Dan Crouch BlogSports Car and Motorcycle Enthusiast, Web Consultant, and Niche Publisher.

I was doing some late night surfing on German eBay last night and came across this rare piece: A 2.1L Hartge motor for the e36 3 series and the current bid is only 188 Euros! Check out the pics:

I remember European Car's e36 project from the mid-90's and their rave reviews about this motor. Naturally I went to bed with visions of that badass motor in something like Paul's 2002 project. I should've realized that the price was far too low, but I wanted to believe it could be possible. So this morning I ran the page through Google Translator and discovered this is actually just a display engine and is missing many key internals, like the pistons! Oh well, it was a fun pretending for a little while!

Shop for Hartge parts on eBay right now!

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This year's OVM Vintage Motorcycle Show in Corvallis was great again this year. A perfect 85 degree day with fantastic attendance that Paul, Scott, and I finished with a blast up and down Mary's Peak. Life doesn't get much better does it?!

I'm going to quick post this entry with just pictures as I have a pretty full week ahead. Good thing we got out when we had the chance!

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A Laverda hiding in the parking lot:

A rare BMW R100RS:

A gorgeous BMW R90S in the parking lot:

An early 91 or 92 Ducati 900SS in the parking lot:

A vintage 1970 Ducati 450 For Sale:

A 1971 Honda CB 500 Four. Once upon a time I almost bought one just like this -- except it was totally clapped out. This one was perfect.

A perfect and original Honda CX500 Turbo:

A gorgeous vintage Ducati and exposed bevel gears!

An R90S For Sale at $5950:

And the shot at the top of Mary's Peak to cap off our day:

The entire 2009 OVM Vintage Motorcycle dancrouchblog.com Gallery:

Check out even more pictures at Brad's Blog, Troubadour on a Triumph, for more OVM coverage.

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Are you familiar with this BMW M3 Evo III? Inquiring minds want to know! It was seen most recently in 2004 for sale in Canada by Willz Leasing:

A dancrouchblog.com reader is inquiring about the car and if the owner is interested in taking offers. Good luck!

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As previously mentioned, I've started a new blog on Honda S2000 ownership. It's such a wonderful car and it's easy to find things to write about. Plus, a new author is now helping out with his experiences. Turns out Gabe bought a Silverstone S2000 about the same time I did! He brings a lot of autocross experience to the blog and has a lot of tuning information to share. Our goal is to document our experiences as new owners that might serve as a casual Honda S2000 buyer's guide.

Here are a couple of links I think you'll enjoy:

My Silverstone S2000 Wallpaper:

Honda S2000 Autocross Report:

My First Autocross with the S2000 and Video:

I hope you'll consider stopping by. Let me know if there is anything specifically I could add to make the site or content better. Thanks!

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Paul was one of the organizers behind this year's Euros in the Valley car show. Naturally I had to attend and I was really surprised with the great turnout. Here are my personal favs from the show:

Scirocco MK2 owned by Josh from Sports Car Shop:

Check out the uber rare Zender fan covers! I'm going to have to go back to the VW&Porsche archive to see if I can find an original ad for these. I hear the rims underneath are just as impressive.

Darren's sweet e30 325ic, which has been brought back from the dead, literally! Great job man!

This BMW 3.0CS was in fantastic shape:

I finally got to see Richard's e21 320i that I posted on German Cars For Sale Blog. The first real e21 buyer that comes along is going to buy this car. No negotiation required as $3200 is more than fair!

Paul's Porsche 911SC looks like one of the standouts at this years show:

My personal pick for best of show was this bus. Totally perfect in every way:

Though a close second would be this Sahara BMW 2002:

Here's a gallery of all the cars I took pics of:

Nice event! Looking forward to participating more in the coming year,

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Colt has previously listed his 944 Turbo S Silver Rose on my blog and now he has another outstanding German sports coupe to list: His 1988 BMW M6 on Autotrader.com:

quote from his ad:

Metric Mechanic 3.7L and System 300 exhaust ~330hp with 30K miles on the engine (147K on the car), SplitSecond MAF fuel controller, Dinan Chip, Dinan Cam Gears, BBS RK wheels, SS brake lines, UUC Short shift, Bilstein Sport struts, Suspension Techniques springs, BMPD strut bar, Kenwood CD/AMP/Infinity speakers, Sirius satellite radio, Zimmerman drilled rotors, PBR pads, painted calipers, new battery, light tinting of rear windows, new front spoiler and fog lights, new factory leather on seats and door panels, A/C fully operable, heated seats Fully maintained with comprehensive maintenance records since new- all synthetic trans/LSD/motor/brake/PS, always garaged, I drive 100 miles roundtrip on the freeway- so all highway miles, no accidents; needs nothing until next scheduled maintenance. Also have Frank Fahey track pipe with factory muffler and misc spare parts: old front spoiler, idle control valve, fan clutch, Dinan Stage 1 suspension, original radio, etc. Enthusiast owned- selling to make room in the garage

Check out the price on the Metric Mechanic 3.7 S38 motor. Yeah that's ten grand; not to mention installation. At $17k, this M6 is looking like a really good buy for the e24 enthusiast.

Good luck on the sale Colt!

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Forgive me: I'm guilty of cheating on this blog with a number of other blogs. But before we get too far ahead, let's get caught up on some great looking German Cars and Rare Sport Bikes that have been listed for sale over the past several weeks.

Beautiful 1983 BMW e21 320i For Sale in Oregon - Paul went so far as to say he was almost considering buying this car himself, but was instead inspired to continue the work on his own classic BMW after seeing Richard’s car! Considering he’s only asking $3200, someone should snap this up cheap!

1983 Alpina B9 #312 For Sale in Florida - The $14.5k buy-it-now option seems like a pretty good deal. There are very few real Alpina’s in this country anyway, and this one still has almost all of it’s original details. While I’m not an experienced collector, I have to imagine that 5-10 years from now, this car will have appreciated considerably. Then again, with over 100k miles and an approachable entry price, maybe it would be better to enjoy immediately. Can you imagine the response at your next BMW club day when you roll up in this?!

1985 Honda VFR400 NC24 - First things first, this is not an 85. According to this Wikipedia article, the NC24 wasn’t introduced until 1987, and this bike definitely sports all the important features of the later NC24 model. But when I first saw the listing as an 85, it made me wonder if the 25 year rule works the same way it does for classic cars in the U.S. - no import or registration issues with models not previously imported. Anyone know for sure? Also, was there a Rothmans edition of the NC24? It’s a cool bike for $3500 either way though!

Irish Green Porsches for St. Patrick's Day - As you can probably gather by now, I think the 912 is definitely the better value; especially at $15k! Of course a 912 is not a substitute for a 911. But it’s also not to be dismissed as anything less than a fantastic sports car. Add the fact that this one has an expensive rebuilt motor assembled with such focus and dedication, you can tell that this car is at least 85% of the experience of a 911 of the same era.

Two Very Low Mileage M3’s, $60,000 Each! - Not to play that overused ‘economy’ angle yet again, but these seem like high prices to me in today’s market. On the other hand the owners clearly know the rarity of their cars and are counting on educated and wealthy buyers. Who knows when we’ll see examples like these for sale again.

1986 GSX-R 750R Limited (GSXR750 RG) - Don’t you just love homologation specials?! The very best of everything and no expense spared. And when they’re nearly 25 years old and never raced, AND hardly even ridden, they’re truly a rare find. This one is currently at $12k (appears reserve has been met) with about 4 days to go.

1988 BMW e30 M3 in Diamondschwartz - The owner even has a picture of him doing a compression test on the motor. Assuming the car needs a few things here and there and you had to drop two or three grand into it right away; could be a a really nice car in a pretty desirable color.

Lovely and Original Alpine White 1991 BMW e30 M3 For Sale with 64k miles - You know me, I’m a sucker for low miles. Make sure the maintenance has been tended to with a thorough pre-purchase inspection by a qualified BMW technician. This car is already over $17k, reserve not met. With 3 days to go, make your predictions!

1993 Honda CBR400RR For Sale in San Fran Area - It has the all important title, but with that kind of mileage is $5k too high? Leave a comment with your experience.

Porsche 996 Prices are Dropping - It’s no secret the 996 is not one of my favorite Porsche 911’s. That said, I’m a big fan of the Boxster of the same generation; and when the the 996 and Boxster suddenly share the same price point, well let’s be serious, which would you really rather have? My thoughts exactly.

1985 Yamaha RZ500 with Clean U.S. Title - Wouldn’t hurt to have a description on this listing, especially with the high opening bid of $12,500. This one is a bit higher than other RZ500’s listed on this blog, but the pictures sure do look good! 4 days left, bid now!

Not 1, Not 2, But 3 Wes Cooley Replica GS1000S Suzuki’s For Sale! - $4900 doesn’t really seem that bad for such a cool and historic bike. I got up close and personal with a GS1000S at the Barber Motorsports Park Museum earlier this year, and it was a standout for sure!

Stay tune for some more sweet news about where I've been hanging out other than on dancrouchblog.com...

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