Shaun Writes:
I bought this car mainly as a nostalgia trip to bring back fond memories of my father's first BMW, a deep blue 1968, 2000 tilux (with grey vinyl upholstery). It was a UK model but strangely had twin round USA type lamps. He owned this car from 1969 to 1978 by which time it had covered 150,000. My father has owned only BMWs since, these include 2500, 3.0s, 3.0CSL, 528i, 635i, and today has a 330d.
Surprisingly my 1968 car was in much better condition when I bought it in 1991 than my father's was when he sold it in 1978! My tilux had covered 120,000 miles and can be seen in the rear quarter photo taken in about 1992.
I bought the car from Ashill in Norfolk (England) just 2 miles from my home at the time. The seller had bought it for his wife but the steering was too heavy so he was forced to sell it. I proceeded to make this problem worse by fitting Lotus Eclat rims but the cornering improved!
The other two pictures taken in 1998 represent the car stripped back beyond the rust ready for new panels. The floor was surprisingly good considering my father's was rusting away 20 years before! How could 2 cars built in the same year have been so different in terms of rust resistance?
Fortunately I worked at BMW in Austria from 1997 to 2004 (Diesel Engine design) and made some good contacts in Munich for body panels. Those panels replaced include; 2 rear wings, 2 front wings, the complete front panel, bonnet (hood) and boot (trunk) lid and a complete rear bumper. All replaced panels were 'new', many of which were purchased from Ing. Sven Hoettges (Munich) who at the time had a goldmine of E3, E10 and NK parts.
The body shop working on the car was provided with a camera to take photos during the restoration so I hope to get these soon.
The final coat of paint will be going on over this winter once I have found a spec for the original 'Bristol' grey.
The next job is the brakes and suspension and of course the engine - my speciality!
I will be happy to send some more pictures when the body is complete.
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