Personal Dork Assistant

Beemer? I Hardly Even Know Her!

Sam found out the hard way that a sporty, low-slung undercarriage and a sharp curb on a steep driveway entrance don't mix. So his E36 325i sits cold and covered outside at home. Even that is a better environment than when the car was left outside in the hot and cold of Durham and the hot and polluted muck that is Houston. As I found out the hard way in LA, bad air and hot temperatures are not good for rubber and plastic bits, and the BMW's front and rear windshield gaskets and other exposed plastic bits were literally crumbling apart.

Called around and found out that the auto-glass people don't fix the rubber trim, and the dealer quoted what was essentially two full windshield changes when the glass itself was fine. Dad remembered driving by a BMW-fixing place along the row of auto-shops on San Pablo, and a quick search brought up Berkeley Motor Works in Albany. It was close enough for us to just drive by and let them take a look. Nice folks, and they were doing a roaring business, as evidenced by the rows of BMWs parked along both sides of the block (they couldn't renew the lease on their storage lot). They gave us a still expensive, but resonably so quotation for the job, with the caveat that there's a chance the cost could jump if they accidentally crack the windshield in the process. Fair warning, and we accepted the risk. Dropped it off the next day and got a ride home from Mike the owner/mechanic in his E36 M3. First time I rode in an M3. Kinda makes me want one, except I don't drive sticks.

They were able to replace the fix the windshield trim without breaking anything, and they even replaced the missing piece of bumper trim for the cost of the part. They did managed to find a leaking valve cover gasket to squeeze another three bills out of us. Didn't quibble too much about it since they could do it the same day and it would've had to get fixed eventually anyway. So after dropping the G and change for the fixin' and a car wash, the baby finally looked good as new.

I never had the chance to drive the BMW much, so it was fun to take it around for a few days. The Lexus is a smooth glide from stop, the BMW pounces, the engine revving up aggressively to get the jump off the line. Let's not even get into the comparison to the Accord's four-banger, which takes some serious whippin' to struggle up Moeser. I can see why Sam's #1 priority on the home-improvement list is resurfacing his driveway.