[mhiscott]

On the first day if the journey, I drove across Newfoundland ~600 miles, and took an overnight ~12 hour ferry which put me in Nova Scotia early the next AM.

And the next AM after spending a luxurious night sleeping in a chair

 

[mhiscott]

On day two, I made it to Waterville Maine for the night. It was shady there lol.

The truck was having some weird diesel issues, so I did some troubleshooting before getting the SHADIEST HOTEL EVER for the night.

The next AM, I pressed onwards and made it to Christiansburg, VA. MUCH MUCH nicer hotel lol.

 

[mhiscott]

The next day I drove like an absolute mad man and made it to League City Texas by ~ 2AM. It was a tough fourth day, and I was getting pretty burnt out from all the driving. This was my first long haul drive in my life really...

This was on a Thursday night (really Friday am). The next day was going to be a busy one.

I had to install some mud flaps on the truck in the am to prevent chipping the M5, buy a trailer at a local Houston trailer dealership, pick up the M5 from a TMJ Bimmers in Houston, and meet with a friend of my buddy's who had all the spare parts to the car which were in a local storage unit. ZZZZZZ

 

[mhiscott]

So as I said... mud flaps... I wanted to get something on the truck because I'd be using an open deck trailer to bring the M5 back home, and I didn't want to send debris straight at the front of the car. I picked up a big ol 24x24" semi mud flap and cut that son ho in two, and attached with some random ORiellys hardware.

TRAILER TIME!!!!

So I had never towed before at this point lol. TRIAL BY FIRE with the trailer place located on a 6 lane each direction freeway! It was nerve racking to say the least...

Here's the chariot, 18 foot with a 2 foot dovetail and 5 foot ramps.

 

[mhiscott]

And finally, what I was waiting for... The car!!!

Here it is loaded, prior to heading to the storage unit. It's missing the front bumper and all kinds of other parts which need to be attached before heading back to Canada.

And here we are at the storage unit. Fatigue was starting to set in at this point again, having very little sleep the night before and on the way down from Canada the four days previous.

Miraculously after a few hours at the storage unit, I had the rad support, hood releases, headlights and front bumper installed for towing. The rest of the parts I loaded in the truck.

Up too late again...

 

[mhiscott]

Big props to Joe and Neil in Houston who helped me out a bunch with a place to stay, help at the storage locker, etc. Great guys down in Houston.

Adventure back to Canada resumes next post.

 

[Kaane]

Epic trip

 

[TexaZ3]

Nice! Good luck on the way back.

 

[flacoramos]

Quite an adventure congrats!

 

[BusinessRogue]

I was going to post my FL to IL purchase trip… which you’ve easily made seem like a simple trip to the grocery store. Lol 12 hour ferry rides - man single handed won MVP. Congratulations on your new to you M5; have fun!

 

[mhiscott]

Thanks everyone! I guess I wasn't very clear originally, haha, but I'm back and the journey is complete, I just have so much stuff to sift through that I'm slow getting caught up to speed here in the thread. There's adventures on the way back home that are pretty juicy Stay tuned for the next steps!

I made it back home the night of September 12th. The trip started early September.

There's mechanical issues with the car and a whole story to get into with that as well, but I'm getting ahead of myself

I'll get all the stuff about the return trip posted up tomorrow, and then we'll get into the real fun (wrenching!!!)

 

[amesser325]

Wow, what a trip!
As you've already seen this community is a great resource.
Andy

 

[AmstaffM5]

Awesome thread - thanks for posting. When I bought my E60 M5 I flew to Washington DC, picked up the car and had a 6 hour drive home. Not quite as long of a trip as you.

Good luck with the car.

 

[sunilshivaram]

This requires a lot of planning, pretty impressive story.

In my case, the M5 was about 2 hours away from home, in a little town in PA. It was a surprise buy, wanted to surprise my wife and kids with a new car. I took a one way rental, dropped car off, and drove the M5 back. My pre-purchase inspection involved walking around it once about two weekends back (all this was in 2017). It had no check engine light (seller had cleared it all off, and I didn't know). I brought the car back, and wife was very unhappy for a while with my spending habit; we had 3 cars already for 2 drivers.

My M5 came with muffler deletes, and I had the original mufflers in the trunk. My youngest one got into the passenger seat, and I started it. She instinctively reached for the radio volume knob and turned it down, and when it didn't work, she asked me "Can you reduce the volume please" lol. Next day, had the old mufflers back on at Mieneke.

 

[BusinessRogue]

Thanks everyone! I guess I wasn't very clear originally, haha, but I'm back and the journey is complete, I just have so much stuff to sift through that I'm slow getting caught up to speed here in the thread. There's adventures on the way back home that are pretty juicy Stay tuned for the next steps!

I made it back home the night of September 12th. The trip started early September.

There's mechanical issues with the car and a whole story to get into with that as well, but I'm getting ahead of myself

I'll get all the stuff about the return trip posted up tomorrow, and then we'll get into the real fun (wrenching!!!)

Will you be starting a journal thread for maintenance as well? I’ve been forced to learn a lot about this specific M5 engine due to my vehicle also being (unbeknownst to me) a project vehicle. huge eye roll

 

[platii]

MPassion.

 

[dickchow]

WOW, I am deeply impressed, good job.

Same here with e90m and e60m 6spd, it is a dream to have both.

 

[Alan Arnesen]

That's dedication, this platform needs owners like you. It will be a long road but rich with rewards. Best of luck to you and you are starting in the right place if you are on this forum.

 

[mhiscott]

Thanks for all the kind words again guys. It's great to see an active forum in 2022. Most are dead and gone at this point. For a 38 year old like myself, I grew up on message boards. It's an absolute treat to see how engaged and supportive this group is.

I'm well aware of the maintenance issues and the like with these, and I'll be getting into the mechanical repairs parts and overall restoration in the posts that follow. I'm pretty seasoned from the years of owning the E92 M3. I do all my own work and cars are definitely more than a hobby for me (is addiction too strong a word?)

This was definitely the craziest lengths I've ever gone to get a car though.

Ok enough words, BACK TO THE PICS!