A few of you were generously helping me sort through some options a few weeks ago. I finally found a 97 I've pinned my name on. It was tough getting the color and options I wanted here in so cal at least. I was searching craigslist several times a day - watching decent Ti's that weren't the right color, or some other option I wasn't interested in come and go within the same day. I saw two original owner Blue/Manual/Sport models come and go within a couple days of each other and were both gone very quickly.
So the one I settled one had a few more miles than I wanted at 175k, and has a little sun wear showing in the paint and the leather in the seats. Southwest cars can be in great shape in terms of rust, but the sun can wreak havoc if they aren't put in the shade regularly. It was also on a dealer lot, so that meant it was marked up, and no fudging the sale price paperwork, so the state got to tax the car yet one more time, this time at 3800. However, the autocheck report came back with great standing, and had a couple upgrades, had the core features I wanted so I drove it home.
The most serious thing it needs is a clutch, and has a couple other more minor seeps going on, but overall is clean and dry. The interior is starting to smell less like baked leather as I drive it and get air flow through it. I'm pretty happy with the Meguiars Natural Shine interior protectant by the way. The dealer greased up the dash pretty good, so after I simple green'd that out, the Meguiars stuff coaxed a new look from the dash top (the pics below are after simple green, but before the Meguiars).
The bushings are all intact amazingly, but most starting to crack a little. The shifter is terribly stiff, which a BMW shop that inspected the car told me is due to the worn clutch. The lever is sloppy at the pivot ball as well. It has old Monroe Sensatrack (sp?) shocks around it and is soft in the corners. The 480 treadwear, all season tires grip terrible. My stock civic with nice tires handled better (only for now). The real ass-kicker though is the terrible shifting and weak clutch clamping. I think I've decided to tackle the clutch myself though as much as I dread it after reading that Pelican article about the difficult bolts. The money to pay a shop to do it and replace the seals and bushings is too high. Hopefully I can do it in a couple of days.
Anyway, I thought I'd share! I have over the last month or so been through a lot of Pelican articles and threads from all of you on here! Thank you for that! The internet and information age has done as much to enable humanity as modern medicine.
This is my second e36 I've owned (previous was a 95 325is with sport. I'm very happy with this sweet little car!
BMW's are such fun cars.
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I do have one question specific to my car. The shift knob is faded and I want to replace it but the style with the two stripes doesn't show in realoem for my year at least. Is it for a different car possibly? What is the correct knob for this car possibly?
Here are some pics, and thanks again!
Finally found one! 
Linear Mode
