My Road to Madness

[Helios]

An opportunity of a lifetime presented itself. Against all rational thought I pulled the trigger and followed my heart.



I've actually been thinking back the past couple days trying to piece together exactly how I got here. And in all reality, it was just a bunch of random chance encounters along w/ aligning of the planets. I guess it all started a couple years ago when somehow a discussion about Cosworth Sierras came up (one of my all-time favorite cars) on a Facebook group I had gotten drug into. Ended up chatting back and forth with a couple guys, and afterwards I got a friend request from one of the guys (let's call him Bob). Messaged my buddy, "Do you know who the hell this guy is?" "Holy shit, accept. He's a mucky muck at a major suspension manufacturer. Good people to know. He's very selective about requests he accepts...and forget about sending requests, it's almost unheard of." How much he was exaggerating, only he actually knows. Bob's also into VWs so we'd run into each other periodically at meets & shows. Over time I'd come to learn he used to be a Ford tech and was basically caretaker for 3 Cosworth Escorts for a guy.

Fast forward to January 2014, and my purchase of the E34 M5...that I had bought as a long term "collectible" car. Found out Bob had owned one in the past and that it was one of his favorite cars he's owned...and he has been through more than a few. Turns out we actually had very similar tastes in cars...with no brand or continental borders. About 2 weeks after I purchased the M5, Bob mentions that the owner of the Cossies was toying w/ the idea of condensing the fleet with one coming available in the next 18 months or so, and if I would be interested? Would I!? But come on, why on earth would someone who loves the cars want to part with them? And to be honest, I really didn't think it would come up inside of what I was willing to spend, if it even came up at all. But in the back of my mind, I told myself if by some miracle the car did become available and within a set $$$ amount that I would do everything within my power to get my hands on it. Moving onto March when the "routine" timing chain & clutch service on the Corrado went south...and pretty much turned into a 3/4 build with some of the semi-crazy plans. My buddy Ben said he was going to add Bob to the FB message group I had set up to post updates & roadblocks of the build. "He likes shit like this." And so my summer was spent trying to make headway on the Corrado, not realizing that he was possibly taking notes on decisions I was making regarding processes & part selections as a possible Cossie owner candidate.

Fast forward to August, and I get the call... "He decided to do it...rather his wife probably forced him to do it." "You should come out this weekend and look at the car, I'll get a battery charged up." Umm, ok! The owner graciously gave me some time to try to sell some cars to partially fund the Cossie. Over the next couple weeks we nailed down a final price and detirmined what spares were going to come with the car (big one was the windsheild...as it needed one desprately). Finally come December, I hadn't had any serious bites on the M5 so sat down to do the math...and figure out just how serious I was about this. Contacted Bob (who was acting as broker on the deal), and told him screw it...the owner had been gracious enough to give me some time before putting the car on the open market, I was going to go ahead and acquire the funds for it. Found out the owner was heading out of state for the holidays, and would be in touch w/ Bob when he got back.

Then last Sunday afternoon I got the call. "Come on out here and pick up your Cossie!"

So yeah, it's actually been in the works for a long time. And who would've considered a series of seemingly insignificent chance encounters would connect to these dots. It still doesn't seem possible. Somebody pinch me.



BTW, you guys here are the only automotive forum that I plan on sharing this with. I like you guys. This place is low key, it's about the cars, the passion and the people...not a dick swinging contest like so many forums & groups can turn into. Cheers for keeping this place enjoyable to hang out in.

[Helios]

116500 miles

Factory options equipped on the car at the time of sale:
- sunroof
- cloth Recaro sport seats
- aero delete option

Current mods at time of sale:
- H&R coilovers
- Tarox 6 pot front binders
- Mongoose 3" turbo back exhaust
- 16" OZ Racing wheels (possibly old-school Ford Motorsport...need to pull one to verify)
- Morette dual round headlamps
- aftermarket intake
- aftermarket wastegate
- manual boost controller

Extras w/ the car:
- B&M short shifter
- extra OE grille
- replacement windscreen
- rear high-mount wing (already painted to match)

I'll update as things progress...though to be honest, I don't have crazy plans for it. I just want to maintain it, consider some reliability mods and enjoy.

[Mr.Nobody]

So extremely jealous!

[buddylove]

Wow, definitely looking forward to more updates. Always loved Cosy's!

[alxdgr8]

Love it!

[joel]

so is the m5 still for sale?

[Helios]

Yes, yes it is. And if you're interested...we'll talk.

[joel]

I'm interested... but my bank account is not, and neither is my wife

[Helios]

Kinda what I figured...otherwise I would've bugged you about it earlier. Cause I'd let you have it for what I paid for it.

[joel]

if you could just keep it for a few years... it might work out

honestly, I'd love to have it, but it just doesn't make sense right now. It hurts me a bit to admit that

[girdwood]

Awesome story! I'm glad it all worked out the way it did. I also wish I could buy your E34 M5 as it is a dream car of mine, but with the rental I'm in now, I have nowhere to put it. And those wheels are killer. Want to sell those? Haha

[Helios]

Lamin-x showed up today, and I found myself with a little free time this evening.

Before:


After lights off:


After lights on:

[joel]

Err... corner light change?

[buddylove]

Looks like it. Smoking the fogs too?

[Helios]

Yeah, just added smoked lamin-x to the corners so they weren't so distracting to the front end. The fog lights will actually be going away, and a set of RS500 grilles & brake ducts will find thier way there. And if all goes to plan, I should be picking up the rear wing tomorrow afternoon.

A little better pic w/o the flash.

[Helios]

Picked up the rear upper spoiler yesterday. Unfortunately the center pedistal had gotten damaged during shipping, however fortunately it was a clean breat at the adhesive joint where the pedistal meets the wing element. After doing a little test fit to make sure I wanted to install it, I was able to clean up and re-epoxy the joint. Hopefully I'll be able to install it this week...however I will need to pick up some hardware and some rubber pad material to place between the wing & hatch contact points.

[Mr.Nobody]

Nice!

[Helios]

And I just received a quote from Panther Precision Machine for refinish work on the OZs. That is probably going to happen w/ the tax return, as it's going to be 1/2 the cost of trying to get my hands on a set of 17" Compos that I'm going to ultimately want...and I'm going to need tires this year as well. If I had the M5 sold, I would probably pursue the Compo route a bit more aggresively, but saving $8-900 right now is a good thing.

[joel]

that wing changes the car quite a bit

[joel]

the amount of power it has interests me... power-to-weight is similar to my M3 right now. Did the car have more powerful engines at any point?

[Helios]

Nope. In factory trim they were 220-227 pending configuration. Though the early BT cars were designed so you could add another 100hp just by sneezing at it. Not so much on the ST cars...due primarily to the EEC-IV engine management.

[joel]

I see

are you planning on showing the car off in the near future?

[buddylove]

Maybe one of these days, we should actually try to do PNW Fahren meetups in obscure locations.

[Helios]

My goal is to bring it to Caffeine & Gasoline for February, assuming weather cooperates. I was actually going to shoot you a message this week to give you a heads up. I'm hoping the front lip makes it here before then so I can get it installed.

Assuming I don't break it before then. Then it goes up on jack stands while I run the wheels up to Panther Machine (as soon as tax return arrives), and toss in some motor mounts & fluid changes.

[Helios]

Oh, and rear under tray + rear wing + wet roads = rooster tail.