1972 Chrysler Valiant 225

This was my first car. I bought it in Switserland in 1996 when I lived there for half a year for my final thesis as an aeronautical engineer. I had not a lot of money and because a dream of my was to own a american classic, this was what I could afford. It was "European car" in that it was assembled over here. It had 160.000 km and came complete with all the garage books.

Although I wanted a V8, I liked the 225 slant six engine (the biggest) a lot. After driven it daily for about one and a half year (36.000km/year) the engine broke down. After carefull inspection it turned out to be a broken bearing. Repairing this would have cost me more then a new engine. So I decided to sell the car and go for somehing new. I needed a car to go to work so it had to be bought quick. This is how a came to buy the BMW.

1981 BMW 323i

So I bought this car to go to work. It was a special car. In top shape and had some special features:

325i engine with "chiptuning" (1990)
318 rearend (non-posi :-( ) for fast acceleration

The engine had about 60.000 km driven and was also in top condition. Rated at 200+ hp it had an accelaration of about 5.7 sec for 0-100 km/h. Top was about 235 km/h. (original specs: top 195, 0-100 9.5 sec). This was the cause of quit a lot amazed faces (or was it dissapointed?) from Golf VR6, Subaru 555 and BMW M3 drivers. After driven it about a year the feeling to buy a american classic started again. The search began and ended with the Malibu. In the mean time I have sold the BMW so all my money and time can go to the Malibu.