BMW 320i Restoration Project - Part 1 - Introduction

Rob wanted to clean up his beloved 1981 BMW 320i without spending tens of thousands of dollars on a complete restoration. Now, to be honest, if it was going to be a show car, it would require a full restoration. But Rob’s thought was to make it look nice so he could enjoy driving it on weekends. 

So, Rob and I walked around the car. He pointed out the things he didn’t like. I took pictures and made notes. The main things to address were:

• Rust at the bottom edge of the windshield and rear window seals (pictures below)
• Folding of the left door panel where it was getting caught on the edge of the hood during opening and closing
• Dents in the right door near the door handle
• Paint worn off the rocker panels
• General shine-up of the balance of the paint job
• General paint touch-up
• Rust in the trunk from leaking trunk seals
• Replacing trunk seals

I carefully discussed expectations and “scope of project” with Rob. He was definitely not looking for the involvement and expense of achieving show-car perfection, but instead, just to wanted to make it look nice. His expectations matched my capabilities quite well, so I went home with photos and notes to type up an estimate.

I knew that the window rust issue would involve removing both pieces of glass, so I obtained an estimate from my 25-year trusted auto glass installer. The estimate included removing the windshield and read window so I could clean up the rust. Then, after I had finished, they would return to reinstall the glass with new seals to help prevent future track rusting.

I don’t perform paintless dent removal. So, I asked my 25-year trusted paintless dent removal technician to write up an estimate for fixing the dents on the right door. I also asked him if he could straighten out the folds in the left door that I could “fill and paint” any leftover imperfection.

After sending the estimate over to Rob via email, he agreed quickly. Rob delivered the car and the requested down payment of half of the estimate, signed the work order, and I was off to the races.