Coolest experience in your E53?

[PropellerHead]

I got all misty eye'd replying to a thread about mileage and remembering that 1st drive home with my new baby girl back in 2004. And that's not even my coolest memory in an E53!

What's the coolest thing you remember experiencing because of, inside of, with the help of, or just because you happened to be there with an E53.... ? No limits.. Share the happy times.

Nearly 20 years out from the final production, we need some happy. Give!

[andrewwynn]

Driving up 10° sand driveway, going cross country on an ATV trail that was considered impassible in a car, driving though a ditch so steep I had to go at an angle or the bumper would block me. Also same ditch that would bring the lead tire about a foot off the ground.

I had some amazing "studless" winter tires and drove around in fresh 15" of snow where I was plowing off the top ⅓ as I drove.

Chasing a Bentley continental GT was a blast.

Driving on a beach was always fun

Driving down into a ditch to rescue a car that went too fast on 6" of fresh wet snow to pull him out using a makeshift toe rope from jumper cables

Using for crazy transporting of things. Washer dryer set that had a bigger cross section than my car, a dozen 16' 2x6, a 40' ladder.

Those are my top of the list fun things. Oh the first thing I ever hauled was 1300# of flagstone for my mom to make walking paths.

[Happy]

Originally Posted by PropellerHead

I got all misty eye'd, we need some happy.

Garsh.. I don’t know what to say? It feels good to be wanted, maybe?

Puwahahaha…

You da man Prop!


E53 RiPPeR
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ReVELaTiON 22:21

[EODguy]

The coolest e53 experience.....

I would say the pregnant wife + sitting on bump stops = Zamboni

I still laugh my ass off and she doesn't, but our son loves the e53, so I'm putting it in the coolest/funniest.

Sent from Embassy network using Tapatalk

[rwilson]

Dragging Logs out of the woods. Approximately 18" around by 20+'

[srmmmm]

The first drive back to Arlington after picking it up from the broker in Houston. I knew I had made the right choice and was stunned at the 25mpg I was getting.


Great trip with my dad to take my Firebird engine to a rebuilder in Tulsa even though the E53 wound up on a flatbed with 4 ignition coil failures. We still had a good time "surviving" the event and making our way back home.


The tow was quite the spectacle with the trailer hanging off the back of the flatbed.

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by srmmmm

The first drive back to Arlington after picking it up from the broker in Houston. I knew I had made the right choice and was stunned at the 25mpg I was getting.


Great trip with my dad to take my Firebird engine to a rebuilder in Tulsa even though the E53 wound up on a flatbed with 4 ignition coil failures. We still had a good time "surviving" the event and making our way back home.


The tow was quite the spectacle with the trailer hanging off the back of the flatbed.

Nice! Went through a stage where the x on a flatbed was a somewhat common sight. Have my local towing guy on speed dial.

I’d have to say teaching my kids to drive in the x5 is a great memory. And watching them bomb around town in it for quite a few years. Other than the insane leaks during that time from the old motor, she was a tank for them. Until the tranny gave up the ghost on my younger daughter.

Fortunately she wasn’t too far from home. It had been slipping for years but was ok in sport mode, until it wasn’t. She skipped limp home mode and went right to dribble off the side of the road in paperweight mode.

[Themoog]

Mine was at a local car show last summer not far from my home. It's a once a month casual affair where all sorts of odd ball cars turn up - things that you remember from being a kid or teenager. There is the odd supercar etc but mainly 'different' vehicles.
Anyway, I went and parked nearby and walked to take a look about. After a short while I noticed people actually looking around the X5 like it was part of the display.. Ace.

[workingonit]

Originally Posted by Themoog

Mine was at a local car show last summer not far from my home. It's a once a month casual affair where all sorts of odd ball cars turn up - things that you remember from being a kid or teenager. There is the odd supercar etc but mainly 'different' vehicles.
Anyway, I went and parked nearby and walked to take a look about. After a short while I noticed people actually looking around the X5 like it was part of the display.. Ace.

I was into the "classic car" scene in the mid 90's, after I bought a '66 Chevelle to restore (initially). I joined a local Chevelle club and attended its' monthly show, which attracted quite a few of oddball/supercar type cars as well.

Since I was trying to do a "restomod" job on mine, keeping the "survivor" look of the exterior, and upgrading the running gear (upgraded the fresh 327 engine, added new suspension parts, and a three-speed TH350 transmission replaced the worn-out two-speed Powerglide), the powers-that-be in the club cast disfavor upon me and others that had the same outlook pertaining to their Chevelles (the top dogs had had their numbers-matching cars professionally restored, painted every few years, and trailered them to the shows...not my cup of tea). I organized a revolt, and the last I heard, the club closed down.

Meanwhile, also in the '90's, I had moved a mile or so from a local dragstrip, so I'd hear racing sometimes 4 days/nights a week, so my attention shifted in that direction (I had done quite a few passes in my '56 Chevy back in high school, winning my class once in '67, so I wondered if I might take up where I left off, 30 years prior).

So, my "restomod" Chevelle ended up as a drag car, modified to run in ever-faster classes over 12 years, before I parked it in '08, as retirement approached (and since I was closing my plant and layoffs loomed, it made the racing/upgrading/repair expenditures a thing to consider). The Chevelle (with modifications making it strip-only capable) remained in the garage until I swapped it for my X5 in '21, so my much-younger neighbor could make the Chevelle live again, and I'd get a desired & multi-purpose vehicle in return.

So, now, almost thirty years after I bought the Chevelle to semi-restore (I also semi-restored, and later sold, two Chevy C-10 pickups...a '69 and a '75... between '99-'05), and to use as an occasional driver (I bought 1966 Texas plates for it at a swap meet, and registered it as a classic), I am planning basically the same with my '01 X5. I had always wanted a'66 Chevelle, and always liked the E53 BMW, so in my mind, they're both "dream cars", to enjoy having around and fiddle with.

In a couple more years, I'll get "classic status" plates for it, and maybe park it at a local car show to see if anybody else recognizes it as a "classic design", like I do.

However, no conversion to a hi-powered race car is foreseen.

[Happy]

Originally Posted by workingonit

In a couple more years, I'll get "classic status" plates for it, and maybe park it at a local car show to see if anybody else recognizes it as a "classic design", like I do.

However, no conversion to a hi-powered race car is foreseen.

Same here! I’ve been counting the days actually.

Mine has been converted, so the classic status is sooooouuppeerr important!


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ReVELaTiON 22:21