Even more goodies...

After a short lull, I have resumed accumulating the important parts I need. Also wanted to concentrate a bit more on the mechanical side of the restoration lest people get the impression that only the aesthetics are getting their due. I opted to get the literally heavy stuff taken cared of while I was in the mood to browse for it at this spare parts store in the Mongkok district. Over the years I had often passed Valiant Auto Parts Ltd but never actually had the inclination to find out what's there because the store setup is very different from the typical HK retailers. For one thing, its more like a hardware store back home wherein a counter separates the customer from the inventory and you need to ask the staff for what you need. In most other cases, anybody can walk right in and is free to browse unassisted if he so chooses. My problem with the assisted method is that in all the years I have lived in HK, I never really learned to speak Cantonese. And since most of the staff in stores like this catering to a local clientele speak little or no English, you can understand where the difficulty lies. I wish that I had taken more effort in the past to learn the language but because I had always worked for American companies and socialized mostly with English speakers, that simply was not another item to add to my stressful enough workday.

In any case when I passed this store again a couple of days ago, there were boxes of Mercedes Benz and BMW parts lying in the sidewalk after having been just delivered a few minutes before. This gave me the encouragement to enter and ask what exactly they had and I was very fortunate that the person I spoke to was a good English speaker. He informed me that they specialized in suspension and engine spare parts for European cars and asked me what I needed. Since there were boxes of suspension parts lying on the floor, I asked if he had the required shocks for an E34 and he replied that he had in stock a pair for the front but the ones for the rear were still in the warehouse. He let me know they could be delivered by the following day. So I got the front shocks there and then and said I would return for the rears. Which turned out to be a good arrangement because the items got damn heavier during my commute home. Plus, it remained that I still had to walk a quite a distance to reach the flat itself. Such is life abroad! No drivers, maids or assistants to help out. I have to mention that the savings was significant and thus made my effort worthwhile, but its not something I would want to do too often especially for a smaller price difference. While I may still have the strength, I no longer have the inclination and most of the time would rather pay a bit more for the convenience. In other words, the flesh is willing but the spirit is weak. Factoring into account my time, effort, transport and other costs, its a price I am willing to pay. Or maybe thats just another indication of my age.

This morning I returned for the rear shocks but before that, I went out of my way to go and check out the latest stuff from the dealership's head office. Ended up buying a few souvenir items which went on sale because of BMW's withdrawal from F1 but what really caught my eye was the latest Z4 on display. And in what I thought was a close approximation of Sergio's color. With a sales rep waiting to pounce, I had to fight a tremendous urge to whip out the ATM card so I could drive the thing home. Fortunately, I was successful at it as otherwise I would have been in biiig trouble. I was rueing the fact that I did not have my camera with me, but on the bus ride back (how's that for reality...thinking of buying an expensive convertible less than an hour before, only to end up in a bus... at least, I sat at the front row of the top deck!) I noticed that the shopping bag they gave me had the Z4 pictured almost exactly as I saw it. With a nice slogan to boot. If its not clear enough to read, it says "Joy is timeless. Joy is BMW.". By the way, the black car on the left is a 507 and for those who are not aware of its significance, it was the first BMW convertible sports car of the post-war era. Circa 1955. Still looks as fresh and beautiful a design 55 years on and in greater demand now since less than 300 of them were ever built. Proof enough of a BMW holding its value...and more.

Also got some spark plugs at a small auto supply shop in the vicinity before heading back to pick up the other pair of shocks. Inspite of the inconvenience of having to make two trips to the same place, I was thankful because I realized the second set was even heavier than the first. My only other consolation was to think that at least I got enough exercise already and did not anymore need to do my regular workout routine. The rest of the trip home was uneventful but I was happy with the thought of having saved quite a bit over the budgeted amount. Savings most likely to be used for something else...