I'm sure this has ben asked a million times, but I'm looking at buying a '79 320i and I'm wondering what the common problems with this car are? Is there a very common place to find rust? How about mechanically? Is there anything that typically goes bad after 27 years? Thanks.

For rust check the wheel wells, shock towers, under the rear tailights, and trunk near the gas tank.... if you can, check the floorboards also.

Some of the front suspension bushings can wear and cause a wobble at speed/clunk over slow bumps. Sunroofs can stick, sunroof drains can clog, quarter window seals seem to shrink a bit and not seal, can cause water leakage, etc. Normal old car stuff.

Props on running WVO in the Jetta.

Thanks!

First. The cylinder head wares out real fast. Becomes very noisy. Whole bunch of bushings should be replaced over time,struts etc.. All fuel hoses are low quality and need to be replaced since they leak. Fuel pumps quit working fast. Shifter assembley and bushings wear resulting in sloppy shifter condition. Warm up regulators go bad fast. Exhaust leaks. All seals need to replaced after 20 years. Wheel bearings go bad fast. Very strong bottom end, but a bad bearing will result in low oil pressure. Water pumps are cheap,but leak all the time. Hydrolic clutch componenets leak. Engine and tranny mounts crap out fast. Fuel accumulator. Clutch/fly wheel. Synhro problems with some trannies. (not always, but better check). Rear may whine (not always)

Rust: rusts at every imaginable spot.

1 Rocker panels
2 jacking points (under body)
3 all fenders
4 At the place where rear lights sit (bad seals)
5 Behind the front bumper
6 Under the hood in some tricky spots
7 Subframe where the cross-member meets the frame
8 Whole bunch of unusual rust spots and the schock towers (the worst case)