Rachel Green

By Gavin Dowse

Jennifer Aniston is a soon to be mother who still looks absolutely flawless even after 45 years. Joe's BMW still looks awesome as the body has not fallen to the sands of times 21 years later. BMW is a German based automotive group that specializes in luxury automobiles as well as motorcycles. The deep impressionable lines that flow with vintage BMW's as well as their wonderful driving dynamic make them very capable cars. Joe Anderson is a very close friend of mine that has been around the boyz for going on 5 years. Joe and I are both are very driven individuals and both of our cars reflect the time and effort we have put into them. Joe's first car was just a bit to old to be on pace with Jenifer Anistons acting career but they share the similar characteristics; age, body lines and are both flawless smoke shows, etc. Jen walked down the Oscars last year sporting a sexy red dress while a few months later Joe found his all red beauty too.

Joe Anderson fit in just right with us. He like the rest of us spends his free time drinking beers, gambling and hooning in his BMW. The subject is one red number, a 1993 BMW 325is. Its a red on black car with a 5 speed of course. To quote Matt Fararh from his show //Tuned; "If a car is a sum of its parts, then Joe's E36 325is is a schizophrenic homeless man." 

If you know anything about old German cars is that they're ridden with gremlins. And unfortunately if you have bought a neglected German car you already know it SUCKS! Old German car problems root deep into the fabrics of the car. Per example once upon a time in high school, they blossomed senior year from a uh-ga-ly caterpillar to a smoke show and a half. Unfortunately there is not enough time left in high school to achieve maximum attention levels that they so hungrily crave. So once a college freshman they bang every guy who shows even the minimalist amount of affection. Being past around from owner to owner something has to give. Eventually serving up with a hysterical mental break down and are then put on the inter-webs and sold for pennies as a "project with no time to finish." Trust me...


Joe bought this car for what was originally a good deal, minus the lack there of even a single sheet of maintenance or the fact the title did not line up with who sold him the car. The the first real drive was a 2 hour drive home with an intermittent check engine light and constant SRS beep. Once home after that Joe was hooked. Fast forwards 1.5x what he paid and the idle issue has become very pro dominate.


Immediately a plethora of new parts is slowly bringing this car back to a non neglected state; a full front end rebuild, oem suspension components, clutch work, cooling system and a lot of gaskets. Joe and I have spent countless hours working and redneck tuning his car. From idle issues to broken suspension components we have seen it all. Joe does have a very wonderful short throw shifter and CAI that makes this car so much more fun to drive. This car draws a mixture of emotions ranging from love to wanting to set it on fire.

Driving my Passat and the 325is are incomparable with the massive difference in driving dynamics. It is comparing apples to dog food really. The Passat is more fresh and tight but the dead power steering and chassis is a boner killer as new cars are not tried and true driving cars. These older more redefined BMW's really show what these newer generations lack. The last of the dying breed of really good driving cars are among the VW GTI, Scion FR-S and the Mazda MX-5 Miata. The E36's whole chassis will out perform most of what BMW has put out in the decade following the last E46 on any autox course. Late model //M3's can make 500 whp without blinking but there's something about this car that stems from the lack of fully functional seat belts, abs or traction controlled anything. A true drivers car.

It could be the lack of a tilting steering wheel, disintegrating electronics or the fear of the on board computer that lets you know everything is wrong with your car all of the time. But throughout the major fears, once over come, this cars limit is practically up to to the driver. By that it means if you're crazy enough to push this car up and beyond its limits the results are unexpected. Running at 100% stacked busses on the Passat.

Unfortunatly the lack of photos is due to the blown motor. Mike and I couldnt move the car to our location so the photo shoot never happen. And thee saddest part is she was sold to a CT native for pennies.