If you grew up in the time when the North American car market was only able to access foreign automakers’ full menus via the gray market, and later not at all, being limited to underpowered, big-bumpered versions of those cars, you can’t help cast a longing glance at a gray-market car. And if you’ve really got it badly, you’ll look at any gray market car that way, even the most clapped out heap of an example. Interestingly, the more worn out they are, the more they represent how they would be likely to look in their home markets, if they were even still alive and on the road. You can find an authentic piece of Euro-scrap in the US – the E28 interpretation being fairly rare compared to its E30 and Mercedes W123 brethren – if you look hard, which is how you’ll find this 1985 BMW 520i for sale for $995 in Emeryville, CA.
Rusty But Trusty 