1989 BMW 735 iL

1989 BMW 735 iL

This is going to be a short one, primarily because I only have a few pictures of this car (it was before the digital camera age). I bought this car over the phone from a dealership in Austin without having looked at it in person. My parents had to fly to Austin for something so they drove it back to Wichita Falls for me. It was a pretty loaded car at the time, with things you didn't see back then like heated seats and traction control. It was in pretty good shape, but not perfect.

I bought it as a replacement for a Mercedes 500 SEL that I had owned because I thought it was a sportier luxury car. As soon as I got it I put 20-inch Racing Dynamics wheels on it which made it a completely different car. Sadly, I never took any pictures of the car with the 'rims' on it. I kept this one for a couple of years and it was my daily driver most of that time (this was back before I started to buy and collect cars as a hobby). It certainly wasn't trouble free, but it was generally a good car. The iL signified the longer wheelbase version of the 7-series and the 735 of course referred the fairly strong 3.5-liter six cylinder. 

 
I sold this one by consigning it through a local dealership. I later found out that it was repossessed from the new owner and ended up with a local bank president I knew. 

Should you buy one today? Absolutely not! Look, unless you just have some love affair with this particular generation of 7-series (which is 2nd gen by the way) there is no reason to even consider one. The subsequent generations are all better and just about as cheap as these. They're way too complicated and expensive to maintain to warrant consideration as a driver, and have zero value as a collectible (Alpina cars aside). I like them, but seriously if you want an older 7, go with a 3rd gen (or E38) car. They're a little better in just about every way.