Our last Showdown was long, long ago, but still in this galaxy. Based on the results there, a sister blog of Beeriverse has some potential.

Today, we’re keeping things a bit more practical. Run of the mill sedans for surprisingly cheap prices. At first, these two seem worlds apart: the Bavarian precision of the e12 528i Vs Grandpa’s Barge-y Yank Tank. But when you get down to it, both have a lot in common: roughly 400lb engines dating back to the 60s, staid styling, remarkably clean interiors for their ages, and both are a generation behind the more popular versions of their models.

Not unlike a certain turbo terror, this find may or may not have been the result of searching for cheap would-be donor BMWs for Der Uberbird. Typically the hunt for a would-be donor fades into and “hey…that’s crazy cheap for a pretty nice Bimmer…and I totally know how to work on it or where to get parts“. You could easily replace the 170-ish horsepower 2.8L M30B28 with a snappy 220hp (more if it’s chipped) M30B35 out of a late-80s 535 or 735. (Not that I’d know anything about such a swap).

For those who haven’t recently been up to their neck in early 80s BMWs, I’ll point out that the e12 chassis is a nice mix of refinement and simplicity. Parts can be a bit trickier to find than the later e28 chassis 5-ers, but only for suspension pieces. This one has clean paint (in a shade I don’t normally like, but it works here), a recently rebuilt motor, and a remarkably well-kept interior for the price.
1980 528i – $1550 Inland Empire Craigslist
Ummm, yeah. Swapping in “the good motor” to get 220hp sounds a bit silly when you’ve got five liters of Windsor-sourced power and a Summit catalog on the toilet tank. 320hp is more like it. Wanna talk about parts interchangeability? How about a platform that’s 3 years older than I am, and a small-block motor design dating to the late 50s? Besides, don’t tell me this brick of a Ford can’t be made to handle, just check out this other ’89 tearing it up on the autocross circuit. For all the high-and-mighty talk about refinement and German this or that, you could be hooning it up with 3-wide seating and a vehicular profile that still commands respect ’round most parts. Build that 5.0L, hang a T-5 or T-56 off of it, and swap in a disk-braked, limited slip 3.73:1 8.8″ rear axle out of an Explorer. Throw on a push-bar for good measure and the world is your Autobahn.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPzs7ElLkmI[/youtube]

1989 Ford Crown Victoria LTD – $1850 Los Angeles Craigslist
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