EH Z3 120. Well, that's the registration, since 2007. I don't know if it belonged to Liz Hurley or if it's ever been up to 120mph, but when the letters were spaced like that some years ago, apparently the Ministry of Transport declined to pass the car in their test, and new plates had to be made up.
Having spent over thirty years doing up a series of cars including a Lanchester, a bare chassis restoration of an Alvis TA14 drophead, a TA14 saloon, a TD21 3 litre, a Morris Minor convertible and many other lesser cars, I had thought that my days of open top motoring were over fifteen years ago when I got my first of two Volvo estates! But then this opportunity came up, and encouraged by Sara, I jumped at it.
Anyway, the car has a recorded mileage of just 141K, although it covered 100K in the first six years and only 40K in the last fifteen, according to the service and MOT history up to last year. Finally, last year, with no MOT, it was purchased cheaply as a source of spares for my cousins other Z3 1.9 which he has been slowly restoring. However, it became clear that there was plenty of life left in this car, so he devoted some time and effort to it and I'm buying it from him, to help finance the other one. It passed its MOT test a few weeks ago.
Last week it was out in heavy rain overnight, and no water came in, so that bodes well. It's just had new outer sills, and the inner ones have been cleaned up and protected, like most of the underneath. A complete replacement exhaust system helped get the emissions down enough to get through the test, but that's an aspect that will need more work. And there's a great deal to do over the next year or two, with lots of cosmetic work along with much preventative maintenance and replacement of ageing and worn parts, bushes and so on. On the car, that is. But if it saves the car from being scrapped, it'll be worth it.
I took it out for a forty mile spin yesterday with the hood down, and it behaved very well. In fact, of course, it was exhilarating. So I'm looking forward to Z3 ownership, and the information on this forum has been very helpful already.
Cheers
Paul
Having spent over thirty years doing up a series of cars including a Lanchester, a bare chassis restoration of an Alvis TA14 drophead, a TA14 saloon, a TD21 3 litre, a Morris Minor convertible and many other lesser cars, I had thought that my days of open top motoring were over fifteen years ago when I got my first of two Volvo estates! But then this opportunity came up, and encouraged by Sara, I jumped at it.
Anyway, the car has a recorded mileage of just 141K, although it covered 100K in the first six years and only 40K in the last fifteen, according to the service and MOT history up to last year. Finally, last year, with no MOT, it was purchased cheaply as a source of spares for my cousins other Z3 1.9 which he has been slowly restoring. However, it became clear that there was plenty of life left in this car, so he devoted some time and effort to it and I'm buying it from him, to help finance the other one. It passed its MOT test a few weeks ago.
Last week it was out in heavy rain overnight, and no water came in, so that bodes well. It's just had new outer sills, and the inner ones have been cleaned up and protected, like most of the underneath. A complete replacement exhaust system helped get the emissions down enough to get through the test, but that's an aspect that will need more work. And there's a great deal to do over the next year or two, with lots of cosmetic work along with much preventative maintenance and replacement of ageing and worn parts, bushes and so on. On the car, that is. But if it saves the car from being scrapped, it'll be worth it.
I took it out for a forty mile spin yesterday with the hood down, and it behaved very well. In fact, of course, it was exhilarating. So I'm looking forward to Z3 ownership, and the information on this forum has been very helpful already.
Cheers
Paul
from Stoke on Trent.
