Which BMW should I put money into?

I need a car for around town but I only have $2000 to spend. I have two cars that need work but I don’t know which one would be the best to put money into.

My favorite car is a little 1975 BMW with 49,000 miles on it. I found it sitting in the sun in Phoenix, the interior was completely rotted and it needed a new paint job. The engine is in great condition, we can drive it. I got it painted, I have new seats but it needs to be put together, windows need to be put back on, the dashboard is pretty much non existent, etc. I have a lot of new parts just sitting around.

My second car is a 1987 BMW 325, with 250,000 miles on it. It needs a new paint job and I’ve been told it is going to need a new differential sometime in the future. It has been well taken care of and needs things like new window switches and door handles. I think I could spend $2000 on getting things fixed now and then get the differential fixed later on in the year.

So which would be the better choice? Someone gave me a price of over $6000 to put my 1975 car back together.

Has anyone gone over the 2002 looking for ANY signs of rust? That’s a major problem with them. If the body is in great shape, I’d rather put money into it, sell the '87 and buy something to drive everyday.

Either one of these cars is going to be a money pit. If your budget is only 2 grand, you need to find something like a used Honda Civic and use that as your daily driver, restoring the BMWs as you get more money.

Amazingly, no rust problems on either car. Thanks for the advice texases and shadowfax.