The 530i: Fixing the sunscreen

My 530i is equipped with roll-up sunscreens, consisting of an electric sunscreen for the rear window and manual sunscreens for the rear door windows. These consist of two parts, a vertically moving part for the main window and a horizontally moving part for the small triangular window. The latter wouldn’t […]


The 530i: Status Quo

Buying a car in the Netherlands is so easy. Whereas in Germany you need to go to a Landratsamt (district office) and might need new license plates, here buyer and seller go to the postal office, the seller shows a nine-digit code and the car’s license card (which is then […]


BMW E39 OEM wheels

The E39 is a bit special in regard to wheels, as it has a hub diameter of 74.1mm where most BMWs have a hub diameter of 72.6mm. This means that there is less choice than with other BMW types. Nevertheless, BMW has sold quite a number of different wheel styles. […]


Buying a BMW E39 5-series

When I bought my E46 compact two and a half years ago, the reasoning behind the choice was that I wanted a low mileage car, two doors were sufficient, and it had to be manual transmission for eventual track use. Since then, the requirements have changed. Not only does my […]


Building a DIY Guitar FX pedal

There’s a multitude of guitar FX pedals out there, but many of them are quite expensive. For those with some technical skill and a soldering iron, there’s an alternative: building your own pedals from a kit. A large selection of kits is sold by Musikding, and I recently ordered the […]


Review: Setting up a Home Car Workshop

I stumbled upon this book by Julian Edgar through a book tip in a German classic car magazine. Since having a home workshop one day is a dream of mine, I ordered it. As the name implies, it covers the important aspects of setting up your own smallish car workshop: […]


Amp shopping

I’ve been playing through a Peavey Valveking Royal 8 for many years now, but despite a number of mods, I’ve never been really satisfied with the sounds I get out of it. I think it’s the combination of 8″ speaker and cheap output transformer. The sound is quite boxy and […]


Citroen DS

History At the 1955 Paris Motor Show, Citroen presented a revolutionary successor to the Traction Avant that had been in production for more than 20 years: the DS. Both the styling and the technology (hydropneumatic suspension, power steering, semi-automatic transmission) were a major step ahead – so much, indeed, that […]


MG B/C

History If you could name only one British roadster, chances are it would be the MG B. It was presented in 1962 as successor to the MG A. Power came from a 95 hp 1.8l four-cylinder engine. The coupé (actually hatchback) GT was added in 1965. From 1967 to 1969, […]


Review: Colours of Speed

Porsche has always been about racing. In the 1960s, it often appeared as if racing came first and street car production second. New race cars were introduced almost every year, but due to the focus on lightweight low-displacement cars, the ultimate goal, the overall victory at Le Mans, remained elusive. […]


Guitar FX manufacturers you should know

Guitar FX pedals are booming. Despite digital/modelling amplifiers getting better and better, low-wattage tube amplifiers for home and mic’ed stage use are more popular than ever. FX pedals provide flexibility for these often simple and straightforward amps, to the point that pedal platform amps, which only provide a base clean […]


Overdrive pedals you should know

There’s an innumerable amount of Overdrive pedals these days – but this can’t hide the fact that many of them are based off a limited number of “reference” pedals. This is (most likely incomplete) list of such reference pedals, in no particular order. Tubescreamer Quite likely the most famous overdrive […]