Background

In the summer of 2004, I had grown tired of my old car. I was driving a 1991 Mazda Protege my wife had bought new as her first car. It was a decent little car, quite quick and got decent gas mileage (very important in California at the time). However, things were starting to break at a ever increasing frequency. In recent months, I had replaced the radiator, clutch and gotten it painted. Many things still did not work, including the A/C and some of the power windows.
Being cheap, I certainly did not want to get a new car (our other vehicle being a 1995 Honda Passport). So I started looking for used cars, but something a step up from a Mazda. I was always jealous of my friends' cars, especially one of their BMW 3-series. I figured I would get a convertible to take advantage of the San Diego weather.
I searched various outlets for several months but didn't see anything that struck my fancy. I did notice a large number of 7-series that were going for good prices (well under $10,000). I looked at a few but had my eye set on a 1991 750iL. I didn't know very much about BMW's, let alone a monster like the 750 and its V12. I ended up buying it anyway for several thousand below blue book, figuring something was wrong with it and I would be in for an expensive lesson. An boy was I right.
The car made a crunching noise when it accelerated from a stop. Any 750 owner will immediately tell you that is a bad drive shaft. Luckily for me, my mechanic got a rebuilt one for much, much less than the dealer charged. I also put in a new headliner (I got a very good deal since I called several shops to compare prices). I also got the leather reconditioned. This turned out great on the back seats but the front ones will probably need to be reupholstered sooner or later. The car is in otherwise good shape. The paint only has a couple minor nicks. Then engine runs fine (although the fuel costs are burning a hole in my wallet). Thanks for some great online resources and some practice, I am able to do alot of the maintenence myself, saving mucho dinero.
I don't miss the Mazda for a second (except at the gas pump). The BMW drives rock solid and the 300hp V12 is smooth as silk.
You can see pictures here.