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.