TedFest.net

TedFest 2008 was featured in the Globe and Mail on August 14, 2008.  Below is a copy of the article.  The origional article can be located here.

Well before many current 5-Series buyers fast-tracked their way out of kindergarten and began building wealth, BMW was establishing itself with a series of sports cars masquerading as four-door sedans.

Enthusiasts of these cars remain forever in their thrall. Manufactured as BMW’s first 5-Series sedans from 1972 to 1981 — and known to insiders as the E12 (whether badged as the 528i or 530i) and the E28 from 1981 through 1988 (533i and 535i) — they introduced the notion that premium cars need not induce somnolence.

These were sleepers of a different sort.

About 60 examples, including a handful of other models and even a couple of BMW motorcycles gathered in Mississauga on a recent sunny Saturday, arrayed on the grass at Benares Historic House.

(Dan Proudfoot for The Globe and Mail)

Every vehicle of every sort has its following. Be it a Ferrari GTO or Fargo pickup truck, split-window Corvette or Studebaker Lark, owners meet to congratulate each other on their good taste and extreme measures in restoration. Even bulldozers have their connoisseurs, apparently.

What distinguishes this gathering, though, is how it took root on the Internet. The first attendees became acquainted while exchanging tips and ownership experiences on two sites, firstfives.org and mye28.com. Ted Kalman invited everybody to his house one Saturday afternoon in 2003; four cars turned up, and the number has grown each year since.

Sia Honarkah, owner of four E28s, christened the occasion TedFest in 2005, inspired by the long-established U.S. Fiverfests known to all Bimmerphiles.

This year, Eric Quon drove from California in his 1988 528e, fulfilling a promise made at a Fiverfest in South Bend, Ind., in 2006. Others came from Wisconsin and Connecticut. TedFest has become internationally known.

Why? It’s all about the camaraderie stemming from the single shared interest. No fun runs, rallies, gymkhanas or even trivia contests complicate TedFest.

Conversation and car-gazing rules the day and when that begins to flag around 4 p.m., the enthusiasts find their way from the Benares house to Kalman’s nearby home, where a barbecue refuels the Bimmer fire. With Dianna Kalman’s potato salad, the slow-roasted seasoned pork brought every year by Peter Ribeiro, and beer, the glories of the E12 and E28 are celebrated in fine form.

You needn’t be rich to enjoy these cars; they can still be found on sale in good condition for $4,000. M5 models of the E28, hand-built at BMW’s motorsport facility, can command $20,000 and collectibles such as Honarkhah’s Alpina B7 E28 are advertised in the region of $60,000.

One selling for $1,000 at a used-car lot, though, is likely not a good candidate. Whereas these robust sedans seldom break regardless of high mileage if they’re well maintained, if they’re not looked after they leave a trail of rust particles and blue smoke and become prone to death through overheating.

Mark Dobias bought his 1989 M5 with 260,000 miles on it. After driving two previous E28s over 15 years, he recognized this one as something special with its Metric Mechanic rebuilt engine, generating 350 horsepower, and two binders of service records pointing to meticulous care.

Dobias, an Etobicoke business consultant working with the Ontario government and one of the original four who met at Kalman’s in 2003, reflects on the cars’ appeal:

“These are very well engineered cars that are reliable, fairly easy to work on and extremely fun to drive, whether cruising at highway speeds or driving over winding roads,” he explains.

“The interior is roomy with good vision and lots of room for four adults. As well, the E28 was the last of the distinctive, classic, boxy upright five-series designs that gave way to the more contemporary, aerodynamic forms.”

Current BMWs may be stunning in their sleek, spare lines, but they’ve also become stunningly common.

Of all the stares the owner of a pristine E12 or E28 experiences every day, a surprising number come from folks in newer BMWs. It’s as though the manufacturer’s design cues that continue to this day — the hook of the C-pillars, the twin kidney grilles, the prominent round headlamps — play stronger in the earlier cars.

Eddie Ribeiro’s 1980 528i was purchased by his father in 1984 and handed over to him in 1997. It seems to look a little newer every year now; his restoration of this first-five in 1999 was only a beginning.

The E12/E28 cars exported to North America were fitted with increasingly heavy bumpers to meet impact regulations. Ribeiro’s car appears far slimmer without them.

“During the restoration, I ordered an M-Technic front bumper/spoiler [from a European version of the E12 called the M353i] and an Euro rear bumper to slim the car down to its original classic design intent,” says Ribeiro, chief designer for Polytec Foha, a Markham-based creator of custom body pieces.

Kalman, a general merchandise manager at a food store in Burlington, drives a 1986 M535i — but only when it’s not raining. The car was imported from Germany in 2002, one of only nine in Canada.

The E28 website has changed the ownership experience, he says, with shared problem-solving easing maintenance woes and a sense of community that continues to grow.
TedFest plays a similar role on a face-to-face basis. It’s “not just about the cars, but about the people who own them, and the new friendships that occur because of these old-school BMWs,” Kalman says.