[MalibuBimmer]

When I was a newly minted lawyer in 1972 I took my 3.0CS to BMW-Porsche Specialists on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica even though I bought the car just a couple miles away at Ocean View Motors (predecessor to Santa Monica BMW). I liked the idea of convenience and the cost for service was much less than at Ocean View Motors.

Over a period of time I became friendly with the owners of the shop (two German immigrants) and became their lawyer. They eventually moved to Lincoln Blvd. in Santa Monica.

I thought back then I'd keep the 3.0CS forever. (I only kept it for 29 years.) And when a friendly young weightlifter I'd met, using the name Arnholt Strong, who brought his 3.0S in for repairs told me he was going to get a tour of the BMW factory in Munich, I asked him to buy me new leather seat covers for the front seats, because some day I would use them.

He did and I sent him a check for $550. I kept the covers in the plastic bags in which they came, removing them twice a year to treat them with Lexol. When it came time, years later, to replace the front seat leather, I brought the bags to my upholsterer. He told me that he thought the leather was going to be all dried out but it was in perfect condition. The new leather looked and felt great. (The car was Malaga, or maroon, and the leather was tan and looked like pigskin. BMW knew how to make cars back then!)

The young weightlifter went on to bigger and better things. He switched his name, again, Anglicizing "Arnholt" to "Arnold." And instead of "Strong" he reverted to his original Austrian family name. Something like Schwarzenegger.