. I never bought any of them from private party sellers. I never financed any of them. They were all bought with cash up front. Out of all of them there are three I wish I still had.
'32 Ford 5-Window Coupe: I had this car my senior year in high school, `57-`58. It was a real steel one, not a plastic repro. I drove it home, all of five miles from where I bought it, and parked it in the garage. It had a shot 59A motor. I spent the entire year working on that car. Since the engine was kaput, I decided to take it apart to see how motors worked. I took it down to every last bolt and nut, valve spring keeper, connecting rod, etc. That was a fantastic learning experience for a 17-year old kid
'57 Chev 2-Dr Hardtop: I bought this car in 1963, I had just gotten out of the service. It was solid black and it was my second `57 Chev two-door hardtop, the first had been all white. It had been stolen about a month before I bought it and it only had park and drive left in the PowerGlide transmission. I limped it home, put it in the garage and converted it to a straight stick with overdrive. I even tore down the steering wheel/column and put in the column-shift. I added a toggle switch just under the dash to control the overdrive, rather than the button under the gas pedal which is the way all factory cars were set-up. This allowed me to switch into overdrive whenever I wanted to. The down side is that when in overdrive you do not have any engine compression slowing you down, you are free-wheeling. One advantage was that the toggle switch allowed me to use the hill holder feature of the overdrive. I could sit at a light, facing up-hill and let the car roll back into the hill holder and sit there with the clutch in and not use the brakes.
'65 Porsche 356C Coupe: I bought this car in the summer of `71, I had just graduated from college. This was my second Porsche coupe; I had the first one (a 356A Normal Coupe) in '62-`63 while stationed in northeastern France. I bought this one from the original owner and the passenger door had been hit and repaired and was still in primer. The seller said that he intended to repaint the door. I told him I would take it as is. I got it home and about two months later I started tearing her down for new paint. I took absolutely everything off that car and then drove it about fifty miles out into the country (try that without a windshield) to a truly exquisite body man who painted cars in his garage in his spare time. I had it painted with an acrylic lacquer in a Plymouth yellow. After I got her all back together she was just a hair from being in first class showroom condition. I then started on the engine. I converted it to full SC specs and drilled and tapped the case for a full-flow spin-on oil filter and topped everything off with a 4-pipe Ansa exhaust system.
I wish that I still had them, not because of what they would be worth today, but because of what they meant to me when I owned them. What great memories they still provide me. Today I drive a `94 Toyota pickup and a black `97 BMW 840Ci (truly the most amazing car that ! have ever owned).
That`s my first fifty years of motor vehicles. I doubt that I will get another fifty years, but I'm going to take a shot at it. So, a poll for you folks out there in BMW-land:
Any cars in your past that you wish that you still had?
End of story,
Jerry Baumchen
This is an article that I wrote in the Summer of '04 for a PacNW BMW magazine & when I still owned my '97 840Ci.
It is just for entertainment & maybe a trip down Memory Lane for some of you.
Fifty Years of Motor Vehicles
It was the summer of '54. Ike was in the White House and the Korean War was behind us. A guy named Bill Haley and a group called the Comets were about to change the music world forever with a song called Rock Around the Clock. I was a gangly 13-year old with a paper route.
My brother and I had been wrenching and modifying our bicycles for about four years and seeing what length of skid marks we could put down on the sidewalk. But I wanted something other than a Pedal-Matic. So I saved my money and for about $20 bought a DoodleBug.
This was a two-wheel motor scooter about thirty inches long and about twenty-four inches high. When I sat on it. I looked like an NBA player on a 3-year old's tricycle. It had a single cylinder two-cycle engine with a straight exhaust, no muffler. It had a throttle with a slip clutch, a brake, a kick-start system and no lights or electrical system of any kind. She would do about thirty MPH flat out. Crack the throttle and you were on your way.
For about fourteen cents per gallon of gas, plus a little oil, I could fill the tank and go clear across Portland (before freeways or interstates). As long as I stayed off of the main streets, the police didn't bother me. The DoodleBug wasn`t licensed and neither was I. But, I had mobility - a life-changing event.
I had the DoodleBug for about a year, followed by (in no particular order) another motor scooter (a larger one that would carry two people), a motorcycle, a hot rod, a drag race car, two convertibles, two Porsches, two 1957 Chevy two-door hardtops, two Ford Falcons, two VW Camper vans, a Volvo, a half dozen pickups, a bunch of four-door sedans, and one airplane. I never bought any of them from private party sellers. I never financed any of them. They were all bought with cash up front. Out of all of them there are three I wish I still had.
'32 Ford 5-Window Coupe: I had this car my senior year in high school, `57-`58. It was a real steel one, not a plastic repro. I drove it home, all of five miles from where I bought it, and parked it in the garage. It had a shot 59A motor. I spent the entire year working on that car. Since the engine was kaput, I decided to take it apart to see how motors worked. I took it down to every last bolt and nut, valve spring keeper, connecting rod, etc. That was a fantastic learning experience for a 17-year old kid
'57 Chev 2-Dr Hardtop: I bought this car in 1963, I had just gotten out of the service. It was solid black and it was my second `57 Chev two-door hardtop, the first had been all white. It had been stolen about a month before I bought it and it only had park and drive left in the PowerGlide transmission. I limped it home, put it in the garage and converted it to a straight stick with overdrive. I even tore down the steering wheel/column and put in the column-shift. I added a toggle switch just under the dash to control the overdrive, rather than the button under the gas pedal which is the way all factory cars were set-up. This allowed me to switch into overdrive whenever I wanted to. The down side is that when in overdrive you do not have any engine compression slowing you down, you are free-wheeling. One advantage was that the toggle switch allowed me to use the hill holder feature of the overdrive. I could sit at a light, facing up-hill and let the car roll back into the hill holder and sit there with the clutch in and not use the brakes.
'65 Porsche 356C Coupe: I bought this car in the summer of `71, I had just graduated from college. This was my second Porsche coupe; I had the first one (a 356A Normal Coupe) in '62-`63 while stationed in northeastern France. I bought this one from the original owner and the passenger door had been hit and repaired and was still in primer. The seller said that he intended to repaint the door. I told him I would take it as is. I got it home and about two months later I started tearing her down for new paint. I took absolutely everything off that car and then drove it about fifty miles out into the country (try that without a windshield) to a truly exquisite body man who painted cars in his garage in his spare time. I had it painted with an acrylic lacquer in a Plymouth yellow. After I got her all back together she was just a hair from being in first class showroom condition. I then started on the engine. I converted it to full SC specs and drilled and tapped the case for a full-flow spin-on oil filter and topped everything off with a 4-pipe Ansa exhaust system.
I wish that I still had them, not because of what they would be worth today, but because of what they meant to me when I owned them. What great memories they still provide me. Today I drive a `94 Toyota pickup and a black `97 BMW 840Ci (truly the most amazing car that ! have ever owned).
That`s my first fifty years of motor vehicles. I doubt that I will get another fifty years, but I'm going to take a shot at it. So, a poll for you folks out there in BMW-land:
Any cars in your past that you wish that you still had?
End of story,
Jerry Baumchen
Last edited by JerryB; Oct 10, 2011 at 07:59 PM.
There are only 2 cars I wish i still had. Im no where near 50 years of motoring or 300 years of life for that matter. My first vehicle a 1993 ford ranger, and my old 71 cougar with the 351c. I just loved the sound, the shake of the car and the smell of fuel from the 4bbl carb (not to mention the ease of repair). Good article jerry i enjoyed it.
Thread Starter
Pole Position
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 318
Likes: 3
From: OR
Well, first it is/was not an M8! That was always a lot of 'discussion' within the 8-series forums.
It truely was an amazing car and I mean that today as I own Lexus's version of the same car.
It had more computers than you can possibly imagine which I think was one of the problems with it due to the maintenance issues.
BMW spent 1 Billion Marks in developing the car and it was a sales bust for them. By the time they quit production, they had wished that they had never built it and tried to disown it.
And when something went wrong it made no sense. Now this is facetious: If you were to have a right rear brake taillight bulb burn out then your left windshield wiper would stop working. OK, OK not that bad but not so far off IMO.
Now, on the plus side; I have never owned a car that simply loved the open road more. If you did not look at your speedometer, could not tell the difference when you were going 60 MPH or 90 MPH. I once went to a get-together of 8-owners up in Seattle and one guy mentioned this; so I tried it on my way home. He was right.
And, for me, it is/was the beautiful car ever built.
To learn a lot more, go to the www.roadfly.com site & search for the BMW 8-series. Or you can go to www.wuffer.ca to see more there. www.wuffer.ca is run by Tom 'Wuffer' Carter who got tired of the BS & arguing on the roadfly site, so he started his own site for civil 8-series owners.
Hope that this gives you some more info,
Jerry Baumchen
PS) Mine was a black/black '97 840Ci which was the latest one to come into the USA & had the V-8 engine. Personally, I feel that they should have only built it with the V-8, but there are those V-12 nuts out there.
Thread Starter
Pole Position
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 318
Likes: 3
From: OR
Typo
Hi out there in SC-Land,
This article on my 50 yrs of motor vehicles has a typo; I reworked it from a scanned pdf and missed this;
Where it says: I never bought any of them from private party sellers.
It should say: I never bought any of them new or from a used car lot; always from private party sellers.
I am simply not as good as I should be with a computer; and I am probably dangerous. 
Jerry Baumchen
This article on my 50 yrs of motor vehicles has a typo; I reworked it from a scanned pdf and missed this;
Where it says: I never bought any of them from private party sellers.
It should say: I never bought any of them new or from a used car lot; always from private party sellers.
I am simply not as good as I should be with a computer; and I am probably dangerous. Jerry Baumchen
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You guys look great for your age. Must be all the vitamin D you are getting from the top being down.
Jerry-I knew this M8 topic was controversal....I read a lot about the Dinan influence and how the 850 six speed was hyped up to be the M8 and all the other speculations of a special edition, etc. I really wanted a 8 series bad...still drool at them when I see one. That and a 635CSI like Bruce Willis drove in Moonlighting! LOL
The 8 series was a BMW supercar. Elegant, fast, exotic, etc. Just wasn't as dependable and affordable to maintain as a NSX, Supra, 300Z, Rx-7 and other popular Japanese sports cars from it's era. Tough competition. I still think their body is amazing and would love to have one today.
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