Don’t let the Flame Die Out!

Hi, my name is Jack Trumble and I am a recently married mechanical engineering graduate from Phoenix, Arizona. But this story isn't about me--it's about my beloved project car, Ivy.

But before I tell this story, I wish to acknowledge that there are infinitely better causes to support and contribute to. If you do not wish to donate to a personal creative cause, I completely understand and do not wish to waste any more of your time.


If you are someone who is working hard toward your dream, or are someone who has already been blessed to have achieved their dream, then I sincerely hope that my story resonates with you.


Ever since I was an infant, I have been absolutely infatuated with cars. It is a passion so hard-wired into my being that even my very first word was “car.” …Much to my mother and father’s dismay. So it has always been my dream to build a car from the ground up, but in the 29 years I have been on this planet, I never once had the opportunity... that is, until the world stopped.

During the pandemic, I was able to save up just enough money to afford my first ever project car. I found an old run-down 2001 BMW 525i with a manual transmission for the price of a used laptop, and immediately fell in love. Over the last three years, I have poured my heart and soul into this car. Not only is Ivy my first project car (something that every enthusiast holds near and dear to their heart) but restoring her has been a far superior educational experience than the culmination of my entire college career. My degree taught me the fundamentals of engineering, but Ivy has taught me application. I never realized how little my degree prepared me for the real world, until I embarked on this quest to restore a poor sun-bleached BMW left for dead in the Sonoran desert.

My goal has been to breathe a second life into this (once) clapped-out commuter sedan and have her enjoy her sunset years as a high-revving, tire-shredding drift car. I have documented every step of my journey on Instagram, under the username "stick_e39".

At this stage in the project, Ivy is very nearly complete. I have fully rebuilt her suspension with all new control arms, tie rods, and adjustable coil overs; upgraded her brakes to steel hoses and slotted rotors; refreshed her motor with all new hoses, gaskets, seals, sparkplugs, and pulleys; replaced her leaking steering rack, water pump, and fuel senders; upgraded her handbrake with an extended grip and custom button lock-out engineered by yours truly; and I even refreshed her looks by covering up her faded black paint with a DIY pearl white vinyl-wrap and some donated rims from another 5 Series. Truly the list goes on and on and on, and I am sure at this point I am probably boring you. In short, there is virtually nothing left on this car that I have not touched.

I have poured my body weight's worth of blood, sweat, tears, and dollars into restoring her, and I did it all with no prior experience, no outside help, no lift, no power tools, and no sleep--armed only with encouragement from my wife, and a couple of open YouTube tabs.

I was on the last stretch to finally commission her for the racetrack when tragedy struck... her tired old 5-speed manual transmission gave up the ghost during her latest test drive, and now she's been left paralyzed from the flywheel down. Unfortunately for Ivy, my financial priorities recently have had to shift away from her to focus on paying off my wedding and saving up to buy a first home with my wife. For months now, I have been tormented every morning as I walk by my 99% complete project car to go to work, not knowing when.. or if... she might ever get back on the road. My soul aches to see Ivy reach her final form, and I cannot bare to imagine losing all the progress that she has made by allowing her to sit and rot all over again. Ivy shall not go quietly into the night!

If you have made it this far, dear reader, then I humbly ask you from the bottom of my heart to please purchase a shirt as an investment toward rebuilding Ivy's drivetrain so that she may at last live out her golden years in glory as a genuine racecar.


My fundraising target will cover: a ZF S5D320Z manual transmission, new clutch, new flex disc, new driveshaft center support bearing, and driveshaft adapter plate. That is everything. All the work will be done by me in my garage, just as I have done everything else up to this point. It will be my first transmission job ever, and I am very much looking forward to the experience. I am simply a humble enthusiast with a burning passion for cars who only wants to finish building his dream.

Thank you dear reader for taking the time to read. God bless you.