ot-another snow story

[525i winter driver]

so i was at a scrapyard 50km north of here to pick up a windshield that had been pulled for me. not a beautiful piece of glass (not oem i'm pretty sure, it's blue on top?) but i don't care i can't afford a new windshield right now, whatever... so anyway i asked if i could poke around the car and they direct me to this tiny guy (like maybe 5') who takes me out to the back. the whole place was completely buried under 10 feet of snow it was unreal like a snow maze or something, i wish i'd had my camera. i'm guessing 6-800 cars but i could be way off it's tough to guess - there was a plow working nonstop to clear paths between the rows. the car my glass came from had been pulled out and was sitting on top of a big pile of snow presumably with a car underneath and we climbed on top of it to have a look (i was looking mainly for the console) but it was trashed so i (without really thinking) asked if there were any others. the guy squints his eyes up and looks about four rows away and counts with his finger "...quatre, cinq, six... la c'est un 89". so i'm totally amused and impressed at the same time and we get into the little beater car and drive through the maze to the pile of snow and dig at the front for a bit (it was cleared by the plow almost within a foot to the front of the car) and eventually uncover an e34 signal light - he pulls out a shovel and we clear a hole to the drivers window which is open and i climb half in and pull out the console which i'm hoping was a super-lucky find (see this current thread).

anyway i was just really impressed that this guy had an accurate roadmap of all of the cars buried in the lot. he could only see the yard properly by climbing on top of a car or two and even the snow on top of the cars almost came up to his (well and mine too i'm not too big) waist. i've had the misfortune of needing to visit a few scrapyards this winter which has been totally ridiculous this year. i can't imagine doing that job. it's so ridiculous i'm still waiting for a trunk lock to come out from six feet on the south shore. buying a 20 yr old recently-poorly-maintained (but garage kept that's what sold me whoops) and making it through this winter (so far haven't made it yet) has turned out to be one of my greatest adventures ever! (thanks again for all the help!)

[rreimund]

Nice..
btw.. What's wrong with your windshield? If there's a crack in it or something you may be able to go through your insurance company if you have glass coverage. On my insurance there's no deductible and filing a claim does not increase your premiums down the road. I had a huge scratch on mine from where the windshield arm was run without a wiper (WTF?) by the previous owner. They replaced it with a new OEM one - no charge.. couldn't be happier. I was in the same boat as you - I couldn't afford a new windshield either.

[525i winter driver]

Nice..
btw.. What's wrong with your windshield? If there's a crack in it or something you may be able to go through your insurance company if you have glass coverage. On my insurance there's no deductible and filing a claim does not increase your premiums down the road. I had a huge scratch on mine from where the windshield arm was run without a wiper (WTF?) by the previous owner. They replaced it with a new OEM one - no charge.. couldn't be happier. I was in the same boat as you - I couldn't afford a new windshield either.

nawww no coverage actually i'm switching insurance and this is bad timing. it was cracked when i bought it not fixable but really minor. i have put a lot of things on the backburner this winter cause of all the problems i had - i was going to deal with it more leisurely this summer. it lasted all winter and didn't grow the tiniest bit but a couple weeks ago a brand new crack appeared and it's suddenly getting very urgent. both my old windshield and the 'new' one have exactly the same scratch you mention someone using the wipers with no blade ARE WE REALLY THAT STUPID?????? if i was getting a new w/s i'd want to buy that titanium trim (or is it plastic... how much was that again? no really. come on... are you kidding me? for one side are you out of your freakin' mind?) too so right now i'm going legal "that's it, that's all" install. gotta be a way to buff out that scratch a bit, no?

[Dave M]

Wow, unreal how he even knew it was an '89'.

Good story,

Dave

[BMWDriver]

Hey, where's this ? I might want to go and scrounge around for bits and pieces moé itou !

[BMWDriver]

Hm... I remember sending them an e-mail once for wheels, but no luck. Then again, I was too specific, i.e. for e34 only.

[525i winter driver]

Hey, where's this ? I might want to go and scrounge around for bits and pieces moé itou !

GRAVEL 1-866-666-7638

it's in ste-sophie just east of st-jerome

they have two e34s both 89 525s i think.

you can't miss the silver w/ charcoal (dark grey?) interior, it's the highest car in the lot. the other one (black on black i think) is three or four rows over and there was enough sticking out so you'd be able to see it, especially since the last couple of days a lot has probably melted away. they said they had an e32 as well. if you're going to poke around i think a few more of these almost springlike days ought to make it a lot easier to scrounge around, although they have made it doable for sure.

this place is the best place for montrealers i hear but i've never been there http://www.recyclagest-bruno.com/main.cfm?p=10&l=fr

[525i winter driver]

Hm... I remember sending them an e-mail once for wheels, but no luck. Then again, I was too specific, i.e. for e34 only.

i wouldn't bother e-mailing st bruno (that's who you mean by 'them' right?) just call them they are bound to have wheels. there are mags on craigslist all the time too.