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Introducing my 1997 BMW L7 called Project Astrid.
Hi everyone and welcome to my journal for this very special car.
My name is Alex, I have been collecting and building cars since 2013, and have a passion for BMWs.
My first car was a brand new 2011 VW Jetta, which was gifted by my parents to commute to school with.
In 2013, we traded the VW in for a brand new 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Hatchback; a car that I still own today. This car is called, Project Gabby.
In 2018, I acquired a 2008 BMW E90 M3 and have been building it into a track weapon. This car is called Project Sky.
In 2023, I acquired a very low mileage 1-of-1 E92 M3 finished in Moonstone Metallic and Rust Brown. This car is called Project Luna.
Fast-forward to Friday, April 24, 2026, the day I picked up an extremely rare and vehicle unknown to many. See for many, the E38 7-series only came in a few prominent models (740i/iL, 750i/iL, and Alpina B12); this is one of the most special E38s and BMWs ever created...introducing to you all, my 1997 BMW L7 (informally known as the 750iXL), finished in Cosmosschwarz Metallic and Sand Beige Nappa Leather.
[header=The Lore Is Everything!][/header]
The timelines within the story are very important, so be mindful and pay attention. I will preface that I never knew about the E38 L7 model. In fact I accidentally discovered it in September 2025 when my buddy Vlad imported one in 2025, which I got a chance to detail and film a Youtube video for, before selling it shortly after to rapper/producer Swizz Beatz (married to Alicia Keys).
For the intro of that video, I researched about the E38 L7 and some fun facts about the car:
While researching, I stumbled upon a website called e38registry.org, which has a fairly small registry of E38 L7s around the world. When looking through the L7 registry section, I found the first L7 imported from Japan into North America in 2012...and the best part...it's in Canada!! The interesting thing is that it didn't specify where in Canada the owner lives.
Link for reference: https://www.e38registry.org/bimmerhead-l7-individual/
The post documented this vehicle on August 25, 2015 and when I zoomed closer into the photos, I found that it had an Ontario license plate (the province where I live too)!! These photos were from a couple years after the owner imported it. They made a few changes to the car from how it was originally imported (like the angel eye headlights):
I decided to investigate further and try to find this fellow Ontarian BMW owner. I Googled "Ontario BMW E38 L7" and to my surprise was able to find one of the results being from bimmerforums with a thread called "1997 E38 L7 very rare, only 74500 kms (Ontario, Canada)."
The thread was from July 26, 2015, and at that time, they were looking to sell it. Now after 10 years, what are the odds they'd still have it?! Well, I clicked the username "StirlingM5" and noticed they were last active a couple weeks ago (early September 2025). Hmm, I wonder if maybe they still have the car? I then clicked "Find latest posts" and noticed that they last posted in March of 2024 (over 1.5 years ago) and they were searching for a coil spring for an E38 L7!!. At this point, I confirmed a few things:
On September 28, 2025, I took a whim and created an account on bimmerforums. I was unable to private message StirlingM5, as my account was too new. Now with most forums, you just had to post 5-10 times and you'd have access to private message; this forum was unlike most, in that there is an undisclosed waiting period (3 full days), which of course I was unaware of.
I am an impulsive person and frequently act on emotion. Understanding that, along with the above waiting period context, I decided to start a conversation with the owner in their E38 L7 Coil Spring thread. On that same day, I replied to their thread and mentioned that I was a local Torontonian and asked if they still have the L7.
Let me be clear, my initial intent was to connect with the owner and see if they'd be interested in me washing their L7 for my Youtube channel, after all, I detailed the 2nd L7 in North America, and would love to detail this one for Youtube content as the 1st L7 in North America.
To my surprise, StirlingM5 must have been notified that someone replied to their thread, and after several weeks of being inactive, they signed on 26 hours later (September 29th, 2025) and replied to my post within their thread saying to private message (PM) them my email and they'll send photos over. What they said thereafter was what caught my attention most..."I'm just about ready to part with the L7 if you happen to be looking for a project!"
Unaware of this just yet, the following morning (September 30th, 2025), I sign on bimmerforums, click the thread and see that they replied the aforementioned message! WAIT!!! You cannot sell this car before I detail it (yet, they were unaware I wanted to just detail it). At this point, I not only wanted to detail it, but became curious of potentially buying the car. If you've ever been in a similar situation, your mind begins to wander and imagine only the happiest of thoughts driving your future BMW L7 that billionaires, politicians, and embassies would be chauffeured around in...how cool!
I decided to follow their advice and went to PM them; it was at this point I realized I was unable to private message people because my account was too new...I then started to panic...the stars seemingly aligned, this was my one shot to connect with the owner who was still somewhat active on the forums, and you're telling me I can't PM yet?!
My irrational and impulsive self decided to reply back within the thread sharing that I was unable to PM yet, and for them to email me...and like a silly person, at 9:25am, I did it...yes, I entered my personal email address within that reply post! Now, I didn't think it'd be a big deal, especially since no one else was replying; however, I didn't think about the lurkers viewing now the most recent thread being bumped up within the forum...uh oh (naive me didn't know it'd be an uh-oh moment yet).
Within exactly 8 minutes, someone named "George Guns" sent me an email titled "L7," and claimed to be the owner. In very broken English and poor grammar that was unlike the speech of StirlingM5, they were requesting I pay them $100 and made no mention of sending me photos of the car (which was initially mentioned by Stirling). In my corporate day job, I've received enough training on cyber security to spot fraudsters—this was one of those bad actors. About 30 minutes later, I saw this email, did not reply to it, and quickly edited my forum post to remove my email (see photo below with red circles timestamped to show evidence):
The following day (October 1st, 2025), I was finally able to private message StirlingM5.
In exchanging emails with the owner, I finally found who the mystery person was...his name is Craig, and he's such a gentleman with quite the car collection of very unique vehicles. One of the first things we discussed was whereabouts he lives. He lives in North Bay (3.5 hours north of Toronto), and coincidentally, I was travelling throughout Northern Ontario for work and my first stop was North Bay...isn't that crazy?!
The stars continued to align, and Craig and I had a date/time arranged. I was driving up from Toronto to North Bay on Sunday, October 5th, 2025, and would arrive around 5pm. Well, Sunday arrived and so off I went.
I couldn't contain my excitement so before checking into the hotel, I had to visit Craig and see the L7.
I safely travelled the 3.5 hours from Toronto, and arrived at Craig's residence. As I was approaching his home, I saw the garage door slowly open and there she was, the L7. I hastily parked out front his home and rushed over to see this work of art. Craig, a middle-aged gentleman pleasantly greeted me, and welcomed me to his home. I believe we truly hit it off the moment we met; in fact Craig invited me to join him in the back seat to further converse, where we spent majority of the time.
30 minutes or so later, his wife arrived home with their young family. She introduced herself and commented that it seemed like Craig and I were having a great time (probably because we were comfortably chatting in the 4-seater with the most plush Nappa leather seats I've ever sat in.
In fact she even invited me to join their family for a home-cooked dinner. I was very appreciative of their generosity with both time and hospitality, yet did not want to impose. I politely replied, so long as I am not imposing, I would love to join the family dinner.
Craig and I continued the conversation while dinner was being prepared, but funnily enough, we were chatting about so many other things besides the L7! Well 30 minutes turned into a dinner, dinner turned into 3 hours, and 3 hours turned into an intent offer from Craig and his wife to purchase the car! Truly, I believe things happen for a reason. The family felt so comfortable getting to know me (and vice versa), that they wanted this prized possession that's been in the family for over 10 years to go to a good home; heck Craig's put this car through 10+ years of Canada's 4 seasons including some harsh winters of blizzards, salt and sand that Northern Ontario faces:
Heck, Craig even hauled his young kids in the car throughout their childhood:
Throughout that evening, I got to learn all about Craig. He is an avid car collector, with a focus on unique cars that were uncommon for the Canadian market. Most of the cars Craig has purchased over the years have been very special vehicles...we're talking Alpina B10 Bi-Turbo, Peugeot 106, Bentleys, old school G-Wagons, and more!
This L7, along with most of the cars in Craig's collection, he's turned to the Japanese marketplace to source.
I was able to find the original listing photos from when Craig imported it to Canada from his friend Scott Bower@JapanCarDirect.com:
Link to original posting: https://www.japancardirect.com/autos/1997-bmw-l7/
Once the car arrived in Canada, it was transported to Craig's hometown of North Bay by Al@Thompson Logistics:
Over the years, Craig's L7 was occasionally spotted across Ontario at various places and car shows like TedFest:
So with all of that context spanning over 10 years, for Craig to close the L7's book with all the great moments built with his family, the car shows, plenty of road trips and local driving, even night drives with him being chauffeured around likely by his wife and enjoying, "The unmatched experience of the B-pillar lights on," his beloved L7 HAD TO go to the best future caretaker. I was lucky enough to arrange a great deal with Craig on the car, with the caveat that we could close the deal in early Spring 2026, as I have nowhere to park the car and need to arrange parking. Craig agreed to wait 6 months, and offer the car to me. We shook on the deal, and on that night, Sunday, October 5th, 2025, I became the pending owner of a 1997 BMW E38 L7!!!
Fast forward to early March 2026, where I had to go to Northern Ontario for work. I reached out to Craig to arrange seeing the car and future next steps. On March 10, 2026, we met up at T E Parolin & Son Motor Car, a European auto specialist shop that sells and repairs vehicles, especially Volvos, where the L7 gets all its work done.
Craig mentioned that the car is in good working condition, however is not drivable, as it will not pass safety certification once I take ownership of the vehicle. More specifically, to ensure it 100% passes safety certification, I will need to fix the following:
I really wanted to drive the car back home, but that was not in the cards. Craig suggested I either get the work done locally by T E Parolin and then I'd be able to drive the car home (as they'd safety it), or tow it back home and have a shop of my preference fix the above list and then safety certify it.
I advised Craig that my plan was in the coming weeks to visit him again, pay for the L7, and then trailer it back to have my buddy Matija, owner of DP Automotive & Electronics, perform the necessary work. Shout out to Matija, him and his team specialize in European vehicles, and he's been featured several times on my Youtube channel. He will be building my E90 M3 racecar once it's finished being caged by Mitch, owner of top tier race shop Unit 2 Fabrication.
A couple weeks later, on Tuesday, April 7th, 2026, I was in Etobicoke (within the Greater Toronto Area) visiting business clients, and in the proximate area was BMW Etobicoke, a massive state-of-the-art dealership...I decided to pop by for a visit and look around. I walked over to the service desk to introduce myself to a friend-of-a-friend named Mia. Mia is a service advisor at BMW Etobicoke, a dealership that her family owns. She is an extremely passionate person who breathes BMW along with service excellence. Her attentiveness, care-driven attitude made a prospective client like me want to do business with them. I briefed her on my soon-to-be L7, to which she was super excited to see come in and have her team of highly competent mechanics work on. She asked how I'd be getting the car down from North Bay, to which I told her my friend Dan, owner of Special Vehicle Transport, a boutique vehicle transport service in Ontario who transported my E90 M3 racecar from my former shop to my home, would be transporting the L7. She suggested that I consider their in-house boutique vehicle transport service called, Access by Policaro. They offered an enclosed flatbed personalized end-to-end experience that would ensure my highest satisfaction, for a more competitive rate. In addition to that, they are building out their bespoke classic car department, and would love for my car to be a focal point to showcase this specialty.
When Mia said this, I immediately thought to myself, "How cool would it be to have BMW build and restore my L7?!" I pivoted my initial plan and was going to build new connections and explore a new partnership with the passionate BMW Etobicoke team that were stoked to work on my car. I thanked Mia for her time, expressed my excitement for this new journey together, and that I'd look forward to her connecting me with her colleague Kadeen to arrange the logistical details for the L7 pickup.
Exactly 1 week later, on Tuesday, April 14, 2025, I jumped on a phone call with Mia's colleague, Kadeen, who is the Policaro Group's VIP Ambassador at their Porsche Oakville dealership, and we coordinated a date to pick up the L7 that worked with her logistics team, Craig, and my busy work schedule. Aside from Sunday, October 5th, 2025 being the most important date in this journey, Friday, April 24, 2026 was the next most important date—the official pickup date of my soon-to-be L7.
Those 10 days of waiting were probably some of the longest days I've had in awhile...the anticipation and excitement was killing me. I started getting in my head, all the what-ifs:
Well, that's some self-work I need to improve on, not thinking the worst (I do it to protect myself from disappointment, as I am a very excitable person and have the highest hope/expectations in others/things, and get let down often enough). #firstworldproblem
Anyways, Friday, April 24, 2026, was here!! I woke up at 5:15am, got dressed, work briefcase, along with a bank draft and first right of refusal made to Craig, and headed off to North Bay to conduct some business calls and briefly see Craig to pay and pick up the L7.
I safely arrived in North Bay, conducted my business visits, and then plugged my Ford MachE into a charging station at MacEwan's Fuel and Convenience Station a block away from T E Parolin...how convenient!
I arrived at T E Parolin around 11:30am, along with Access By Policaro's vehicle transporter named Everett. Craig was outside patiently awaiting my arrival, with the owner of T E Parolin, having a barbecue.
I parked out front and walked with Craig to T E Parolin's private backlot, where the L7 has been sitting since October 2025. I filmed some content which will be shared on my Youtube channel when I formally announce the L7.
We snapped a couple pictures together as a memento:
Craig's final drive of the L7 loading it into the flatbed, and telling me that the power steering in the L7 is definitely toast, as he strongly gripped and cranked the steering wheel to manoeuvre it around the backlot:
Everett lining up the L7 to ensure it safely moves into the enclosed flatbed. Fun fact, the car at 17.5 feet long JUST fit inside the enclosed flatbed:
Interesting to note right before the car was put in the enclosed flatbed, when initially walking over to the backlot, I brought all the paperwork in a consolidated brown folder, while freely carrying my wallet, phone and gimbal to film with, and Mach E keys. Craig popped open the L7's trunk, and on some sturdy flat parts in the trunk, we signed the vehicle ownership transfer and used car sales transaction paperwork, along with me presenting Craig the bank draft and first right of refusal, and the deal was officially done.
Now aside from the brown folder being held closely, I was placing those other loose important items everywhere. When I was done filming and photos, the deal was done, and the car was safely nestled by Everett in the enclosed flatbed, I headed back to my MachE and for some reason unbeknownst to me, I somehow must've placed those loose items on the windshield cowl of my MachE (I believe because Craig wanted to show Everett and I his latest purchase which needed some work done at the shop). After checking out Craig's beautiful new purchase (Bentley), I headed back to my car, grabbed my belongings off the windshield cowl, and followed behind Everett on our trek back to BMW Etobicoke.
I mentioned to Everett that along the way, I had to pull over to take an important work Teams video call, which would add about 30 minutes to the trip. I proposed lunch (my treat) at a famous burger spot along the way back called Webers on Highway 11, with the caveat that he wait the 30 minutes and that I catch up with him at Webers. He gladly accepted my proposal and we continued on our journey. Along the highway trek, Everett was unexpectedly flagged to pull into the local ministry truck stop, where they inspect all called-upon commercial vehicles. This was great, as I could continue driving and make up some time to offset my 30 minute delay window to take that work call. Well, I kept going for about 10 minutes, and then pulled over on the wide shoulder of the highway to take my work video call. Tell me that as I pull off and park the MachE, I get the weirdest message saying, "Key not found in car," or something of that sorts. I am beyond panic mode. I am legit FREAKING out!! You mean to tell me that I'm 40 minutes away from T E Parolin, and I don't have my keys?!
Keep in mind this is all while I am about to be on a 30 minute work call, where I need to maintain professionalism. Well I did my best, had a good work call, and then hastily reverted back to my freaking out mode. Did I drop the keys in the car? How could I have been driving all this way to not have the keys with me? I know, maybe the keys are in the trunk of the L7, after all, I signed the paperwork on something located in his open trunk. I call Everett and uncertainly say, "Everett, you won't believe what's happened, I've lost my keys. I think they're in the L7's trunk, and I believe I only made it this far because I was driving behind you and the signal proximity to my MachE was close enough to detect, but after you stopped and I proceeded onward to make up some time, the car detected it's no longer in proximity?" Yes, I know, that is crazy, but it just might be factual (it wasn't).
At this point, Everett has made it out of the ministry's highway commercial truck inspection stop and is nearby where I've been stopped for the last 30 minutes. He pulls over on the shoulder somewhere, hops in the back of the enclosed flatbed, scours the L7's trunk, to unsuccessfully find my MachE keys. I am beyond freaking out at this point.
My car for some reason would show that key undetectable message, yet, I could still start and drive the car. I told Everett that I'd have to circle back the 40 minutes (80kms) to visit T E Parolin, as I must've left the keys somewhere in the backlot. This inevitably cancelled my plans to enjoy a Webers burger with Everett, but I told him I'd e-transfer him the cost of his meal (he was appreciative of that). This also meant that I'd be over an hour behind schedule, which meant that I wouldn't be able to see the car be delivered to BMW Etobicoke...what an absolute bummer.
It is what it is. I headed back to T E Parolin, drove the MachE to the backlot, and nervously retraced my steps to find my MachE keys. For the life of me, I could not find the keys. Uh oh. One of the older mechanics who I hadn't seen earlier came to the back to do something, while probably wondering who this spiffy guy in a dress shirt and sport jacket is, snooping around the yard. Anyways, I told him I was looking for my keys, and for whatever reason, while telling him that, I hopelessly looked as a last measure at the hood of my MachE to surprisingly see my sole MachE key wedged in the driver side corner of the plastic windshield cowl?!
How did I miss grabbing this when I put my phone and wallet in the windshield cowl when seeing Craig's Bentley before leaving T E Parolin?! Better question: How the heck did this sole key fob not blow away doing highway speeds for over 160 kms (80 kms away and back), fall into the hood compartment area, or even get run over if it fell/blew off?!
The older mechanic laughed and said, "You better thank the man upstairs and say a prayer tonight." I called Everett to share the good news, which he was thankful to hear the key fob was found. Code Brown for me became Code GG (Green to proceed back home and Grateful that the man upstairs was watching out for me)...I definitely said a prayer at that moment and at night when I went to sleep!
A story I will always remember, indeed.
Since BMW Etobicoke would be closed by the time I'd arrive, I headed back home (oh did I mention I had to charge again at MacEwen's to make up for the unexpected additional commute)...what a long and eventful day! I was so upset, embarrassed, and minimized, that I didn't even feel like stopping along the way to go to Webers.
At least Everett got to enjoy the Webers burger, and safely delivered my L7...enjoy the photos:
[header=Concluding Thoughts][/header]
Thank you all for all checking out my journal for Project Astrid.
I hope you enjoyed all the stories that I've already had with this car.
Since discovering it in late September 2025, this car is becoming increasingly special to me, and I am so excited for you all to see how myself, and my friends at BMW Etobicoke restore this car back to its full glory!
A very special shout out to Craig and his family for blessing me with this incredible opportunity to continue the L7's story of more memorable experiences and life moments.
I believe that this car will unite so many people together with good conversations, and be great for the car culture, especially with my passion behind the build to showcase it to the masses.
Lastly, I invite you to check out both my Instagram: @screamer , along with my Youtube channel: Alex Rei , so that you can remain up-to-date with the content.
Kindest regards,
Alex
Hi everyone and welcome to my journal for this very special car.
My name is Alex, I have been collecting and building cars since 2013, and have a passion for BMWs.
My first car was a brand new 2011 VW Jetta, which was gifted by my parents to commute to school with.
In 2013, we traded the VW in for a brand new 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Hatchback; a car that I still own today. This car is called, Project Gabby.
In 2018, I acquired a 2008 BMW E90 M3 and have been building it into a track weapon. This car is called Project Sky.
In 2023, I acquired a very low mileage 1-of-1 E92 M3 finished in Moonstone Metallic and Rust Brown. This car is called Project Luna.
Fast-forward to Friday, April 24, 2026, the day I picked up an extremely rare and vehicle unknown to many. See for many, the E38 7-series only came in a few prominent models (740i/iL, 750i/iL, and Alpina B12); this is one of the most special E38s and BMWs ever created...introducing to you all, my 1997 BMW L7 (informally known as the 750iXL), finished in Cosmosschwarz Metallic and Sand Beige Nappa Leather.
[header=The Lore Is Everything!][/header]
The timelines within the story are very important, so be mindful and pay attention. I will preface that I never knew about the E38 L7 model. In fact I accidentally discovered it in September 2025 when my buddy Vlad imported one in 2025, which I got a chance to detail and film a Youtube video for, before selling it shortly after to rapper/producer Swizz Beatz (married to Alicia Keys).
For the intro of that video, I researched about the E38 L7 and some fun facts about the car:
- 1 of 899 units made
- Not sold to North American market; RoW offering to Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East
- RWD
- V12 powered
- 25cm longer than the long wheelbase iL models
- "L" implies Limousine
While researching, I stumbled upon a website called e38registry.org, which has a fairly small registry of E38 L7s around the world. When looking through the L7 registry section, I found the first L7 imported from Japan into North America in 2012...and the best part...it's in Canada!! The interesting thing is that it didn't specify where in Canada the owner lives.
Link for reference: https://www.e38registry.org/bimmerhead-l7-individual/
The post documented this vehicle on August 25, 2015 and when I zoomed closer into the photos, I found that it had an Ontario license plate (the province where I live too)!! These photos were from a couple years after the owner imported it. They made a few changes to the car from how it was originally imported (like the angel eye headlights):
I decided to investigate further and try to find this fellow Ontarian BMW owner. I Googled "Ontario BMW E38 L7" and to my surprise was able to find one of the results being from bimmerforums with a thread called "1997 E38 L7 very rare, only 74500 kms (Ontario, Canada)."
The thread was from July 26, 2015, and at that time, they were looking to sell it. Now after 10 years, what are the odds they'd still have it?! Well, I clicked the username "StirlingM5" and noticed they were last active a couple weeks ago (early September 2025). Hmm, I wonder if maybe they still have the car? I then clicked "Find latest posts" and noticed that they last posted in March of 2024 (over 1.5 years ago) and they were searching for a coil spring for an E38 L7!!. At this point, I confirmed a few things:
- The owner didn't sell the car after all those earlier years of trying to sell it, and may still currently own it
- The owner is still active on bimmerforums
On September 28, 2025, I took a whim and created an account on bimmerforums. I was unable to private message StirlingM5, as my account was too new. Now with most forums, you just had to post 5-10 times and you'd have access to private message; this forum was unlike most, in that there is an undisclosed waiting period (3 full days), which of course I was unaware of.
I am an impulsive person and frequently act on emotion. Understanding that, along with the above waiting period context, I decided to start a conversation with the owner in their E38 L7 Coil Spring thread. On that same day, I replied to their thread and mentioned that I was a local Torontonian and asked if they still have the L7.
Let me be clear, my initial intent was to connect with the owner and see if they'd be interested in me washing their L7 for my Youtube channel, after all, I detailed the 2nd L7 in North America, and would love to detail this one for Youtube content as the 1st L7 in North America.
To my surprise, StirlingM5 must have been notified that someone replied to their thread, and after several weeks of being inactive, they signed on 26 hours later (September 29th, 2025) and replied to my post within their thread saying to private message (PM) them my email and they'll send photos over. What they said thereafter was what caught my attention most..."I'm just about ready to part with the L7 if you happen to be looking for a project!"
Unaware of this just yet, the following morning (September 30th, 2025), I sign on bimmerforums, click the thread and see that they replied the aforementioned message! WAIT!!! You cannot sell this car before I detail it (yet, they were unaware I wanted to just detail it). At this point, I not only wanted to detail it, but became curious of potentially buying the car. If you've ever been in a similar situation, your mind begins to wander and imagine only the happiest of thoughts driving your future BMW L7 that billionaires, politicians, and embassies would be chauffeured around in...how cool!
I decided to follow their advice and went to PM them; it was at this point I realized I was unable to private message people because my account was too new...I then started to panic...the stars seemingly aligned, this was my one shot to connect with the owner who was still somewhat active on the forums, and you're telling me I can't PM yet?!
My irrational and impulsive self decided to reply back within the thread sharing that I was unable to PM yet, and for them to email me...and like a silly person, at 9:25am, I did it...yes, I entered my personal email address within that reply post! Now, I didn't think it'd be a big deal, especially since no one else was replying; however, I didn't think about the lurkers viewing now the most recent thread being bumped up within the forum...uh oh (naive me didn't know it'd be an uh-oh moment yet).
Within exactly 8 minutes, someone named "George Guns" sent me an email titled "L7," and claimed to be the owner. In very broken English and poor grammar that was unlike the speech of StirlingM5, they were requesting I pay them $100 and made no mention of sending me photos of the car (which was initially mentioned by Stirling). In my corporate day job, I've received enough training on cyber security to spot fraudsters—this was one of those bad actors. About 30 minutes later, I saw this email, did not reply to it, and quickly edited my forum post to remove my email (see photo below with red circles timestamped to show evidence):
The following day (October 1st, 2025), I was finally able to private message StirlingM5.
In exchanging emails with the owner, I finally found who the mystery person was...his name is Craig, and he's such a gentleman with quite the car collection of very unique vehicles. One of the first things we discussed was whereabouts he lives. He lives in North Bay (3.5 hours north of Toronto), and coincidentally, I was travelling throughout Northern Ontario for work and my first stop was North Bay...isn't that crazy?!
The stars continued to align, and Craig and I had a date/time arranged. I was driving up from Toronto to North Bay on Sunday, October 5th, 2025, and would arrive around 5pm. Well, Sunday arrived and so off I went.
I couldn't contain my excitement so before checking into the hotel, I had to visit Craig and see the L7.
I safely travelled the 3.5 hours from Toronto, and arrived at Craig's residence. As I was approaching his home, I saw the garage door slowly open and there she was, the L7. I hastily parked out front his home and rushed over to see this work of art. Craig, a middle-aged gentleman pleasantly greeted me, and welcomed me to his home. I believe we truly hit it off the moment we met; in fact Craig invited me to join him in the back seat to further converse, where we spent majority of the time.
30 minutes or so later, his wife arrived home with their young family. She introduced herself and commented that it seemed like Craig and I were having a great time (probably because we were comfortably chatting in the 4-seater with the most plush Nappa leather seats I've ever sat in.
In fact she even invited me to join their family for a home-cooked dinner. I was very appreciative of their generosity with both time and hospitality, yet did not want to impose. I politely replied, so long as I am not imposing, I would love to join the family dinner.Craig and I continued the conversation while dinner was being prepared, but funnily enough, we were chatting about so many other things besides the L7! Well 30 minutes turned into a dinner, dinner turned into 3 hours, and 3 hours turned into an intent offer from Craig and his wife to purchase the car! Truly, I believe things happen for a reason. The family felt so comfortable getting to know me (and vice versa), that they wanted this prized possession that's been in the family for over 10 years to go to a good home; heck Craig's put this car through 10+ years of Canada's 4 seasons including some harsh winters of blizzards, salt and sand that Northern Ontario faces:
Heck, Craig even hauled his young kids in the car throughout their childhood:
Throughout that evening, I got to learn all about Craig. He is an avid car collector, with a focus on unique cars that were uncommon for the Canadian market. Most of the cars Craig has purchased over the years have been very special vehicles...we're talking Alpina B10 Bi-Turbo, Peugeot 106, Bentleys, old school G-Wagons, and more!
This L7, along with most of the cars in Craig's collection, he's turned to the Japanese marketplace to source.
I was able to find the original listing photos from when Craig imported it to Canada from his friend Scott Bower@JapanCarDirect.com:
Link to original posting: https://www.japancardirect.com/autos/1997-bmw-l7/
Once the car arrived in Canada, it was transported to Craig's hometown of North Bay by Al@Thompson Logistics:
Over the years, Craig's L7 was occasionally spotted across Ontario at various places and car shows like TedFest:
So with all of that context spanning over 10 years, for Craig to close the L7's book with all the great moments built with his family, the car shows, plenty of road trips and local driving, even night drives with him being chauffeured around likely by his wife and enjoying, "The unmatched experience of the B-pillar lights on," his beloved L7 HAD TO go to the best future caretaker. I was lucky enough to arrange a great deal with Craig on the car, with the caveat that we could close the deal in early Spring 2026, as I have nowhere to park the car and need to arrange parking. Craig agreed to wait 6 months, and offer the car to me. We shook on the deal, and on that night, Sunday, October 5th, 2025, I became the pending owner of a 1997 BMW E38 L7!!!
Fast forward to early March 2026, where I had to go to Northern Ontario for work. I reached out to Craig to arrange seeing the car and future next steps. On March 10, 2026, we met up at T E Parolin & Son Motor Car, a European auto specialist shop that sells and repairs vehicles, especially Volvos, where the L7 gets all its work done.
Craig mentioned that the car is in good working condition, however is not drivable, as it will not pass safety certification once I take ownership of the vehicle. More specifically, to ensure it 100% passes safety certification, I will need to fix the following:
- Hood latches
- Hood cable
- Hood struts
- Side mirrors
- Serpentine belt
- All lines
- Gas tank
- Oil leak
- Both rear springs
- One front spring
- Left front foglight
- Power steering
- Wiper blades
- Washer jets
I really wanted to drive the car back home, but that was not in the cards. Craig suggested I either get the work done locally by T E Parolin and then I'd be able to drive the car home (as they'd safety it), or tow it back home and have a shop of my preference fix the above list and then safety certify it.
I advised Craig that my plan was in the coming weeks to visit him again, pay for the L7, and then trailer it back to have my buddy Matija, owner of DP Automotive & Electronics, perform the necessary work. Shout out to Matija, him and his team specialize in European vehicles, and he's been featured several times on my Youtube channel. He will be building my E90 M3 racecar once it's finished being caged by Mitch, owner of top tier race shop Unit 2 Fabrication.
A couple weeks later, on Tuesday, April 7th, 2026, I was in Etobicoke (within the Greater Toronto Area) visiting business clients, and in the proximate area was BMW Etobicoke, a massive state-of-the-art dealership...I decided to pop by for a visit and look around. I walked over to the service desk to introduce myself to a friend-of-a-friend named Mia. Mia is a service advisor at BMW Etobicoke, a dealership that her family owns. She is an extremely passionate person who breathes BMW along with service excellence. Her attentiveness, care-driven attitude made a prospective client like me want to do business with them. I briefed her on my soon-to-be L7, to which she was super excited to see come in and have her team of highly competent mechanics work on. She asked how I'd be getting the car down from North Bay, to which I told her my friend Dan, owner of Special Vehicle Transport, a boutique vehicle transport service in Ontario who transported my E90 M3 racecar from my former shop to my home, would be transporting the L7. She suggested that I consider their in-house boutique vehicle transport service called, Access by Policaro. They offered an enclosed flatbed personalized end-to-end experience that would ensure my highest satisfaction, for a more competitive rate. In addition to that, they are building out their bespoke classic car department, and would love for my car to be a focal point to showcase this specialty.
When Mia said this, I immediately thought to myself, "How cool would it be to have BMW build and restore my L7?!" I pivoted my initial plan and was going to build new connections and explore a new partnership with the passionate BMW Etobicoke team that were stoked to work on my car. I thanked Mia for her time, expressed my excitement for this new journey together, and that I'd look forward to her connecting me with her colleague Kadeen to arrange the logistical details for the L7 pickup.
Exactly 1 week later, on Tuesday, April 14, 2025, I jumped on a phone call with Mia's colleague, Kadeen, who is the Policaro Group's VIP Ambassador at their Porsche Oakville dealership, and we coordinated a date to pick up the L7 that worked with her logistics team, Craig, and my busy work schedule. Aside from Sunday, October 5th, 2025 being the most important date in this journey, Friday, April 24, 2026 was the next most important date—the official pickup date of my soon-to-be L7.
Those 10 days of waiting were probably some of the longest days I've had in awhile...the anticipation and excitement was killing me. I started getting in my head, all the what-ifs:
- What if Craig changes his mind?
- What if I get there and the car's not there?
- What if my mom and dad don't already kill me because of my poor decisions to own 5 cars?
- Best for last: I just spent $15k on rare Alpina E31 Hardlines before I paid for the car (more to come in a future post on this), what if I don't end up getting the L7?!
Well, that's some self-work I need to improve on, not thinking the worst (I do it to protect myself from disappointment, as I am a very excitable person and have the highest hope/expectations in others/things, and get let down often enough). #firstworldproblem
Anyways, Friday, April 24, 2026, was here!! I woke up at 5:15am, got dressed, work briefcase, along with a bank draft and first right of refusal made to Craig, and headed off to North Bay to conduct some business calls and briefly see Craig to pay and pick up the L7.
I safely arrived in North Bay, conducted my business visits, and then plugged my Ford MachE into a charging station at MacEwan's Fuel and Convenience Station a block away from T E Parolin...how convenient!
I arrived at T E Parolin around 11:30am, along with Access By Policaro's vehicle transporter named Everett. Craig was outside patiently awaiting my arrival, with the owner of T E Parolin, having a barbecue.
I parked out front and walked with Craig to T E Parolin's private backlot, where the L7 has been sitting since October 2025. I filmed some content which will be shared on my Youtube channel when I formally announce the L7.
We snapped a couple pictures together as a memento:
Craig's final drive of the L7 loading it into the flatbed, and telling me that the power steering in the L7 is definitely toast, as he strongly gripped and cranked the steering wheel to manoeuvre it around the backlot:
Everett lining up the L7 to ensure it safely moves into the enclosed flatbed. Fun fact, the car at 17.5 feet long JUST fit inside the enclosed flatbed:
Interesting to note right before the car was put in the enclosed flatbed, when initially walking over to the backlot, I brought all the paperwork in a consolidated brown folder, while freely carrying my wallet, phone and gimbal to film with, and Mach E keys. Craig popped open the L7's trunk, and on some sturdy flat parts in the trunk, we signed the vehicle ownership transfer and used car sales transaction paperwork, along with me presenting Craig the bank draft and first right of refusal, and the deal was officially done.
Now aside from the brown folder being held closely, I was placing those other loose important items everywhere. When I was done filming and photos, the deal was done, and the car was safely nestled by Everett in the enclosed flatbed, I headed back to my MachE and for some reason unbeknownst to me, I somehow must've placed those loose items on the windshield cowl of my MachE (I believe because Craig wanted to show Everett and I his latest purchase which needed some work done at the shop). After checking out Craig's beautiful new purchase (Bentley), I headed back to my car, grabbed my belongings off the windshield cowl, and followed behind Everett on our trek back to BMW Etobicoke.
I mentioned to Everett that along the way, I had to pull over to take an important work Teams video call, which would add about 30 minutes to the trip. I proposed lunch (my treat) at a famous burger spot along the way back called Webers on Highway 11, with the caveat that he wait the 30 minutes and that I catch up with him at Webers. He gladly accepted my proposal and we continued on our journey. Along the highway trek, Everett was unexpectedly flagged to pull into the local ministry truck stop, where they inspect all called-upon commercial vehicles. This was great, as I could continue driving and make up some time to offset my 30 minute delay window to take that work call. Well, I kept going for about 10 minutes, and then pulled over on the wide shoulder of the highway to take my work video call. Tell me that as I pull off and park the MachE, I get the weirdest message saying, "Key not found in car," or something of that sorts. I am beyond panic mode. I am legit FREAKING out!! You mean to tell me that I'm 40 minutes away from T E Parolin, and I don't have my keys?!
Keep in mind this is all while I am about to be on a 30 minute work call, where I need to maintain professionalism. Well I did my best, had a good work call, and then hastily reverted back to my freaking out mode. Did I drop the keys in the car? How could I have been driving all this way to not have the keys with me? I know, maybe the keys are in the trunk of the L7, after all, I signed the paperwork on something located in his open trunk. I call Everett and uncertainly say, "Everett, you won't believe what's happened, I've lost my keys. I think they're in the L7's trunk, and I believe I only made it this far because I was driving behind you and the signal proximity to my MachE was close enough to detect, but after you stopped and I proceeded onward to make up some time, the car detected it's no longer in proximity?" Yes, I know, that is crazy, but it just might be factual (it wasn't).
At this point, Everett has made it out of the ministry's highway commercial truck inspection stop and is nearby where I've been stopped for the last 30 minutes. He pulls over on the shoulder somewhere, hops in the back of the enclosed flatbed, scours the L7's trunk, to unsuccessfully find my MachE keys. I am beyond freaking out at this point.
My car for some reason would show that key undetectable message, yet, I could still start and drive the car. I told Everett that I'd have to circle back the 40 minutes (80kms) to visit T E Parolin, as I must've left the keys somewhere in the backlot. This inevitably cancelled my plans to enjoy a Webers burger with Everett, but I told him I'd e-transfer him the cost of his meal (he was appreciative of that). This also meant that I'd be over an hour behind schedule, which meant that I wouldn't be able to see the car be delivered to BMW Etobicoke...what an absolute bummer.
It is what it is. I headed back to T E Parolin, drove the MachE to the backlot, and nervously retraced my steps to find my MachE keys. For the life of me, I could not find the keys. Uh oh. One of the older mechanics who I hadn't seen earlier came to the back to do something, while probably wondering who this spiffy guy in a dress shirt and sport jacket is, snooping around the yard. Anyways, I told him I was looking for my keys, and for whatever reason, while telling him that, I hopelessly looked as a last measure at the hood of my MachE to surprisingly see my sole MachE key wedged in the driver side corner of the plastic windshield cowl?!
How did I miss grabbing this when I put my phone and wallet in the windshield cowl when seeing Craig's Bentley before leaving T E Parolin?! Better question: How the heck did this sole key fob not blow away doing highway speeds for over 160 kms (80 kms away and back), fall into the hood compartment area, or even get run over if it fell/blew off?!
The older mechanic laughed and said, "You better thank the man upstairs and say a prayer tonight." I called Everett to share the good news, which he was thankful to hear the key fob was found. Code Brown for me became Code GG (Green to proceed back home and Grateful that the man upstairs was watching out for me)...I definitely said a prayer at that moment and at night when I went to sleep!
A story I will always remember, indeed.
Since BMW Etobicoke would be closed by the time I'd arrive, I headed back home (oh did I mention I had to charge again at MacEwen's to make up for the unexpected additional commute)...what a long and eventful day! I was so upset, embarrassed, and minimized, that I didn't even feel like stopping along the way to go to Webers.
At least Everett got to enjoy the Webers burger, and safely delivered my L7...enjoy the photos:
[header=Concluding Thoughts][/header]
Thank you all for all checking out my journal for Project Astrid.
I hope you enjoyed all the stories that I've already had with this car.
Since discovering it in late September 2025, this car is becoming increasingly special to me, and I am so excited for you all to see how myself, and my friends at BMW Etobicoke restore this car back to its full glory!
A very special shout out to Craig and his family for blessing me with this incredible opportunity to continue the L7's story of more memorable experiences and life moments.
I believe that this car will unite so many people together with good conversations, and be great for the car culture, especially with my passion behind the build to showcase it to the masses.
Lastly, I invite you to check out both my Instagram: @screamer , along with my Youtube channel: Alex Rei , so that you can remain up-to-date with the content.
Kindest regards,
Alex
