In the million milers club now, in BMWs

[Mike W.]

Running numbers in my head wondering if I had more miles on M30s or M5Xs and started wondering just how many miles I, combined with my wife, have put on BMWs. Looks like it's a bit over a million. Jeez, I remember long, long ago when my Dad got a plaque from the airlines saying he had a million miles flown.

So, in rough chronological order

E3 Bavaria 120K
78 E21 320i 20K
78 E21 320i 20K
79 E12 528i 130K
80 E24 633csi 40K
80 E21 320i 55K
85 E28 535i 155K
83 E23 733i 50K
84 E23 733i 5K
87 E24 635csi 5K
97 E39 528i 45K
00 E39 528it 145K
98 E36 328is 130K
80 E12 528i 15K
02 E39 525it 115K

Wow, lots of miles. The things I haven't done to them, maintenance and repair wise, are tires, front end alignment, smog, side window replacement on a touring covered under insurance, windshield star, again, insurance, several paint jobs, but no body work. And I think that's it. My wife probably has 40-45% of the miles, but it's been me underneath it when it came time. Anyone got me beat?

[szacsi72]

Goddamn that's a lot of miles. Judging by your cars, it looks like it's time well spent..

[1st 5er]

Maybe, if I added up 42 years worth of Form 2106 claims. However, Bimmer DDing wasn't in play until early 2000s so I'd only be a little over half that, add wifey in, and maybe 60%.

Way to go, literally, Mike. Impressive!!!

Most miles put on a individual car, Bavaria, E12, or E28 would make for good conversation too.

[1st 5er]

While on the miles put on subject, 2012ish I picked up a Super Eta to part, but decided to flip in spite of the rust. About 6 weeks later we had a manager's meeting calendared in Atlanta. There was a local guy wanting an E12 interior I had so I decided to put this Eta to the test after doing some polishing and baselining. After removing passenger front and the rear seats I stuffed the E12 interior in its place and headed towards ATL from HTX giving myself a couple of hour window to allow for traffic, etc. I was well on schedule to make the 7 PM dinner, after passing thru Slidell, MS, which just under halfway, the water pump failed. Stuck on the side of the interstate, I called an Autozone back in Slidell and they could get the pump but if wouldn't be there until their last delivery of the day which was 6:30. I knew this would throw me late, but at least I'd get there, so I asked if ok to do the swap in their parking lot to which they agreed so I said order it. Now to call AAA, and after 4 + hours of waiting they got me towed back to Slidell before the 6:30 delivery. However, said delivery was delayed until near 8:30. Got the pump and belt assembly swapped out and was back on the road around 10:30. I pulled into the hotel parking lot around 4 AM, got a couple hours shut eye and then down to breakfast. When our RVP walked in he made his way to my table, mentioned he'd noticed I wasn't at the dinner, and had checked with the front desk about my arrival on his way to breakfast, knowing I was driving instead of flying, then said something along the lines of, "you drove one of your old POS BMW's, didn't you", him being an E39 DDer. I laughed and shared the details.

It's not the miles that make the memories,
but rather the stops along the way.

[Mike W.]

I've got more miles than that total, that's just BMWs. I put over 100K on my beloved Simca 1204, a bunch on a bunch of aircooled VWs and more. It's not been entirely drama free, but mostly. Got towed home once, with the Bav. A wonky temp gauge combined with a water pump that went from not leaking at all to just pouring out in 150 miles. On a trip of course. Warped that head so badly I measured .010" across it. Not length, but across it. Length was over .025 I think. Not a good trip.

[BimmerDan]

Well that’s how you gained all your knowledge. That’s a crazy list, good for you!