If your tastes tend towards Teutonic tow trucks then today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe be-hooked 3-Series Bimmer may be a winner, but will its price be a deal wrecker?
When the world comes to an end this December are you going to go down sucking your thumb and holding your teddy? Or, are you going to find the safest, most secure place possible to ride out the Mayan apocalypse just so you can see what comes after? If you're among the hair-chested and steely-eyed latter group then you could do far worse than to cruise the last days in yesterday's 1988 560 SEL, a car that not only was built to last, but, at least according to an overwhelming 91% of you, was priced to sell.
Do you recall Monday's faux-arri with its Italian on Asian presentation? Well, that race riot went down in a decisive loss, but we've got another UN meeting in metal for your consideration today. This 1980 3-series tow truck is apparently based on a Datsun 720 King Cab - a hot mess of German on Japanese action that, were this porn, would guarantee there would be both pixelation and poop.
Aficionados of any marque can be excused for draping themselves in the brand's accoutrements. Whether logo-emblazoned polo shirts or the unfortunate tramp stamp, showing your team colors can make you feel a deeper connection with the brand and community. It also helps others, based on the observed level of participation, separate the mere fan from the complete ass-hat.
BMW's products seem to engender this somewhat cult-like adherence to brand expression, and if an owner suffered the unimaginable fate of their Bavarian pride breaking down, what better way to drag it home than with a double kidney-sporting wrecker? The E21 3-Series was built between 1975 and 1983, and while nowhere near as ubiquitous as the successor E30, there's still plenty to go around to make the loss of this one to Datsun-capping duty nothing to lose sleep over.
The ad is light on the details, but heavy on the awesome as there are plenty of pics of this Bee-Em Double-tow. The nose and cabin appear all E21, including a gnarly set of sport seats and a fat-rimmed three-spoke turning device. There's also a bit of misinformation perpetrated by the seller who lists the mad melding of Bimmer and box as an automatic when it's pretty obvious there's a stick shift and three pedals lurking within.
As this is based on what's apparently a 1980 Datsun 720 King Cab Dualie, that stick is likely connected to a 5-speed gearbox, which in turn backs up Datsun's 97-bhp 1.952-cc L20B four cylinder. That's only slightly less that what the 320i's M10 produced that year, and probably plenty to keep those four back tires turning.
Custom tow trucks aren't all that common, and that makes this one worth a look. Mating an E21 cabin with a Datsun pickup extended cab, and then dropping the whole unibody mess on top of that pickup truck's ladder frame - and not having it look like something the Braille Institute cobbled together - is no mean feat, and that too makes this a worthy contender. The question is, will its $7,900 price tag also be worthy of consideration? Or, is that just too much to be on the hook?
You decide!
CarsforSale or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Benjamin for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.