Me & My Car: Danville owner doesn’t baby his ’87 BMW 325i at all

Many of us think of BMW as a very successful, prosperous German luxury automobile manufacturer, which it is, but that hasn’t always been the case.

It’s an old company, having been officially founded March 7, 1916, as an aircraft producer. BMW stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke AG but didn’t become an automobile manufacturer until 1928, when it purchased the German company Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach, which built the popular English Austin Seven models under a licensing agreement then rebadged them using the name Dixi.

Up until World War II, the BMW company made automobiles, aircraft engines and motorcycles. During the war, BMW continued to make aircraft engines and motorcycles but no automobiles. With Germany divided after the war, the East German BMW factories were taken over by the Soviet Union, but many of the West German BMW plants were heavily damaged in the war.

Initially BMW was prohibited by the Allies from building motor vehicles or aircraft, so they manufactured pots, pans and bicycles. Motorcycle production resumed in 1948, as did automaking in 1952. Early on in that economy, though, their luxury cars were slow sellers because they were just too expensive.

So BMW entered a licensing agreement with the Italian manufacturer Iso Rivolta to build a “micro” size car called Isetta from 1955 to 1962. It had very unusual styling, with one big front door at the very front of the car that opened and looked like a refrigerator door. Even though the Isetta sold well, it was a low-profit vehicle and by 1959 BMW was in debt and losing money.

American Motors Corp. and the English Rootes Group tried to acquire BMW. There was talk of a merger with Daimler-Benz, but half-brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt, who became wealthy as a result of their father’s very profitable companies that used slave labor from an estimated 50,000 people during the war, increased their holdings in BMW and ended up owning about two-thirds of the company.

Today, in addition to owning the BMW brand, the company also owns and manufactures Rolls-Royce, Mini and BMW Motorrad (motorcycles). The “Neue Klasse” (New Class) models were introduced in 1962 and are credited with saving the company as well as establishing BMW as a quality producer of sports sedans. Styling became more evolutionary rather than revolutionary from that time on.

The BMW 325i and 325iS were introduced in Europe in 1985 and in the United States in 1987 and are still popular today. Both U.S models were equipped with the standard 152-cubic-inch engine rated at 168 horsepower and could go from zero to 60 mph in 7.4 seconds.

This issue’s featured car is a 1987 BMW 325i convertible owned by Danville resident Brian Aftanas. He has owned the car for about 25 years, and from his viewpoint, it was a low-mileage car when purchased, with only 120,000 miles on it. Since then, he has added an additional 100,000 miles and uses it as his daily driver.

“I really wanted to find a car that was sturdy, reliable and kind of practical,” Aftanas says.

He paid $7,600 for the car (about $14,165 in 2023 dollars) and estimates the current value at $25,000. He bought the car from a private party in San Francisco who wanted to sell it to make room in his four-car garage for a fancier car he wanted to buy.

“It’s smaller and sticks to the ground, so it’s a wonderful sports car, plus it has four seats and a big trunk,” the owner stated.

The car is nearly all original, including the engine and five-speed manual transmission. Not too long ago, the BMW Car Club sponsored an Octoberfest in Greenville, South Carolina, where a BMW factory is.

“I drove that car by myself on back roads the whole way,” Aftanas says. “My rules were back roads only, drive only eight hours a day maximum and not to speed. The car just ticked like a clock the whole way.”

As you can well imagine, this BMW is well equipped with most of the modern stuff of the day, such as air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, power windows, cruise control, fuel injection and some things that are now outdated, like a cassette player.

Expenses have been pretty minor. He did replace the top once about 15 years ago for about $1,200. The top was getting old, and the rear plastic window had cracked beyond repair, so he opted for a new top. The car has always been garaged. There are a few minor irritants that the owner may get around to getting repaired someday like the driver door lock, but there’s no rush. Otherwise, its maintenance has just been routine.

He doesn’t baby the car at all, driving it rain or shine and on long trips to Southern California. He has no plans to sell it, and why would he? He’s a happy owner who happens to be driving an excellent financial investment.

Have an interesting vehicle? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles or to read more of Dave’s columns, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.