Hi I'm new to this site, but I've been a CCA member since 2005. I live in Evanston, IL (first town north of Chicago on Lake Michigan). I drive a 1993 325i, Burgundy/Tan leather, 5-speed, 170k. My wife and I call her "Heidi". I got into BMWs when my GF(now my wife)'s cousin was in a parking lot accident in his '87 535is (silver/black leather 205k). I bought it for $350 and started reading online. I quickly realized what I had and started trying to resurrect it. I bought a parts car ('85 528i white) and started tearing into it. The project dragged on, and I finally had to give up (I was moving out of the state for grad school). I had the parts car hauled off, sold the interior and wheels to one buyer, someone else wanted the engine and transmission so I told him to take the whole thing. I ended up making about $100 all told, but I was hooked on the Bavarian. My wife and I moved to Minnesota and wanted to cut it down to one car. We sold hers and my '89 Volvo 740 (black wagon 195k!!) and bought the 325i. That's when I joined the club. I didn't have any money, but I went to the BBQs and the Garage Tours and finally a winter driving school. Now that I'm back in Chicago I'll start Autocrossing with the Windy City Chapter (I can afford that). I do most work myself. The clubs been great for that; lots of really helpful people and some good friends. Anyway, that's me. Cheers, -- Aubrey Granner
Hi Aubrey, Welcome to the site. The Windy City is certainly an active chapter so they will keep you as busy as you want to be! I've been an owner for 10 years and a member for 6. Bev and I are very active in the chapter, and we currently seem to be going backwards... our 2000 has 160K miles on it then we picked up the 97 M3 with 96K for Bev, and last month we grabbed the 635 Euro with 73K. We want to be able to learn to work on them and figured a low cost low mile shark would be fun! Come see us at the Glen..
what really impressed me about the club, was during my 2nd driver's school at Nelsons Ledges in NE Ohio. I was new'n'clueless to the scene, but had been driving too hard, to the point where the cooling-fan on my alternator had sawed thru my upper radiator hose, leaving me spilled & undrive-able. Some guy that I'd met for the 1st time at the driver's meeting on the previous morning made it his personal mission to get me fixed up - he blew off 1 or 2 of his own track-time sessions to drive over to a local mall & buy me a temp hose-repair kit & several gallons of coolant, & then he violently refused that I even needed to re-pay him for his expense - "Let's see if this works to get you back home OK" was his only concern. Well that was enough for me to decide that mebbe the whole bmw-club scene was a bit more special than i'd thought - & how his generosity to me was a perfect example of how I could be a contributing member of my local chapter.
