The World According to Tim Skipper

My first BMW, an E-reg 320i SE Auto in Dolphin Grey. I bought this car on June 4th 1996 from a fellow member of the Norfolk group of Advanced Motorcyclists (yes I’m a bike nut as well!) for a price of £4,000.

It had 67,392 miles on the clock when I bought it, and was in dire need of a valet! It was also the first automatic car I’d owned (or driven, for that matter), which took a while to get used to. With hindsight it was a little underpowered for an auto, but it went alright once you got it moving.

It was broken into outside my house one night and the thieving scum made a right mess of the dashboard and door lock getting the stereo and cd-changer out. For reasons I was never able to work out they carefully removed the rear screen!

I didn’t have to spend much money on this car. The front shocks were replaced and a couple of bushes and a wheel bearing, that was about it. It was a bit thirsty though, barely getting above the low 20s. I suspect my driving style may have had something to do with that!

I sold it in June 1998 with 108,511 miles on it when the gearbox started to show signs of playing up. It never let me down in 41,000 miles though.