There's a guy selling a pair E34 525i Tourings (wagons) for $1700obo.
Advertised as 1 runner and 1 with a new engine but bad tranny. Got there, had a cursory look and this is what I saw;
Car 1; Said to have new engine installed only to blow the tranny and abandoned at the shop. Guy is "pretty sure with a fresh tank of gas and a new battery the engine will start right up" Broken/missing rear hatch glass. Body straight, no obvious rust, busted taillight. Lein sale from the shop that supposedly did $3500 in motor work.
Car 2; The runner- Last ran, unknown. Overheats/overheated but claims it was caught before it got bad. No battery unable to confirm. Good tranny. Body straight, missing driver seat replaced by wooden lawn(?) chair. Last registered in 2006. Carpet on driver side soaked some surface rust around bolt holes, no other obvious rust. Cracked windshield. Driver's door interior panel either missing or somewhere in the interior.
1 or 2 extra wheels/tires in addition to what is on the cars. Claims the tires on one car are new and the other has plenty of tread but who knows how long these have been sitting/ how old the rubber is.
Both interiors rough with some parts there but not installed. Cars were said to have resided in Reno for awhile, one is said to be from Tahoe (snow?)
I was expecting to put in some work but this would seem like biting off more than I can chew, on the other hand, I have an itch to test my mettle. I can't weld, never have done an engine or tranny swap - more than willing but obviously fabrication for anything aside from stock swap is over my head, and I didn't get to look at the strut towers or get under the car to really look for rust. Guy indicated he had contacted the salvage yard and they would give him $600 each.
What do ya'll think?
Oh man. For a first project a couple of older BMW's could get real tough. I'm not saying don't do it, but I wouldn't. Talk the guy down to 15 then part them out. If the one is really a runner you'll make bucks on the engine.
I'm not going to say yay or nay. Do some late night research with some BMW forums or such before you dive into a project like that. It may not be too difficult, but like I said, do some research.
DrBoost, I don't have the space to keep 2 cars while parting them out. If I did I'd try to make one a runner and part out the rest.
SyntheticBlinkerFluid, I've been reading, been keeping an eye out for a decent e34 touring since December, obviously I still don't know too much and still have zilch hands on with that model.
After sleeping on it, I'm going to pass, I'm not ready for that much commitment, it's not them, it's me. 
Thanks for the input!
The combination of the "runner" not having run for an indeterminate amount of time and the other one not being able to see running for some chickenE36 M3 reason would put me off right there, so I think you've made the right decision.
They're not really using salt up here on the roads (I work up at Lake Tahoe) and cars in general last very well up here. Reno is even better, it doesn't snow down in the valley that often and snow doesn't seem to stick for that long.
Actually I think I've seen the ad a couple of time and recoiled in horror 
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In reply to BoxheadTim:
Good to know about Tahoe and salt. I have serious project itch and a younger/more foolish/ambitious me would probably have jumped.
They were the wrong color anyway, I wanted a white one. 
Go back with a battery, a can of ether and a five gallon can of gas. If they do not start do not buy.
Cars that don't run are worth a max of $500, and for that the rest of the car had better be pretty stinkin' straight. For me anyway, and I'm talking about "normal" cars before someone goes off about X of cool cars that would be worth $500 running or not.
But nearly $2k for two cars that don't run?
Do you fancy yourself a gamblin' man?
In reply to DuctTape&Bondo:
Well, you could always buy my Celica if you want a project:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/did-anybody-mention-theyre-looking-for-a-1st-gen-celica/33238/page1/
It even runs , and it's white.
In reply to z31maniac:
Unfortunately cars out here in this area (Cali/NV) seem to be a lot more expensive that further east. Try $3k-$4k for a sheddy Miata, for the example, and every barely running crap is fetching a grand or more.
In reply to pilotbraden:
It's more than I can take on at the moment. I can't talk myself into it.
In reply to z31maniac:
What BoxheadTim said. I see posts from guys scoring near free cars on the East and Midwest and go 
In reply to BoxheadTim:
Oh... Do want! And another contender steps into the ring. I love those body style Celicas.
