dmurton
08-10-2008, 09:41 PM
Hi all. My name is David, and this is how I came to own my current pride and joy, a 1981 E21 323i John Player Special.
First, a bit of history about myself. I'm 31, have served in the Royal Australian Navy, Been a service manager in a local IT Firm, and am now an Audiometrist. I learnt to drive in an Austin Healy Sprite Mk III, which belonged to my father, which we restored from a rolling wreck, to a reasonably straight little roadster, that we almost broke even on.
This help push me towards classic cars. My first car was a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super, which cost $4,500 on the road.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/Super/ALFAFR1.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/Super/ALFABACK.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/Super/ALFAEN1.jpg
To the uninformed, it is just an unusual looking 4 door sedan with lots of rust. To those in the know, it was an extremely nimble 'sports sedan', with a 112bhp aluminium DOHC 1.6l engine, drawing through twin weber DCOE's. It has a 5 spd transmission, vaccuum assisted discs all around, would do 110 mph, and has a lower drag co-effecient than the porsche of the period. All in all, a car that was well ahead of its time.
Unfortunatley, not long after I had the car, the rings basically fell off the pistons, and a bottom end rebuild was needed. The bloke that carried out the rebuild was based in Geelong, and had an interesting history. He had raced Alfas at Bathurst in the late 1970's and early 1980's, and had competed very succesfully in Targa Tasmania with BMC Mini Coopers. He also had a new car he was preparing for Targa Tasmania, a certain black BMW 3 series.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/JPS/IMGP0059.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/JPS/IMGP0061.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/JPS/IMGP0062.jpg
To be fair, at this time, BMW's did not interest me much at all. There was one exception. In 1985, I was taken to Sandown to check out the Group A's, back when racing was racing, and the soul of the sport had not been sold to TV and corporate Australia. I saw the most beatuifully liveried car that I had ever seen, even now. It was Jim Richards 635 sponsored by JPS.
Seeing this black 3 series BMW, with some funny C pillar badges, and a front skirt that gave an impressive profile brought all sorts of Group A memories flowing back. After a polite enquiry, and a hell of a lot of research, to ensure that it was the 'real deal', I sat back and waited. Nearly 5 years later, it was mentioned, 'I'm thinking of selling the JPS'. My reply was first 'How much?', and then 'You'll have a cheque tommorrow'.
Whilst I still own the Super, it has been relegated to a second place by the JPS in both looks, performance, and most definitly reliability.
First, a bit of history about myself. I'm 31, have served in the Royal Australian Navy, Been a service manager in a local IT Firm, and am now an Audiometrist. I learnt to drive in an Austin Healy Sprite Mk III, which belonged to my father, which we restored from a rolling wreck, to a reasonably straight little roadster, that we almost broke even on.
This help push me towards classic cars. My first car was a 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super, which cost $4,500 on the road.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/Super/ALFAFR1.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/Super/ALFABACK.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/Super/ALFAEN1.jpg
To the uninformed, it is just an unusual looking 4 door sedan with lots of rust. To those in the know, it was an extremely nimble 'sports sedan', with a 112bhp aluminium DOHC 1.6l engine, drawing through twin weber DCOE's. It has a 5 spd transmission, vaccuum assisted discs all around, would do 110 mph, and has a lower drag co-effecient than the porsche of the period. All in all, a car that was well ahead of its time.
Unfortunatley, not long after I had the car, the rings basically fell off the pistons, and a bottom end rebuild was needed. The bloke that carried out the rebuild was based in Geelong, and had an interesting history. He had raced Alfas at Bathurst in the late 1970's and early 1980's, and had competed very succesfully in Targa Tasmania with BMC Mini Coopers. He also had a new car he was preparing for Targa Tasmania, a certain black BMW 3 series.
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/JPS/IMGP0059.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/JPS/IMGP0061.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn226/dmurton/JPS/IMGP0062.jpg
To be fair, at this time, BMW's did not interest me much at all. There was one exception. In 1985, I was taken to Sandown to check out the Group A's, back when racing was racing, and the soul of the sport had not been sold to TV and corporate Australia. I saw the most beatuifully liveried car that I had ever seen, even now. It was Jim Richards 635 sponsored by JPS.
Seeing this black 3 series BMW, with some funny C pillar badges, and a front skirt that gave an impressive profile brought all sorts of Group A memories flowing back. After a polite enquiry, and a hell of a lot of research, to ensure that it was the 'real deal', I sat back and waited. Nearly 5 years later, it was mentioned, 'I'm thinking of selling the JPS'. My reply was first 'How much?', and then 'You'll have a cheque tommorrow'.
Whilst I still own the Super, it has been relegated to a second place by the JPS in both looks, performance, and most definitly reliability.