My introduction to BMW goes back to about 1980 when I went with my wife to visit her sister in Vancouver, Canada. Her brother-in-law, Gerald, had a nice 2800 CS and I had the pleasure of driving it quite a few miles. The experience got me thinking about buying a BMW of my own to replace my Datsun 280Z.
Fast forward a few years to 1984 and our next visit to Vancouver, where I learned that, what appeared on my prior trip, to be a clean 2800 CS had actually been suffering from a severe case of the tin worm. In fact, the rot was so bad that Gerald’s mechanic had pronounced the car unsafe due to weakness in the suspension supports! The cost of repair was enormous and back in ’84 just not justifiable, so Gerald, had replaced his beloved 2800 CS with an E28 528i—5-speed manual, of course.
Soon after my arrival, Gerald, anxious to exercise his new baby, suggested we take a few days for a road trip down into eastern Washington where the roads were interesting and traffic light. I needed little encouragement, especially when Gerald said: “you drive”. Perhaps you may find that strange, but you need to understand that Gerald was mostly a town driver and did not feel comfortable driving at, shall we say, somewhat elevated speeds! He made it clear I was to fully explore the capabilities of the 528i, a task I was quite willing to undertake.
So we head out of town in early morning, heading east. As soon as we hit the open road it was immediately apparent all was not well with the 528. It showed a marked reluctance to rev over 3,500 rpm by coughing and misfiring.
Gerald was mortified and suggested we turn back to find a dealer to make repairs. The thought crossed my mind that all that prior town driving might have fouled the plugs and a good-old Italian tune up might be all that was necessary. So I convinced Gerald that we should press on for a while longer.
I pushed the 5’er hard, up and down the gears, coaxing a few more revs each time. After about 20 miles of seemingly harsh treatment, that big six was purring like a kitten and Gerald was smiling again! We proceeded in grand style. Me showing off rev-matched downshifts and redline upshifts, Gerald enjoying every moment as we swooped across the Cascade mountains.
After a while, we reached the wide open plains to the east where there were five, mile-long straights, and little or no traffic. (I won’t say exactly where, just in case the statute of limitations hasn’t yet been exceeded!) Seeing these roads, Gerald turns to me and says: “I wonder what she’ll do all out?”
“Aye, aye, captain! All ahead flank”!
So, up comes the next long straight and I put pedal to the metal in fifth gear. The speedo creeps up, but runs into a wall at 106 mph and won’t go any higher! Gerald is not amused and fumes “this car is supposed to do 125, something is seriously wrong with it”.
I say “well, maybe there was a slight grade we didn’t notice, we’ll try again on the next straight”.
So said, so done. Up comes the next straight and it looks as flat as a pancake. After two miles of flat out running, 106 mph!
I explain to Gerald “look, its 92 degrees and we are 2,500 feet above sea level, entirely possible the engine isn’t developing full power under these circumstances.” Gerald isn’t buying it and is convinced his baby is seriously ill.
Meanwhile, I get to thinking “wow, this car isn’t pulling enough revs to reach peak power. Maybe, just maybe, I should try fourth gear and see what happens”.
On the next straight, I drop into fourth mash it, and – boom, we flash past 106 all the way to 126! We slow to a more sedate pace, Gerald is happy the 5’er was obviously in good health, all was well.
The whole trip was wonderful. A good car, good roads, good company, and wonderful scenery—can’t ask for much more! Plus, I learned that fifth gear was designed for cruising and I absolutely wanted a BMW, too.
A few months after returning home, I took delivery of my first BMW, an E28 535i. That car stayed in the family for over 300k miles. But that trip in the 528i is what started my long term ownership of BMW cars.
