Reader Submissions: 1985 BMW 635CSi

1985 BMW 635CSi

By Petrolicious
September 5, 2013

Owner: Camilo Delay

Location: California

Year, Make & Model: 1985 BMW 635CSi

A car enthusiast since childhood, Camilo Delay knew that his first car need not be a boring one, so he went searching specifically for a 635CSi. He found this one as a steal at $1,750. It’s a delphin-metallic 5-speed on H&R Springs/Bilstein Shocks with leather sport seats, an M30B35 from a 1992 735i and approximately 320,000 chassis miles and 160,000 engine miles.

Camilo’s favorite feature of the car is how the front always looks completely angry. The shape of the front end is perfect in his eyes, and whenever he let’s someone else drive his car, he sees it and is reminded just how sharky and shiny it looks.

Although Camilo most frequently uses his car as a fast cruser, this San Francisco Bay Area native, loves driving his car on Highway 1 along the coast, because the car feels fairly at home on the twisty mountainside.

Usually a stock hood is installed on the car, but occasionally he swaps it out for a chalkboard hood that he bought from a junkyard for $60 and refinished with chalkboard paint. When the chalkboard hood is installed, sometimes Camilo takes the car and parks it in downtown Palo Alto, leaving loose pieces of chalk on the hood. When he later returns to the car, he enjoys seeing what drawings and messages the people of Palo Alto have left for him. People gather around get the spectacle, adding their own images and taking pictures.

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Photography by Camilo Delay

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Chris Saddler Sam
Chris Saddler Sam
11 years ago

beautiful car!!!

but hei, camilo, what about that exhaust? 🙂

Michael Springer
Michael Springer
11 years ago

1750$? That’s possible in california? Here, in the country where the car is originated from, you’d get one that’s ready for the scrapyard.

Stunning first car.

Camilo Delay
Camilo Delay
11 years ago

It DID have an engine that wouldn’t pass smog. The engine was then replaced (among many other things) which cost a bit more than I’d paid for the car. But even for the ~$3500 it had cost after that, it was worth it. At this point I have around $10,000 in the car.

Michael Springer
Michael Springer
11 years ago
Reply to  Camilo Delay

Okay, thanks for the answer.
Still, that’s one awesome story.

Ae Neuman
Ae Neuman
11 years ago

a fantastic original 6 series in one of the best colors.
why are big bimmer coupes like the 6- and 8- series so under-rated ?

RS Anthony
RS Anthony
11 years ago
Reply to  Ae Neuman

So enthusiasts like us can buy them without having to sell the house and kids. Don’t complain, mate 😉

CJ David
CJ David
11 years ago
Reply to  RS Anthony

They were also pretty expensive when new. While 6s/8s are really good looking cars, they’re not as drop dead sexy as the e9 coupes (I say this as a current e24 owner). They’re also still too “new” to be considered genuine classics by most folks. And to some, they don’t handle as well as a comparable 5 series.

I’ve owned an e28 535is, sold it to buy my e24. The e24 will never be sold.

Samuel Salzinger
Samuel Salzinger
11 years ago

BayVaria! One of the cleaner E24s out there.

Amir Prses
Amir Prses
11 years ago

chalkboard idea is cool for the idea people can share their feelings on it, but I’d keep the original hood 24/7 on.

as a first car, super baller. most kids are driving hand-me-down tasteless POS econobox toyota camries/corollas. nothing like the M30

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