Car of the Month

June 2009

Dave and Sue Burnett's "71 TOURING"

Want to see your 02 featured here (any condition as long as there's a story)?

Email me any 02, any condition richstern@hotmail.com

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Australia, being a long way from Germany (and most other places for that matter), has it's drawbacks and one of those is that in the early years of BMW, we here in the South Pacific did not seem to be a large enough market for BMW to export a wide selection of cars too.
One of the model cars we did not receive as an official import was the "Touring" in any of its guises. There were personal imports of the "Touring" from the UK, but only in very small numbers.

Sue and I first saw a "Touring" in the flesh in 1978 while travelling through Triberg, in the Black Forrest, Germany. Being the BMW enthusiasts that we are we stopped, then backed up for a more detailed look. Sue said, "I love it, I want one". It has taken 27 years and many other BMWs since then, but now she has one.

In April 2005 we purchased our car from a BMW Clubs Australia member in Melbourne, Victoria. The dreaded rust had taken over the internal floor area, but the rest of the body was in fair to reasonable nick.

Firstly, all parts that could be removed were, leaving a bare shell, which was carefully sand blasted then etched primed. New floor panels were fitted and all other rust removed, including some in the rear hatch area around the fuel tank.

Steel flares were fabricated onto the guards, front and rear.

An aluminium fuel tank was fabricated to replace the rusted original tank.

Recaro seats, new carpets, hood lining, door cards, seat belts, reconstructed dash and Momo wheel replaced the worn-out or tatty original pieces. The rear seats were then retrimmed to match the fronts.

Ventilated, drilled and grooved 255mm. rotors with Girling 4 pot callipers, along with Stainless brake lines throughout. Rear discs about to be fitted.

The wheels are 15"x 7" fitted with 195x55x15 tyres. Bilstein sport dampers, lowered progressive springs, adjustable "K Mac" strut tops, 22/19 mm adjustable sway bars, Urethane bushings throughout.

The original engine was replaced with a rebuilt, 2.3lt, twin 40mm. Webers (36mm chokes), 292 Deg. cam, billet rockers, modified head, large bore exhaust, longer rods and Electronic Ignition. A 5 speed overdrive gearbox and a limited slip (50%) 3.9:1 ratio were fitted.

Summing up:
Exactly one year, one month and one week after flying to Melbourne, driving the 1800 or so klms. back home to the Gold Coast, Queensland, the finished product was registered and taken on its first trip.The wait has been worth it when you see and feel the final result. The steering is a little heavy for Sue around town, but once up to highway speeds the true nature of the car is revealed, sure-footed and quite fast.
The car is mostly used for Club events and week-ends away in the country.
Sue and I have made a decision that the car will be part of our family from now on, although it's next keeper has not yet been identified.

Dave & Sue Burnett
Palm Beach, Gold Coast
Australia

dsburn@bigpond.net.au