You will make a lemon juice, or at least you will try. That's what happened with me at 2014 when I spotted a cheap biimer on German car market and I knew it immediately that I have to import it to Estonia. Back then I had no idea how to make it happen but I gave it shot anyway and contacted with owner who was extremely helpful and gave me all information I needed to take this leap on fate. Of course during our conversation it came out that generator was also f*** so I sourced locally one cheap from junkyard, booked the flight to Berlin and off I went alone to buy my second car with zero knowledge in my pocket.
The car looked decent and honest, so without thinking too long I contacted the owner, who — miracle of miracles — replied right away (in my experience nobody in Germany bothers to answer your emails). A quick chat revealed that all it needed to get moving was a new alternator. And so I jumped head first into unknown waters without asking myself whether it was a smart move. I bought a cheap used diesel alternator from a scrapyard, strapped it into my backpack and got on a plane without really thinking it through.
So there I was, standing next to this rust bucket near Rosenheim and praying that everything will go well and generator will be the only problem- there was no plan B. Few hours hassle thanks to poor selection of tools and genie was changed, car was up and running with no issues.
The next morning. After a lot of fiddling I did get it done (which in itself was a miracle :D) and within a few hours the car was back together and running. I let the owner take a last drive into town and back, and after lunch I was finally on my way, heading straight for Poland. So there I was, cruising happily through the middle of Poland, glad the thing was running, when the battery light came on again :D. My stomach turned — I thought the old wreck had died on the road after all — but luckily a quick inspection showed the alternator's exciter wire had come loose, a quick and easy fix.
Since it was a low-budget project, the plan was to save on fuel as much as possible. A quick fill-up in the last Polish town, Suwałki, and I drove straight into a speed trap just before the town limit :D. The police were clever enough to measure speed before the end-of-town sign rather than after it, and I, fool that I was, saw there was no town left in sight and floored it. They pulled me over, took my licence and politely explained that getting it back would cost about 200 złoty (50 euros) — and I could exchange the money at the very petrol station I had just left :D. Looking back it was a fairly mild fine, since I was doing 86 where only 50 was allowed.
Back in Estonia, once the first excitement had worn off, I quickly realised there were two options — sell the car as it was, or make my life difficult, replace the sills and repaint the whole car. Obviously simple, logical solutions are no fun and I had to run the gauntlet :D. A quick shopping list and the money was on the table.
For me it was a start from zero; luckily a friend of mine had some idea of what to do, and with his help we got going. The process was exciting and what I learned was priceless. We made plenty of mistakes too, but we overcame all of them and the end result was even acceptable. The project gave me such momentum that for the next couple of years I kept improving my car-painting knowledge and practising on quite a few projects.
I didn't change the colour — the car was sprayed in the same shade it left the factory in, BMW's Madeira Violet. And as often happens with firsts, it became one of my favourite colours :D.
Although the project didn't pay off financially, the experience was priceless and gave wings to everything I did afterwards. I definitely recommend trying these paths yourself!
A few lessons learned:
- It is possible to bring a car from Germany to Estonia without export plates, using only a sales contract (at least it was back then). In most cases, though, owners don't want to hear about it and would rather arrange export plates for you. It's probably much easier to buy from bigger car dealers.
- Nitro thinner is not meant for cleaning a surface before painting :D. It leaves residue behind, which can make the paint go hazy afterwards. Always use silicone remover, which leaves no residue!