SOT: E30 M3 "Bubble Car" with Pic...

[RobbieR]

The owner drove it for 11k miles, took it apart, cleaned everything and put it back together. They sold it for$45k!

I don't get it. Bimmer's are made to be driven, not stored in a bubble.

Album: http://www.bimmers.com/albums/bubble-car

[stuartinmn]

I believe there was an article about that car in the Roundel a couple years ago. It does seem like a shame in a way, but on the other hand it provides a great reference for people restoring their cars. Look at those photos of the undercarriage, it's pretty amazing.

[Ed]

The guy who put that car under glass is one of the local NJBMWCCA E30 M3 whackos. I'm a little sad to see the car go but at least he filled his shop with worthy replacements: Z8, Ferrari, Lotus Elise, etc.

Ed

[ej in NorCal]

That car is impeccable. But, in a bubble? That is weird, Michael Jackson weird!
45K, you can't complain about the results!

Erik

[Al Canuck]

I see that, and all I can think is......."mmmmmm, low mile S14 to cram into my 02".

Al

[Blue Shadow]

The bubble is a nice way to keep the car clean and the animals of any kind out. For a limited use vehicle seems like a good idea. I'd rather have the money to have all the cars as daily drivers and not worry about keeping it nice.

[shifty]

That's the kind of car that I would drive the SHIT out of. I don't care what anyone says! That thing is just BEGGING to get driven. As far as I'm concerned, if you spend that kind of money on a damn car, you better get your money's worth out of it!

I had this kind of discussion with a couple of guys in the shop the other day. One guy has some old Plymouth Duster or something that he's put a lot of time and money into. He says he doesn't have it here on base, because it's back at home garaged. He NEVER leaves it out overnight. Why? Because it'll get messed up. My reply to him?

"So, let me get this straight. You put all that time, money, effort, and heartache into that car, and now you don't want to take it out? Are you FUCKING NUTS?!!"

If there's one thing I've learned from my travails -- and that includes me totaling two fine examples of the E28 breed -- it's that, the more time and money you put into a car, the more vigorously you have to drive it to get your money's worth out of it.

The guy with the duster told me that, if I spent $250k on a new Ferrari, I'd garage it, too, because something like that is just a status symbol, a conversation piece, a chick-getter. I told him that, once again, he's fucking nuts, because I would drive the ever-loving piss out of a brand new Ferrari because of how much I spent on it.

I know I'm getting OT here, but does anyone else agree with me, or should I just go to bed at 7:20 AM like I always do?

[Rich in WI]

Ferrari or similarly built cars are made to be driven plain and simple. It's insane to not drive it. I mean, with the new Enzo being built around a Formula 1 concept, why the hell wouldn't you drive the piss out of it? Otherwise you may as well rip out the engine, give it to me and I'll trade you for a chevy 350. Not like you'll miss it. Heck, give me the whole car and I'll trade you for a plastic extrusion of the original. I'm willing to accept that a vintage Ferrari should maybe be kept safely put away. But it MUST be driven from time to time simply to prove that it's a car that's worth lusting after.

People who don't drive their much-worked-on-beautiful-cars should go back to playing with Hot Wheels and Matchboxes. Maybe consider model building.

Rich in WI

[C.R. Krieger]

[QUOTE="Rich in WI"]People who don't drive their much-worked-on-beautiful-cars should go back to playing with Hot Wheels and Matchboxes. Maybe consider model building.

Rich in WI[/QUOTE]

OK; I knew it would come out eventually. I do build models. Both BMWs and others I think are cool - like just about all '60s Mopars and a lot of '60s Fords. I do it precisely for the reasons Rich mentions. I like looking at a Lemon Twist '70 GTX ('64 Thunderbolt, '65 Satellite ... the list is very long), but I can't afford to have one just sitting around for looks and they don't really drive all that well anyway. Even those that I'd love to drive the snot out of (Can you say, "Calder LeMans 3.0 CSL"? "Stella CSL"? "Lichtenstein 320i"? I knew you could.) I'd be hard-pressed to maintain, so I built/build a model.

Unfortunately (in the opinion of almost everyone here, it seems), some people have way too much disposable income. So you see the likes of this bubble car or two supreme examples of taking a decent car and making it useless that I saw a few years ago at a rod & custom show in Milwaukee: a first-year Z28 with a totally painted and chromed undercarriage - including the entire brake disk! There was also a 427 in a Mercury Comet with plexiglass inserts in the tops of the valve covers. In the first case, they couldn't even use the brakes to stop the car pushing it out of the trailer. In the second, I wonder how long you can drive it before the plastic melts into the valvetrain! ~0

[Rich in WI]

Please note, I've nothing against playing with Matchbox type cars or building models. I've still got a bunch of my old Matchbox cars somewhere (no way I'd give them away). They are what got me into cars to begin with. And model building can be a truly great art form. My point was simply that if you aren't going to be driving the car, all you are doing is looking at it and maybe pushing it around as described in the previous message. It's no better than a Matchbox or desktop model. Just bigger.

If you've got a high performance car, I don't see the point in not driving it. A high performance car that is not driven is a no performance car. Please give me your car, Mr. Bubbleman and I'll show you what makes the car worthy of being bubbled. Not that it should be bubbled, just that it's worthy of being bubbled.

Rich


[Edit by Rich in WI on [TIME]1108680411[/TIME]]

[Tjn182]

Wouldn't the rubber parts of the car dry out after so long in a bubble?