RE: BMW 323i (E21): Spotted
Discussion
s m said:
Here's my last one
BBS front spoiler, Foha rear, sunroof, 5-speed, Recaros, opening rear quarters to hear the exhaust note better
, BBS alloys
Some ways I preferred it to the E30 325i Sport to drive
Just over a decade back you could buy a couple of these for £1k out the Bargain Ads. People wanted the newer E30 .....or more economical hot hatches
Nice! BBS front spoiler, Foha rear, sunroof, 5-speed, Recaros, opening rear quarters to hear the exhaust note better
, BBS alloysSome ways I preferred it to the E30 325i Sport to drive
Just over a decade back you could buy a couple of these for £1k out the Bargain Ads. People wanted the newer E30 .....or more economical hot hatches
Anytime I've looked on German car sites they seem to be really back in love with the E21, especially the 323i. C1s and B6s seem to have gone crazy altogether
silverback said:
I've had mine for about four years now. A bit rough round the edges, a bit of a money pit, but with the windows down so you can hear the twin pipes do their thing it's a great place to be. 
Here's the old Hartge one with around 170bhp
hartge1 by sm.
hartge3 by sm.
hartge5 by sm.
hartge2 by sm.
hartge4 by sm.Herman Toothrot said:
I have a photo at home of my parents 323i & 728i of the same vintage having been lifted on to the scrap dealers truck and held in place by the winch being pushed down crushing one car into the other. A sad day but back only 10 years ago they were just seen as sheds of no value.
Yep, newer cars, scrappage scheme etc all took their toll on the old wrecks.Just looking through some old Autotraders and back in 98 you could buy stuff that might be worth loads more now
For a Bargainista you could tool about in an E30 320i for £6-700 looking at the more expensive stuff - 2/3rds of that would buy the older model 323i......or a smidge more for the 'prestige' of the 5er above
Even an old Mk1 Scort made a cheap runabout
In circa early 1986 I was heavily into the 323i and they were a common site ( especially Polaris Silver and Henna Red, Thistle Green ( yuk ) and Black ) in East and Nth London and I can still see in my minds eye the straw hat that many had plonked on the rear parcel shelf.
I was running my third MK3 3000S Capri an Oyster gold one and after a succession of TR6 and MK1 3 Litre Capris, the MK3 S was a big, overweight disappointment ( Power Steering and Recaros were superb though ) and I just had to have a 323i.
One night a then best pal and I drove to Welwyn Garden to see a lovely S reg (very very rare then as most were T reg ) in Silver. After a high speed test in it I was smitten and we agreed on £1,850 but I couldn't sell the Capri in time and I sadly lost that car.
I was buying every mag and paper i could to try to find another in my price range when a month or so later I spot a T reg ( WDP 227T ) Silver one in E and Mart for circa £1,600 which back then was about the cheapest you could find one for. It was at a Traders house in Lingfield Surrey. After a long drive I get there have a far too brief look over a very scruffy slightly smoky example, but heart rules head and i give him my near mint Capri and £300 quid I think. Well, that swine had me over big time.
The oil warning or charge light was on and I set off for home. I get lost in Croydon, pull in for fuel and it won't start, battery is dead ( and was also shorting out on the bonnet as it's too tall !
Pretty sure I had to leave it there and get it recovered. Once home and I have a good look over it and notice the poor repaint, the rotten rear arches, floor corners and boot floor corners but alarmingly the crack in the rear quarter about a foot back from the door shut. Digging out an inch of filler reveals a red part rear wing that had had been crudely braized in and smothered with pudding.
I manage to get the previous owners number, call him up and he tells me that it had been stolen by some kids and driven round a car park with them hitting other cars, they then stove the rear wing in and do a runner.....
I get on the phone to the cowboy dealer who despite having the most gorgeous house and a Range Rover convertible on the drive tells me he's skint. I ask for the Capri back and he says he sold it. He then offers £200 which I very young and foolishly accept.
Crack in the rear quarter is getting bigger and the exhaust smoke is getting worse. I have a dice with a new D plate Pearl White 5 GT Turbo down the Epping New Rd and he's climbing All over me.
Then on the Saturday eve I have a second date with my now ex wife. We pull into the pub car park, I change down into 1st and the gear stick won't do anything..... The ruddy poor design linkage has broken. So we leave it there and I have to get it recovered yet again. New gear linkage was frighteningly expensive ( via Coopers in Bishopsgate ) as all BMW parts were £ horrific rip off.
I put the thing in E and Mart for £800 and a guy turns up, takes one look at the rear wing and legs it.
Engine smoke is by now so bad that I borrow £700 quid and buy another engine from Cooks Ferry. I also buy some replica Mahle - BBS 6x13 alloys from the great bunch of guys @ Grays tires in Sidcup and sell the original Alpina style alloys to a guy with a 2002Tii.
However, Its sitting in my Mums garage I had paid £100 quid for a heap of a 1970 3 Litre Capri and I just wanted rid of the thing. Nice Guy turns up gives me £800 and takes it away.
Circa 3 years later in 1989 and I'm driving my company Sierra through Haringey and there it is parked up with green Alpina Stripes ! I didn't stop as just too many bad memories with that pile of junk. I'm guessing it's long since been scrapped. Swore I would never have another BMW but.......
I was running my third MK3 3000S Capri an Oyster gold one and after a succession of TR6 and MK1 3 Litre Capris, the MK3 S was a big, overweight disappointment ( Power Steering and Recaros were superb though ) and I just had to have a 323i.
One night a then best pal and I drove to Welwyn Garden to see a lovely S reg (very very rare then as most were T reg ) in Silver. After a high speed test in it I was smitten and we agreed on £1,850 but I couldn't sell the Capri in time and I sadly lost that car.
I was buying every mag and paper i could to try to find another in my price range when a month or so later I spot a T reg ( WDP 227T ) Silver one in E and Mart for circa £1,600 which back then was about the cheapest you could find one for. It was at a Traders house in Lingfield Surrey. After a long drive I get there have a far too brief look over a very scruffy slightly smoky example, but heart rules head and i give him my near mint Capri and £300 quid I think. Well, that swine had me over big time.
The oil warning or charge light was on and I set off for home. I get lost in Croydon, pull in for fuel and it won't start, battery is dead ( and was also shorting out on the bonnet as it's too tall !
Pretty sure I had to leave it there and get it recovered. Once home and I have a good look over it and notice the poor repaint, the rotten rear arches, floor corners and boot floor corners but alarmingly the crack in the rear quarter about a foot back from the door shut. Digging out an inch of filler reveals a red part rear wing that had had been crudely braized in and smothered with pudding.
I manage to get the previous owners number, call him up and he tells me that it had been stolen by some kids and driven round a car park with them hitting other cars, they then stove the rear wing in and do a runner.....
I get on the phone to the cowboy dealer who despite having the most gorgeous house and a Range Rover convertible on the drive tells me he's skint. I ask for the Capri back and he says he sold it. He then offers £200 which I very young and foolishly accept.
Crack in the rear quarter is getting bigger and the exhaust smoke is getting worse. I have a dice with a new D plate Pearl White 5 GT Turbo down the Epping New Rd and he's climbing All over me.
Then on the Saturday eve I have a second date with my now ex wife. We pull into the pub car park, I change down into 1st and the gear stick won't do anything..... The ruddy poor design linkage has broken. So we leave it there and I have to get it recovered yet again. New gear linkage was frighteningly expensive ( via Coopers in Bishopsgate ) as all BMW parts were £ horrific rip off.
I put the thing in E and Mart for £800 and a guy turns up, takes one look at the rear wing and legs it.
Engine smoke is by now so bad that I borrow £700 quid and buy another engine from Cooks Ferry. I also buy some replica Mahle - BBS 6x13 alloys from the great bunch of guys @ Grays tires in Sidcup and sell the original Alpina style alloys to a guy with a 2002Tii.
However, Its sitting in my Mums garage I had paid £100 quid for a heap of a 1970 3 Litre Capri and I just wanted rid of the thing. Nice Guy turns up gives me £800 and takes it away.
Circa 3 years later in 1989 and I'm driving my company Sierra through Haringey and there it is parked up with green Alpina Stripes ! I didn't stop as just too many bad memories with that pile of junk. I'm guessing it's long since been scrapped. Swore I would never have another BMW but.......
Used to have a number of E21's about 20 years ago. You could pick them up in the Loot for around £ 150-400 !!! Once purchased a red Alpina E21 model which was in fairly good condition but used to be really back end happy, the head gasket went and where it broke it stayed. We then bought a pale blue 323i which had covered only 37k miles which really at 17 was the last thing you were concerned about but people always commented that it had the original glove box light and was totally solid. At the same time we had a 320i in bright orange which had a multitude of different wheels from one rear Golf Mk1 P alloy. All great cars which, it wasn't until years later I started collecting cars I realised how stupid I'd been not to park them up and keep. Many a Fiat 131 Mirafiori I remember being left abandoned as really they had served their purpose as cheap cars to buy for fun when the snow or ice came. Sounds stupid now but was fun then. A friend has a couple still now and is currently fitting a E46 M3 engine into her. Should be fun will check if he is on here.
My Dad's last three company cars were a BMW 2002, 320 and finally a 1979 323i 4 speed in petrol blue. He kept it after he retired but the running costs compared to the very low annual mileage finally forced him to sell it in 1990. It was in fabulous condition but nobody could afford the insurance and he ended up almost giving it away 
All three BMWs had huge steering wheels but he got around the problem with a 'genuine BMW sport steering wheel' which he took from car to car and always guaranteed healty biceps. I still have the wheel (wish I had the cars too) - might even fit on my current BMW but then I'd be suffering a severe button defecit.
The 3231 was certainly the quickest but the 2002 was my favourite to drive.
All three BMWs had huge steering wheels but he got around the problem with a 'genuine BMW sport steering wheel' which he took from car to car and always guaranteed healty biceps. I still have the wheel (wish I had the cars too) - might even fit on my current BMW but then I'd be suffering a severe button defecit.
The 3231 was certainly the quickest but the 2002 was my favourite to drive.
Well What can I say lol, these Cars were Wicked!!!!, They were the in things back in the day, We Had loads in the early 80's up until the early 90's, started off the the e21 320/6 after the bmw 1602 :P.
We had many 323i's But the best one was the T reg 323i Fjord Blue!, that car used to chip, it was very very Fast, it used to eat all other cars which came in its way :P my dad ripped it around London and said this car is deffo to keep lol . another time we were coming back from Birmingham on the motorway and this guy started to mess around in his Granada 2.8 ghia, we thought forget this lets unleash the beast , my uncle planted his foot down and went leaving the ford way way behind lool, we were going all the way top speed just a little past 140mph:P , by the time we got off the motorway we started to hear a slight rattle and know everytime he accelerated :O, near to our house it started to smoke and miss and yes the oil pump had gone , ohh nooo, we looked for an engine for about 3 months but couldn't find one , in the end we bought a BRAND NEW ENGINE at the cost of £2,000 :O, It came all boxed up waiting to be dropped in, sooo yh we had a lot of fun and they were very good cars!
also had a T reg 323i polaris Silver in which we resorted , fitted a tuned engine and complete respray, then sold it on to a good friend of our,
Its nice to know that people still admire and like these bad ass cars
We had many 323i's But the best one was the T reg 323i Fjord Blue!, that car used to chip, it was very very Fast, it used to eat all other cars which came in its way :P my dad ripped it around London and said this car is deffo to keep lol . another time we were coming back from Birmingham on the motorway and this guy started to mess around in his Granada 2.8 ghia, we thought forget this lets unleash the beast , my uncle planted his foot down and went leaving the ford way way behind lool, we were going all the way top speed just a little past 140mph:P , by the time we got off the motorway we started to hear a slight rattle and know everytime he accelerated :O, near to our house it started to smoke and miss and yes the oil pump had gone , ohh nooo, we looked for an engine for about 3 months but couldn't find one , in the end we bought a BRAND NEW ENGINE at the cost of £2,000 :O, It came all boxed up waiting to be dropped in, sooo yh we had a lot of fun and they were very good cars!
also had a T reg 323i polaris Silver in which we resorted , fitted a tuned engine and complete respray, then sold it on to a good friend of our,
Its nice to know that people still admire and like these bad ass cars
SSF1 said:
Well What can I say lol, these Cars were Wicked!!!!, They were the in things back in the day, We Had loads in the early 80's up until the early 90's, started off the the e21 320/6 after the bmw 1602 :P.
We had many 323i's But the best one was the T reg 323i Fjord Blue!, that car used to chip, it was very very Fast, it used to eat all other cars which came in its way :P my dad ripped it around London and said this car is deffo to keep lol . another time we were coming back from Birmingham on the motorway and this guy started to mess around in his Granada 2.8 ghia, we thought forget this lets unleash the beast , my uncle planted his foot down and went leaving the ford way way behind lool, we were going all the way top speed just a little past 140mph:P , by the time we got off the motorway we started to hear a slight rattle and know everytime he accelerated :O, near to our house it started to smoke and miss and yes the oil pump had gone , ohh nooo, we looked for an engine for about 3 months but couldn't find one , in the end we bought a BRAND NEW ENGINE at the cost of £2,000 :O, It came all boxed up waiting to be dropped in, sooo yh we had a lot of fun and they were very good cars!
also had a T reg 323i polaris Silver in which we resorted , fitted a tuned engine and complete respray, then sold it on to a good friend of our,
Its nice to know that people still admire and like these bad ass cars
I assume it had a 5 speed gearbox?We had many 323i's But the best one was the T reg 323i Fjord Blue!, that car used to chip, it was very very Fast, it used to eat all other cars which came in its way :P my dad ripped it around London and said this car is deffo to keep lol . another time we were coming back from Birmingham on the motorway and this guy started to mess around in his Granada 2.8 ghia, we thought forget this lets unleash the beast , my uncle planted his foot down and went leaving the ford way way behind lool, we were going all the way top speed just a little past 140mph:P , by the time we got off the motorway we started to hear a slight rattle and know everytime he accelerated :O, near to our house it started to smoke and miss and yes the oil pump had gone , ohh nooo, we looked for an engine for about 3 months but couldn't find one , in the end we bought a BRAND NEW ENGINE at the cost of £2,000 :O, It came all boxed up waiting to be dropped in, sooo yh we had a lot of fun and they were very good cars!
also had a T reg 323i polaris Silver in which we resorted , fitted a tuned engine and complete respray, then sold it on to a good friend of our,
Its nice to know that people still admire and like these bad ass cars
matchmaker said:
SSF1 said:
Well What can I say lol, these Cars were Wicked!!!!, They were the in things back in the day, We Had loads in the early 80's up until the early 90's, started off the the e21 320/6 after the bmw 1602 :P.
We had many 323i's But the best one was the T reg 323i Fjord Blue!, that car used to chip, it was very very Fast, it used to eat all other cars which came in its way :P my dad ripped it around London and said this car is deffo to keep lol . another time we were coming back from Birmingham on the motorway and this guy started to mess around in his Granada 2.8 ghia, we thought forget this lets unleash the beast , my uncle planted his foot down and went leaving the ford way way behind lool, we were going all the way top speed just a little past 140mph:P , by the time we got off the motorway we started to hear a slight rattle and know everytime he accelerated :O, near to our house it started to smoke and miss and yes the oil pump had gone , ohh nooo, we looked for an engine for about 3 months but couldn't find one , in the end we bought a BRAND NEW ENGINE at the cost of £2,000 :O, It came all boxed up waiting to be dropped in, sooo yh we had a lot of fun and they were very good cars!
also had a T reg 323i polaris Silver in which we resorted , fitted a tuned engine and complete respray, then sold it on to a good friend of our,
Its nice to know that people still admire and like these bad ass cars
I assume it had a 5 speed gearbox?We had many 323i's But the best one was the T reg 323i Fjord Blue!, that car used to chip, it was very very Fast, it used to eat all other cars which came in its way :P my dad ripped it around London and said this car is deffo to keep lol . another time we were coming back from Birmingham on the motorway and this guy started to mess around in his Granada 2.8 ghia, we thought forget this lets unleash the beast , my uncle planted his foot down and went leaving the ford way way behind lool, we were going all the way top speed just a little past 140mph:P , by the time we got off the motorway we started to hear a slight rattle and know everytime he accelerated :O, near to our house it started to smoke and miss and yes the oil pump had gone , ohh nooo, we looked for an engine for about 3 months but couldn't find one , in the end we bought a BRAND NEW ENGINE at the cost of £2,000 :O, It came all boxed up waiting to be dropped in, sooo yh we had a lot of fun and they were very good cars!
also had a T reg 323i polaris Silver in which we resorted , fitted a tuned engine and complete respray, then sold it on to a good friend of our,
Its nice to know that people still admire and like these bad ass cars
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