What makes a Chump car, well, a Chump?
That’s a question that I’ve pondered. As have many others! Proof of this can be seen in the forums over at www.chumpcar.com…
The easy answer? Without safety gear and the wheels/tires/brakes to be used for the event, trying to sell the car needs to bring in offers less than $500. Pretty straight forward, and opens the door up to all sorts of fun and interesting (and potentially ridiculous) “race” cars. I’m beginning to think that “race” should be an acronym for something in the case of Chump.
So where does Schaut Speed Motorsports fit in here? Well, that beauty of a BMW was found on craigs list with a ‘best offer’ price. Sure it has some ‘character’ (er, normal people will call those “issues” or “problems”, but that seems like such a harsh word…), like the brakes don’t work. So I called the guy up, and asked him what kind of offers he’d been getting. $300-400. So I hooked up the trailer and headed up for a little look.
$250 later and a scary 2 mph drive up onto the trailer (remember NO working brakes - not even the e-brake!) and I have myself a serious (lol… can’t write that with a straight face!) contender for Chump!
What is it, you may ask???? I’m sure someone who really knows their BMW’s can say with reasonable certainty what it is, and may even guess the correct model. For those who don’t know much, this should help!
More specifically, this is a ‘fine’ example of a 1987 BMW 325es. 165,xxx+ miles on the odomoeter, which might actually be correct. 2 door, manual with the ‘eta’ motor. The economy version with a whopping 121 Hp and 171 ft-lbs of torque.
Quick summary of the car. It runs (yay!), shifts, clutch feels OK, rear end bounces all over the place, some rust, missing a rear bumper, dull, scratched paint and of course, no brakes.
Its a start. 
