Jalopnik
Somewhere on the road between Project Car Hell and the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage is a place known as reality. And since today is apparently BMW 633CSi day, we thought we'd share what our reality is. This is my personal '83 633CSi. It's not quite old enough to be a real classic, and it's certainly not new enough to be a rational daily driver for most people, but I like it just fine. Yes, it may be from the malaise era, complete with huge diving-board bumpers, but it still manages to look fantastic, particularly in this shade of Delphin Grey. Though that's not to say it's a perfect car.
Now, I wouldn't consider myself too biased towards Bavarians of this vintage, but I have owned a few of 'em. I've had this one since autumn, and it's actually my first 6-series. Without a doubt the E24 633CSi is stylish, but it's certainly not as involving to drive as an E30 325is, as easy to powerslide as an E28 535is, as rare as an E23 732i, or as economical as an E30 325e. But you do get the feeling that you're in something slightly more special than a standard Bimmer. So a good buy then? Well I paid $2500 for this one. It's got a couple little issues, like non-functioning gauge lights, brakes that feel absolutely wooden, and wipers that always get tangled up on each other, but it's also fairly rust-free for a Michigan car, and is a somewhat rare 5-speed manual. But to be honest, I had no intention of buying it when I went to go look at it. The problem was... I looked at it, and kept looking... staring at it as the setting sun turned the ambient light around it into a spectrum of red and orange gently bouncing off that glorious grey paint. Call me a sucker, but it was just too damn pretty.
Comments
If I'd have come across that car, I'd be a sucker too! Plus, I think 25 years old is a classic...
Nice article, but please, shave.
This era bimmers have character. And the price was right. Having a few issues with the gauges and the brakes just gives you an excuse to work on it. Hell, you got entertainment AND transportation out of the deal. I would check the pan out on a lift though. There could be stuff going on under there you will need to repair, if it is really a Michigan car. May need fix some of the metal and seal it.
YEah, I think I'd have to consider the 6 a classic at this point. That's what I call a hard nosed bimmer, and probably one of the best BMW "eras". I drive a '90 325i, which is an absolute blast to drive. I've always had a hard on for the M6, and with any luck I'll have one in my collection when I can afford to do so, one day. That baby deserves a nice set of Euro bumpers, or an M6 kit. Nothing like those glorious straight sixes!
Seriously, what's not to love about these cars? Good on ya, Mark!
Nice!! It's very rare to see a car this far north, this old, and this nice. Well, at least for a reasonable price, that is!
@Seth L: I shave... every few days.
Very nice - the old 6 series never fails to make me smile. While the new 6 series never fails to make me gag.
Oh, you lucky bastard. I was aiming my efforts towards one of these at one point...but I opted for the safety and reliability of a newer Japanese car. I'll have one some day, oh yes.
So, Mark, you and your car are roughly the same age...?
Your car is older than my MBZ '97 E320 and way cooler... I am WAY older than you, and considerably less cool, I suspect... life is SO unfair... I need another drink... Oh, and nice wheels. Thanks for sharing with us all on this BMW 6-series day at Jalopnik.
whoops, looks like i missed my jalopnik bookmark and clicked on cardomain! or am i on facebook...?
@Mark Arnold: Mark, continue shaving every few days. A bit of scruff is a damn sexy look for most dudes... even after it goes grey... just ask Harrison F. or George C.
@charles_barrett: I'm sure Mark will, Seth's just jealous his 9-to-5 bank job demands he shave twice a day. ;)
@charles_barrett: Yeah. There's method to the madness.
@Eric Merrill:
I'm not gonna let THE MAN tell me what to do.
Very nice. I've almost bought one of these on two or three occasions as a sunday driver (e46 daily driver) but self control and rationality has ruled the day. Classic lines.
This is the exact car that got me into BMW's. A guy I worked for in high school/college had one and was so cool as to let me drive his 633csi AND treat me like an adult.
I've owned a BMW almost every year of my life since, yet have never gotten around to owning one of these. I still look for a cherry euro-spec one every now and again, but have never pulled the trigger.
Congrats mark - these are beautiful and special cars.
@Seth L: Wuss.
Shaving is for wimps.
I went four months without a shave or a haircut this winter. It was quite liberating.
@Mark Arnold: Nice wheels! I can't say I haven't looked into one of these myself, but for the time being, any car I own has to get me to work and back without making me broke.
You look like you are stuck on the road from Jeepers Creepers...
From: [jalopnik.com]
"Mark has a philosophical belief that an automobile should die under its own power. He has killed 8 cars in the past 6 years by means of blown engine or total-loss collision."
We're going to need the keys to this fine auto.
Now!
Well, I wish I had the genetic faculties that forced me to shave. Then, I could grow manly facial hair. Unfortunately, what I grow constitutes as peach fuzz and rinses off under the faucet.
Btw, nice car man. Is it your only car? Or is it more of a hobby car?
now THATS a great BMW dashboard.
wonder what this would look like if Bertone got ahold of it... nah
prost!
Nice Bimmer. From the photo, it looks like the original owner was one of The Ramones.
@Mad_Science:
In my defense, I generalized: two of those blown engines were merely shattered oil pans.
Besides, I'm trying to be gentle to this one...
Though if anyone knows of a E30 for sale with an S50 swapped in...
Didn't Monogram or Revell have a red 1/24 scale 633csi kit? or was it a 635csi?
I know I built 2 of them at one point...was the first Bimmer I grew to love...
your philosophy on the "reality" between the fantasy garage and project car hell reminds me of myself, and my E34 540i. nice 6, looks clean.
@vr6juan: Revell 1/24 scale black...
[www.amazon.co.uk]
Given the exterior/interior condition, I'd say $2500 was a pretty good price for that car. It looks great.
Yes indeed Chris Bangle has alot to learn.
[www.imagehosting.com]
quick little chop I did
I love old 6s & 8s. They are timeless. Neither of these are mine but they are my style for shure. They just look like a mans car should.
[www.my635.com]
[www.mcsmk8.com]
and this is why I continue to buy old E28's E30's, and 2002s. Because the tick the boxes for enthusiasm, performance, good looking, usable, well engineered, full of heart... and rear wheel drive!!!!!
There are very few things that compete with driving my E28 533i over a slightly iced mountain back road - pushing it but not being a total hoon, just getting to the train to head to Manhattan for work.
I say that as a daily driver, that's more enjoyment than anyone gets out of their sensible import, riced ride, or 911. I've driven my 911 to the train every day - to really enjoy it I need to be in triple digits. My Lotus Europa on the other hand... well that's just the best train car ever but I keep finding myself driving the Taconic State Parkway going 4 stops down the line.
$2,500 - bought right!
@vr6juan: That was the second car model my father and I ever built, after a Ferrari 288GTO. I was about three-and-a-half years old at the time, which meant my contributions were mostly limited to making a mess and choosing the paint color. Soon afterwards, my father bought the 528e in which I learned to drive. Aah, '80s Bimmers... this generation of BMWs (the E30, E28, E23 and E24) have always just seemed right to me. Fast, dignified, and beautiful in a strong, masculine way. Maybe it's just because those were the BMWs that were around when I was first noticing cars, but I think these represent the pinnacle of BMW-ness. Thanks for the memories, and I'm impressed with your taste, Mark.
Nice ride, but shave and cut yer GD hair, hippie!
@Armand, Star-Spangled Pedant: I think the first model I built was a 55' Chevy from Revell (orange/yellow? with no front bumper) then it was The Warlock then Black Gold...
I still have this M4 Sherman that I need to finish...no wait my wife threw it out...cursed philistine!!!
So if Joey Ramone and Lou Reed had a baby...
What I loved about mine, on those miserable hard TRXs, was that you could say to yourself "I think I'll understeer through this corner" or "I think I'll oversteer through this one" or "I think I'll do a four wheel drift" and there you'd go. In an e90 you'd have to be going about four times the speed to do the same thing, which could be a little anti-social.
@Paul Y. is Going Dumb at the Sideshow:
i haven't cut my hair in 2.5 years... (and four days) or shaved since october 30, '07
and yes... feels great... 'au naturale'... except that i won't do dredlocks... still shower/wash it..
What a nice car. Back when BMWs had so much style. When I was growing up, there was one on the way to where I studied piano. It looked amazing, even though it wasn't in the greatest of shape.
gorgeous car, you're a lucky guy! :)
@Mark Arnold: So, dude, you never did respond... how big is the gap between the birth of your '83 633CSi and yourself. I bet not too much, but throw us old farts a bone (if you don't want to be too specific, just tell us greater or lesser...) At the start of the '83 model year (fall '82), I was beginning my sophomore year as an undergraduate at Caltech.
Yeah, I'm that ancient...
@Mark Arnold: The interior looks pretty good for $2500. Sharp car.
@charles_barrett: haha
well, let's just say the car is slightly older than me
@Seth L: SEE! I knew he wasn't old enough to use a razor!
@chrystlubitshi: I haven't shaved since summer '97- don't plan to ever again, either..
So when you buy a $2500 6 series, or even 3 series, what's the threshold for how much you'll spend on repairs? I paid $2500 for a Contour SE (V6, 5spd) and walked away when the AC had died and the engine locked, even though the rest of the car was in great shape.
Man, makes me want to call my dad up to make him an offer on my Mom's '86 L6. Now THAT's a 6 series - even has the 3 can AC cooled armrest fridge in the back seat.
Hmmm, wonder if he'd take $2500 for it?
crap - brain fart, it's an '87 L6.
@Sloop_John_B:
Must be nice. I have 5-o'clock shadow by noon.
Damned genetics.
If I don't shave for more than 48 hours, people stop speaking to me on the street...it's kinda scary-looking.
Nice ride there, Woodstock. Your barber go back to Havana?
Sorry...I couldn't stop myself.
@Jeb_Hoge:
That's a damned good question, as I am addressing it, somewhat, with my '89 Mercedes W126.
Above $2500 is a difficult area for me, but I knew that going in.
The timing chain and guides I knew needed to be attended to before plunking down $3K for it. It's been 8 months, though, and I'm wrestling with the front-end. It needs attention, period, but how much do I throw at a beater car, even though it's a nice one? Hell, I even had the rear tires flipped around on the wheels so the barely-showing-cord edge wouldn't touch the ground anymore.
Damned independent rear suspension and rubber bushings!
It needs tires, relatively soon, but do I spend another $500 on consumables without dropping at least another grand on the front-end maintenance...and that's doing likely a sizeable amount of work myself.
It's not a ride most here would dig, I'm guessing, but I like land-yachts...
Unlike your Contour, when the W126 gets to 150K miles, it'll be middle-aged.
@Mark Arnold: I just KNEW IT you young whipper-snapper! You have a sharp BMW 633 whip -AND- I have clothes in my closet older than you...!
Bless you, young Mark. I am teasing, as I know that the one thing worse than growing older is NOT growing older, if you catch my drift. May you enjoy all that life has to offer to its fullest...!
Let me ask you this, if I grow my hair out, can I get a beautiful car for $2500, too?
@Benito: When I had long hair, I paid 800 dollars for my car. After I cut it, I paid 6000.
Clearly there must be a direct correlation.
We need more Jalopnik Reality Garage stories.
Not Jalopnik, but one of my favorite car stories ever (and I'm sure everyone here has already seen it):
[www.somethingawful.com]
Damn, the car, the hair, the stubble. I wish I was as cool as Mark Arnold.
Waitasec... when I was 25 I was driving around in a '66 Malibu convertible, wavy mullet wafting in the backdraft. And working in television. And playing in a rock band, and going skydiving and hang gliding (when I wasn't going skiing.)
Hey, I was as cool as Mark Arnold!
What happened?
Oh yeah. Marriage.
@Kelly: I'm in a similar quandary with a Saab 9000cse. It still runs and drives great, and every time I take it out on the road that little turbo 4-pot is screaming "Hit me harder, sir!" But the tranny is making ominous sounds (failing pinion gear), and the heater has mysteriously stopped working. (No, no coolant smell. A/C works great) It, too is near the end of its tires.
All in all, I need to do about $3000 work on a car that is worth about $3000 when I'm done with it, so ....?
@NotACoolGuy: My best friend drives a Cutlass Ciera. One night, for reasons still unknown to mankind, he failed to notice a sandbagged, fully-equipped "ROAD CLOSED" getup in the middle of the road and took it head-on. The Cutlass doesn't have a scratch and still roams the earth. The sign setup does not.
If Kowalski drove an Olds, the world would be a different place today.
those are dead sexy! just check your rear mounts.. they like to pull the rear axel out...
@lascauxcaveman: Have you checked the center drain for plugged-ness? Bottom-center of the firewall.
@Mark Arnold: Nice ride! And in MI, no less! Did you buy it from a guy named George?
BTW, in '83 I was listening to your parents Joey & Lou in 10th grade...."Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock and roll high school...."
Weren't they all this color grey?
Nice ride. Back in 85' I was a 19yo working in a body shop that had a deal with a local BMW dealer to do their repairs. I mainly drove the 3's and 5's of that year, but I did get to drive an M635csi. Now THAT was a wickedly fast car! Bright red with white interior. As I entered rte 4 in Paramus with their short little entry ramps I nearly rear ended someone as I upshifted into 3rd at about 60-70?!?!?! I had to back vear left and of course but some more boot into the accelerator upto a 100mph!!
WOW WOW WOW. What a car for a dopey 19yo to be driving! Up until then the fastest thing I had driven was a Porsche 944 Turbo and as Buick Syklark GS350. The 5 speed is far more enjoyable than the Auto box.
633csi's are so cool,my dad had one when i was a kid,it was great getting picked up from school in it.Probably one of the cars that started my car obsession when i was a kid,an obsession that will live as long as i do