Dear Forum,

A bit struggling where to place this topic in the forum. Please advice if wrong.

I bought my #800 a couple of weeks ago after owning it from new till 2010.
I sold it with approx 160.000 km and bought it back with 240.000 km.

I have a company car and will remain to use that for strictly business purposes. So the 260 will be a car I use throughout the year.
Not a lot but also in bad weather conditions or fully loaded with stuff and 5 people in it. Approx.10.000 km a year, maybe less.
I have no plans of ever selling my car again.

The previous owners did not look after the car very well so I am now facing:

- Mystery cooling fluid leak
- front end fitting very poorly (was perfect when new)
- small dents and scratches and various places
- Rust on the entire undercarriage (this will be an issue in a few years)
- Rust on suspension members, subframe, etc
- Rust but nothing is rusted beyond repair as far as I can see
- handbrake needs to come up too high
- dull headlights
- V8 logo's missing (painful)

Lots of interior work but can take that on myself for sure.

Interestingly enough the car is actually driving rather well. Although it feels like it may have lost some of its original power.
But also possible BMW corrupted me over the last 10 years with 300+ hp and 600+ nm Torque on my daily driver diesel and the V8 is fine.

So I need to figure out why the car looses cooling fluid. It does not get hot. The radiator appears fine. There is no sign in the engine for leaking cylinderheads.
I need to add a liter on 100 km. Also the small pool of fluid I found under the car after it got delivered must come from somewhere. Now driving around without the engine protection panel hoping to find it.
Whatever I do, need to get that sorted.

But now the bigger question. Do I attack all the rust and bodywork problems in one go? Obviously easier and allowing access to many area's.
May even take engine, gearbox, diff, etc out.
Has anyone done this?
Or does anyone know a company that has the skills and time to do this properly? Does not have to be in Netherlands but English, German or Dutch speaking is a must.
Will the parts be available, like suspension, rear subframe (overhaul, new?)?

My biggest worry is that it will sit in the garage or at the shop for years because parts are unavailable.
But I would also hate myself if in 5 years the car is no longer roadworthy because i did not act when i could have.

Any experience or advice is highly appreciated.

Thanks, Peter
Netherlands