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

Stopped by American Dream Pizza for the monthly Corvallis Bike Night. This is a nice casual gathering and when the weather is nice there is a good showing and variety to be enjoyed. I haven't made it out to one of these since I bought the Ducati -- seems like there is always something going on the same night! I didn't ride down because I wanted to have a couple beers on the rooftop seating area, but here are some quick pics of bikes that I saw. The red, white and blue F2 was my favorite, though I always love seeing Bob's K100 too.

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I've been meaning to make this post for a while. I spotted this scanned article on VWVortex over the holidays and it's been on my to-post list since then.

My Dad was always a Road & Track reader when I was growing up, and he used to bring home his latest issue after a business trip for me to read. I vividly remember this March 1991 issue because soon after I read it, I went down to Trump's Hobbies in town and placed a special order for the . I painted it black on black because I have no skills building models and it turned out awesome! I wish I had a picture.

Paul Frere was a fantastic writer and an accomplished race car driver. He was well respected in his field and here are some of his quotes from the article:

[...] but the 535i-based B10 Biturbo is surely the most impressive of them all: a comfortable 4-door that blends Rolls-Royce silence with Testarossa performance, with road manner to match.

The B10 reached a maximum speed of 181 mph. At such speeds, the car feels entirely stable, with no suggestion of the front end getting light or any tendency to wander.

Thanks to the low inertia of the two small turbo chargers and to the electronic wastegate control, response is nearly immediate n al most any circumstance.

Ever since reading that article I've wanted to have a real Alpina. I'm going to have to keep an even closer eye on the classifieds having reread that article again! Please feel free to leave a comment with your Alpina experiences!

Here are a few e34 Alpina videos for you to snack on tonight:

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Got a chance to hang out at PIR for an afternoon with Paul, Ed, Bob, and Brenda for the Rose Cup races, featuring the Trans Am series. The weather was a perfect high 70's and cleared up nice by the time the main event was on. Congratulations to Tommy Drissi for his authoritative win in that Jaguar!

Here's my quick pics from the event {yep, they're over Photoshop'd, sue me!}:

A Mazda RX-2 Custom

An exceptional Porsche 951

Congratulations to Tommy Drissi!

The Chicane at Portland International Raceway:

The Sports Car Shop support rig with the race cars:

Check out the entire gallery, unedited:

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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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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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This was shot just recently and demonstrates the proper line to follow in a front engine, real wheel drive car, at Portland International Raceway (PIR):

Source: Portland BMW ACA Club

This really gets me in the mood to plan a track day or two! Especially after getting the S2000 out to the auto-x last weekend!

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Alex alerted me to this beautiful BMW CSL on Craigslist earlier today. We both remarked how awesome this car is but wondered if the Batmobile's actually fetch $130k. Take a look for yourself at this 1973 BMW 3.0CSL on Craigslist:

quote from seller's listing:

This beautiful 1973 BMW Series 2 Batmobile is 1 of 57 of which ONLY TWO were produced black!! The other is parked in a museum in Europe. All parts are the original parts, with only 46,397 original miles on it! This is a one time oppurtunity, check this baby out! It has a 4 speed manual, 3.2L all original!!! and this beauty drives clean! The interior still looks like new and has no weather damage or stains, it's super clean. The wing kit is still brand new wrapped in bubble wrap sitting in the trunk.

After doing some brief digging on the Sports Car Market website, they have two CSL's in their auction database. One that went for $154k at auction and another that sold on eBay for $73k, both in 2006. With this car's super low, original miles, $130k may not be that outrageous. As they say, it's only original once...

Thanks for the submission Alex!

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