I’ve been a long time BMW owner and general car addict. I’ve owned pretty much one of everything from a 1984 318i to a 911 race car. With the proliferation of CAN BUS technology, which pretty much makes DIY next to impossible and cost prohibitive, I’ve decided to backtrack to the cars I’ve liked best, ‘80s BMWs.
Not being too picky on colors and options, I still had a list of wants. Due to family needs, I pretty much ruled out an e30 focusing on e28 and e23 cars. Given a choice, I wanted white with cardinal interior, manual trans and an eta motor for fuel economy. I also wanted “is” spoilers on an e28, manual sport seats from an e30 and an M-sport steering wheel. I am budgeting about $10k for a car to make the next 5 years.
The biggest hurdle was finding a completely rust free chassis.
So, after following up on most of the e28’s available the past couple months, I swore that I would probably end up with an M5 again and swap in an eta motor. On a whim, I happened upon an ebay car in Phoenix previously owned by a couple of forum members, 5280 JB and alpinamotorsport. After some research, I set my price and won the bid.
It’s a 1988 528e automatic, white on cardinal with “is” spoilers. I had a 370mm Mtech 1 wheel that I put in and I have e30 sport seats to recover and install. Later, I will get another 88 528e manual for a winter car and do a manual swap.
The car made the 2000 mile drive from Phoenix to Ohio without issue. There were barely any clouds in the sky, no rain/sleet/snow and in the 60’s the whole way. On either side of my drive were tornados and inches of snow.
All I can say is that it’s been 12 years since I owned an e28 and man does it feel old compared to my 1999 E320, but it handles like a go kart and that’s what I missed.
Cosmetically, it needs very little. Basically, just a refinish of the airdam. Mechanically, it just needs guibo, center bearing and rear bushings. Everything works as it should. Overall, I’m extremely happy with the condition of the car, and would have been happy to find one in this condition and mileage (140k) 10 years ago.
Big thanks to Jim, Mark and Dan (prior owner) for keeping it in such great condition. Hopefully, it will remain as such.
Photobucket pics of my drive and the ebay pics:
http://s416.photobucket.com/albums/pp24 ... otos/528e/
Past threads on the car:
http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=69121&highlight=
http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=71890&highlight=
It a familiar story to hear of folks coming back to the 80's and particularly the e28. 
.
