Hello guys and welcome to mattsbeamer..
This blog is about my car history since I was 15.
Ever since I was about 4 years old I wanted to have a BMW of my own, since my father brought home his E23 7 series. Every Christmas I would ask Father Christmas for one. And well, as you can guess it didn’t work out for me. That made me realise that asking for something, isn’t the way to get what you want.
Since I was a young age, I used to be very careful with my £1 a week pocket money, which gradually went up to £2. I used to buy BMW magazines , and the Parkers price guides.
I used to try and learn everything about the car industry, and learnt how to look for cars, fix them and all the fun stuff.
My first Saturday job was, helping in a dry cleaner, and I would save my money.
I would look through the autotrader at the cheap cars, and through the crashed damaged cars too. I remember looking at crashed European cars, and trying to workout what may need replacing. I would write down a list of possible parts, and search for them in my euro carparts and GFS catalogs, too estimate how much it would cost to fix them up (way before my dad let me go on the internet).
When I was 15, I used to go to a secondary school in Hayward’s heath, and near that school was a Ford dealership which my dad was building a massive workshop for. My dad is a steel erector.
When I went to see my dad after school, I noticed there were lots of crashed damaged, and fire damaged fords. One that stuck in my mind, was a burnt out xr3i Cabrio. There was a crashed damaged exotic car sitting there, looking very sad for itself, and the man said dad could have it very cheap. I told my dad I’ll buy it through him and he refused. I’ll mention this car in a different post. Can you guess the car???
Anyway, months past, and I kept aiming to have a BMW as my first car, people thought I was day dreaming, as back then it was harder to have a BMW as a first car.
Shortly after, my dad told me his friend is going to scrap his 1985 318i, as he was going to buy a new 1999 Volvo S40 in a dark blue. I asked my dad if I could buy it off him, and dad said he would speak to him.
Later that week, I came home and my dad told me to go out the back of the house as some idiot in a silver 3 series crashed into his Range Rover. I went out the back and saw a beautiful, but very basic 1985 318i sat on the parking space, and the Range Rover was parked down the road. Dad threw me the keys and said, do you still want to buy it. I was so happy!!!
That is how I got my first car. It was a 1985 model, so it had the chrome bumpers, and the older style rear lights. It sat on steel wheels, with hubcaps. It was a saloon version, fitted with the 1.8 M10 engine, fitted to a automatic transmission. I was so happy, it was my project. Not bad for £250.
Fixing up this car taught me such thing’s like fitting a radio (with bare wires not a plug and play system most cars have now). I learnt how to change a steering rack, the front discs and pads, the rear discs and drums and the heater matrix. It was such good fun learning.
While I had this car, my dad bought me a 1989 diamond white Mk3 fiesta 1.1L 3 door hatchback, which had front end damage. Unfortunately thou, my dad was always so busy, that he couldn’t teach me how to weld, the front wings on, but I did fit an alarm on it. I got many insurance quotes for the BMW and the Ford, and believe it or not, the BMW was cheaper.
So when I past my driving test, I bought the Insurance and got it MOT’d and taxed. It was such a great day. I still remember it clearly, driving my BMW for the first time, till this day. The Ford got passed on to my auntie.
I ran the BMW for a few years, with no issues at all. But one day I came to a decision to sell this car, which I shouldn’t have done really.
After I sold it my best friend was going to scrap a e30 he got given, for doing a small job on a car. He kindly gave me the car, as he knew i love BMWs. It was a 1989 316i coupe in dolphin grey, fitted with the bottle nose alloys. It was also a manual car. I had some plans for this car, but at the same time I had also purchased a 1988 325i touring in malchite green. It was a beast, and it was quite cheap to insure at the age of 18/19. It needed some work but it was my pride and joy. It was very fun to drive, especially in the wet, but you had to be so careful that you didn’t spin it out.
Sadly due to lack of space my dad made me get rid of the e30 316i coupe, but I ran the 325i up until I was 21.
But between the few years I owned the 325i touring, my barber had a poorly 1987 735i. It was finished in a dark blue with silver leather seats. It wouldn’t run properly. He wanted me to have the car, as he didn’t want to scrap it. My good friend drove the e32 home, while I followed it. All of a sudden, everything on the car started flashing and it cut out. It was the first time I ever had to tow a car. Can you imagine a beautiful e30 325i touring pulling a big old beast of a e32 home. It managed to do the job well. It didn’t need much work getting this car going.
We left the car at my friends workshop, and i was so excited that I owned an e32. I had dreamed about owning a e32 since my dad bought home his Alpina B12 750i home back in the early 90s.
Unfortunately the next day, when I got to the car, some lowlife had destroyed the car, by smashing it to pieces. The repair would have cost more than the car. I was extremely upset.
When I reached 21, I found a 1996/7 740i for sale, fitted with a 4.4 v8. She was finished in a beautiful blue, with cream leather and x spoke alloys. She was perfect. The insurance wasn’t too bad either at around a £1000. I really enjoyed driving this car, effortless power,super smooth, comfortable but drove like a car half it’s size.
I bought it from a used car sales place where my dad bought a few of his expensive cars from. Sadly thou, they didn’t tell me they did work to the windscreen. I bought the car in March, and in October, it started raining hard, and that was basically the end of my e38. So much water got in through the bodged up windscreen, that it killed many Ecus. BMW wanted £8000 for a quick temporary fix, and that was not even including the fix of the windscreen etc.
I had sold the e30 a month after I bought the e38.
I was very low, I lost a car I spent a lot on buying, and I had to sell the car Cheap to some Russians who shipped it back home.
The the money I got from the e38, I bought a car off a friend. It was a blue 1994 e36 320i auto saloon.
He let me have it for £700 as he was given the car very cheap. He got it cheap because the gearbox wasn’t 100 percent well. He replaced the oil and she was perfect! I had the car for many years, and she was super reliable. I loved it very much.
While owning the 320i SE I also bought a green e36 323i coupe for £1200. It was mint. I kept it locked up, while I used to drive the 320i. But that came to a end, when a person didn’t see that I was stopped at a junction, and rear ended me at about 30mph in his e46 330ci sport coupe. His car looked a lot worse than mine did, but my car was written off.
Since I had the 323i coupe, I started using it.
It was very well put together, and well built.
It was a great all rounder, and much better on fuel than my 320i. It was my first proper sporty coupe. I had that car for many years.
While owning that I bought an e36 318ti for £200. The guy paid over a grand a few weeks before. Unfortunately for this guy, the temp gauge kept rising.
He replaced everything in the radiator and cooling system, but nothing worked. He tried selling it to me, but I said it’s a big risk, as it’s probably the head gasket.
Which I truly thought it was. I gave this guy 200 and took it home. When we got home we notice there was a small puddle under the car. After looking for the leak, we noticed that the puddle was coolant. The previous owner had only changed the thermostat housing, but didn’t fit a gasket. It was a very cheap fix.
My mums partner also gave me a 2002 Renault Kangoo, to fix up and sell, as he never drove it. That was good fun too.
I sold these cars in 2012, and I ended buying a cheap e46 318ti. I only had to replace the expansion tank, which needed replacing. 6 months later I sold the car, and made over £600 profit on it. I sold the car and moved to Russia.
I currently own a 2012 f20 116i which I have owned for about 3 years, which I make DIY videos on. This car helped my channel grow.
IF you want to see the video for all these cars, just click here.
Have a great day...