Ever since I got my car in '08 I have been working on her and trying to get her back to like new. She is a '88 BMW 325. I love her and yes she is a her. I have gone as far as to personify my car. Some may think that's weird, but whatever. I couldn't care less. I would never sell my car. I've done so much to fix her up so far, it would kill me to get rid of her.
I got her as a Christmas present at first and my parents had done some to start the process by fixing somethings like the seats and some technical things. But since then I've totaled her a few times in how much I've spent on repairs. Some of the things I've repaired myself or with my dad, but the more technical stuff I take to a guy named Reggie of Reggie's Motorworks. He knows his stuff and I've been very pleased with the work he's done; money well spent. He specialized in e30s, which is the generation of 3 series that I have.
My dad and I have replaced the back struts and strut mounts, head lights, the dash board, and many smaller things. Some of the major things we had Reggie do was brakes (rotors, pads, and all), wheel bearings, tie rods, the instrument cluster (which we worked a little on as well), and several smaller things as well.
This summer she broke down and I had her towed to Reggie to find out what went wrong and we originally thought it was the differential because it had some play in it and had been making some noise. But we found it was actually the transmission that had gone. So that left me with a couple options. A re-used auto transmission that may go out tomorrow or last a lifetime for about 600-800 or a manual transmission that would probably last the rest of the cars life for around 2500. This was a risky decision, but after a bit of deliberation and weighing the pros and cons of each I decided for the manual and had Reggie go to work. He also replaced the noisy 2.93 differential with a bigger 3.25, which made it a little more sporty. I was completely satisfied with that purchase. My car is so much more fun to drive now and I will be taking my car back to Reggie for many more projects. I've got several in mind I just need to money to do it.
Looks like there's a great deal of "sweat equity" in your car. Chapter 18 will really resonate with you - especially when we talk about objects with sacred meaning...or at least special symbolic value. The disposition process for these types of goods is much different from "regular" products.
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