It started about two years ago. Let me back up… It started about 21 years ago, as you may know from my previous article entitled “The BMW and the Hooptie, An Enthusiasts Story.” My first car was a 1975 BMW 2002. Since then, I’ve always had a love for the 2002. Not the most practical of things for the Midwest climate, but they sure do make fun sunny day cars in the summer months.
So about two years ago, I found a 1976 Agave Green 2002 for sale in southeastern Wisconsin. I remember it vividly because my wife had a girl’s night at our house, so I was kindly instructed to take our two children over to my brothers house for the evening. He was kind enough to let us all sleep in his basement…. As I lay there awake on his half inflated air mattress, my coping mechanism was to feverishly search the internet for BMWs on my phone.
When I was younger, I was willing to travel all over the United States to find ”the right car.” In fact, I’ve been as far West as California, south as Florida, east as New Jersey, and north as the UP to buy cars. Unfortunately, the older I get–and the larger my family gets–the less interested I am in traveling all over the place on car missions. As a result, most of my searches entail a “distance nearest first” search filter to help with the acquisition of any car.
I was pleased when it popped up in my search. The 1976 Agave was located about an hour from my house. It had reportedly been stored outside for some time, and as a result had some issues with the paint. The listing had a cell phone number in it, so I began texting with the owner. I asked him the standard questions. They usually start with something like, “any rust, or accident history”? If the car passes those two tests, my interest level begins to rise. The next questions involve an attempt to get a better idea about the car’s maintenance and general aesthetics. I usually ask about any maintenance records that come along with the car. How the shocks, brakes, and exhaust are. If the body has any dents or scratches. It ends up being quite a grueling list of questions for any particular seller, but once we’re through them, I’m usually pretty certain that I will buy the car if I can get there in person. From that point, I begin negotiating on price given that I have a pretty good idea about the generalities of the car. In fact, as a general rule, I don’t like to mess with the price in person unless something is drastically different and misrepresented. I prefer to come to some sort of an agreement before I even go and look at any particular car. This ‘76 checked all the right boxes, and from that point it was only down to price.
I remember asking the seller how flexible he might be, and at that time he said “not very”. I thanked him and asked him to keep me in mind as the sale process proceeded. Fast forward several months and the car was still hanging around. In fact, the seller was getting ready to move, and the car was going to stay in southeastern WI with his folks. I got back in touch and made an offer. I remember thinking he wouldn’t take it. However, when you’ve moved on geographically, it is sometimes better to just cut ties and let go. So, he agreed to my price, and we set up a time for me to go and see/buy it.
Like any car guy can attest, my hobby has a tendency of getting in the way of some family time. That particular Sunday was a birthday party for my nephew. I sweet talked my wife Lisa into agreeing to swing through the party with me first and then go buy the 2002. By the time we actually made it there it was dusk. Something I’ve neglected to mention up until this point is that the car had some electrical gremlins… I agreed to purchase the car, but that one hour drive home was a bit hairy. The car had headlights, but no instrument lights and no taillights. Lisa followed as close behind as she could, but it was pretty dicey on those dark winding country roads, and she was not too thrilled with me by the time we made it home.
As with most people that spend any amount of time around cars, I have several “guys” for car related stuff. I have a “detailer guy” and a “dent guy”. I called both of them the following week, and scheduled times for them to come out and work on the ‘76. My Detailer was able to get most of the signs of outdoor storage removed from the car. It actually shined up very nicely. My Dent guy was able to remove most, if not all, of the door dings using the PDR process. Those two acts were enough to really add some brilliance to the car. I worked on it a bit more, and did some interior fixes as well as some brake work. By this point, it was getting pretty late in the season, and I was almost ready put it away for the winter.
As some of you know about me, I’m an avid M3 enthusiast. As a result, I have a borderline obsessive daily search that takes place. It ends up being an almost nationwide hunt for the particular cars that I love, as well as the parts that help them to run and drive. I was actually sitting in a McDonald’s play place with my family when I found 10 Brooks on the inter-webs. The listing was pretty brief, but it discussed a 1988 Lachsilber M3 that had a 2.5L engine rebuild from the well known Ron Checca, as well as a huge documented repair history. It was located in SC, so not exactly next door.
I started by texting the seller – DS. I asked my gauntlet of questions, and came out the other side fairly unscathed. DS had owned the car for about seven years. He had purchased it from the widow of his best friend, who interestingly enough purchased it brand new for her husband as an anniversary gift. (Lisa, take notes…)
The purchase would include all of the history, and receipts of anything and everything done to the car, as well as the name 10 Brooks. I was very interested! At this point though, we still had the small topic of money to work out. The dollar value that DS was asking for the car seemed fair for the market, but was by no means easy to choke down. I went back-and-forth with him a bit, and ended up in a rather tongue-and-cheek fashion asking him if he would take a trade for a 2002. He said no, but came back and asked me about the car out of curiosity. I told him it was a 1976 Agave 2002 with several performance upgrades. DS got back to me, and much to my surprise, asked me to send him some photos and specifics on the car. I sent over some recent post-detailing photos. I could NOT believe it, but he was actually interested in a potential trade. We were still a couple thousand dollars apart, but I figured that we were within striking distance and we proceeded down the path of negotiations.
I explained to DS that I was the father of young children, and it was pretty hard for me to get away. Given that the car wasn’t exactly next-door, I asked him if he would be willing to meet me about halfway. At the time I had a truck, and could rent a trailer to make the trip. He thought about it overnight, and agreed that he could meet me about 12 hours from my house. I started doing the mental gymnastics of figuring out the the purchase and pick up, as well as the money bit. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it would be very hard for me to do by myself. I remember lying in bed that night running through the potential scenarios, and felt very uneasy about it. The next morning, I texted DS and told him that I was sorry, but I just couldn’t quite pay what he was asking, or make the trip to pick up the car. He seemed pretty bummed about it, but understood.
That day was spent trying to figure out if I made the right decision. Ultimately I knew that the money was a bit much, and the drive would have really taken it out of me. I went to bed that night feeling fairly confident in my decision…
The next morning I got a text from DS. He was willing to take another $2000 off the price, as well as deliver the car all the way up to Wisconsin! I was absolutely floored. I could not believe that he was willing to do this. I thought about it for the rest of the morning, talked it over with Lisa, and agreed to purchase the car. I sent him $1000 via PayPal as a goodwill gesture /deposit and we had a deal in the making.
DS was able to bring the car up to me about a week later with his cousin, a diesel truck and a trailer. I was so excited I could barely stand it. We planned on having the two over for dinner and some drinks to discuss cars after the exchange was made. About an hour and a half before he was supposed to arrive, I got a text from DS saying that he was having some ”trailer trouble.” Turns out one of the wheel bearings had locked up. It took him about four hours to get the right parts and get it all repaired. I offered to drive down to help try to fix it, but he said they were more than capable of handling this type of thing. Needless to say, they arrived quite a bit later than originally intended.
When the guys pulled up to the house, I went out to meet them. Even in the dark, I could tell that this was a special car. DS fired it up, and I felt like it was going to wake up the entire neighborhood! It was low and loud enough to give me goose bumps. I didn’t even drive it. I wanted it. It had to be mine.
At this point, we walked into my garage and I showed him the ‘76. He was smitten. Big smiles all around and lots of handshakes. I wasn’t able to have him in for drinks and dinner that evening, because by this point it was about 11:30PM and they wanted to get back on the road. As he was loading the ‘76 onto his trailer, I asked him where the name 10 Brooks came from. It turns out, it’s from an old country song by Bill Monroe entitled “Molly and Tenbrooks.” The song discusses a racehorse that reminded the original owner of how the M3 could make its way around a racetrack. DS couldn’t believe that I had never heard of the song…. I explained that it must be a geographical thing…
Lastly, I asked DS why he had a sudden change of heart in his willingness to take a trade for the ‘76. He told me that the original owner of 10 Brooks had two BMW’s–10 Brooks, and a 1976 Agave 2002. He was doubting his decision to let go of his best friend’s prized possession, and when I told him the car I hoped to trade, the serendipity of it all was too much to ignore. It was meant to be!
I love that kind of thing! In my opinion, the story is half of the fun in any car purchase. When we get down to it, the cars that we drive are a passion, but the relationships and memories that we gain are priceless!
