E21 323i - 1981

[e21Mark]

161BMW said:

Nice thanks for the info
Any idea how many 323i LE came to UK and how many remaining ?
I think 323i LE with 42k mileage was advertised for £10k in 2014

What do you mean by LE?

The sad thing is that a few of the cleanest, UK 323i remaining have found their way into the hands of dealers. They have also been selling cars, that even 18 months ago would have struggled to make £2.5k, for 3 times that amount. I would urge any prospective buyers to tread carefully and pay someone who knows the model, to take a thorough look for you.

The other thing with E21 is that performance parts, such as LSD and Recaros, are tough to find. They're out there, but often take time and effort to source from places like ebay.de. Very few parts from other BMW's will fit the E21. Alloy wheels are an odd offset at ET13, so also pretty unusual. OE exhaust systems are also bloody expensive, so an aftermarket stainless system is usually a better bet. BMW themselves still sell a lot of parts, or there is Walloth & Nesche in Germany.

[4pot]

Great to see the E21 323i finally becoming collectable. I owned one when I was just 18, back in 93 and had it for 5 wonderful years. It had original recaros and was in Polaris silver. X219KUL I think the reg was and was purchased from a chap in London for £1k + rusted rear boot floor. My Dad came along with me in my 1502, said I was mad to buy it, but I loved it! I had to follow my dad back from London, he in the 323, and me in my 1502. I loved watching the rear squat under power, how all old BMW's used to.

Even at 18, I was a reasonably sensible driver, but that didn't stop the rear end coming out on a country road and damaging a wheel. After 3 years, the car was burning a bit of oil on the overrun so I was in 2 minds to get rid and buy a Renault 5 Turbo....those were the days!

Anyway, I decided to take a loan from the bank for £3500 @ £65 per month, and take the car to Cooks Ferry engineering and have the girl completely rebuilt, that included fitting a 325i sport 2.5 engine in it. I also managed to procure a set of refurbished original spec BBS alloys, rear rubber spoiler and some original cloth to have the Recaros retrimmed (the last section of cloth left I was told). Not to mention an original Alpina gear knob and BMW sports steering wheel.

I waited 6 months for the car to be ready, and rang them every week to chase them! Short supply of written off 325sports at the time, and collected it one very rainy morning! I still had the old wheels on at that point, but the BBS wheels with decent rubber were waiting at home. That first drive, with high ratio diff (quickened up the acceleration somewhat) was yet more sideways action and the performance truly blew my mind back then!

I'd also specced original spec Sach sports suspension too, and it was just beautiful to drive. Still tail happy, but the original suspension, particularly the rear, was to my mind, what caused a lot of the rear end snap oversteer. The car truly immaculate, and people would often comment on how nice the car looked.

After several years someone rear end my then girlfriend when she was driving it. The insurance company wrote it off, but my god that car was fast and could easily see off Alfa 75 3.0's

I still miss it to this day, and wish I could buy it back, but I suspect it ended up in a scrap yard.

Anyway, keep that straight six howling!

Edited by 4pot on Sunday 26th October 20:38

[161BMW]

e21Mark said:

161BMW said:

Nice thanks for the info
Any idea how many 323i LE came to UK and how many remaining ?
I think 323i LE with 42k mileage was advertised for £10k in 2014

What do you mean by LE?

The sad thing is that a few of the cleanest, UK 323i remaining have found their way into the hands of dealers. They have also been selling cars, that even 18 months ago would have struggled to make £2.5k, for 3 times that amount. I would urge any prospective buyers to tread carefully and pay someone who knows the model, to take a thorough look for you.

The other thing with E21 is that performance parts, such as LSD and Recaros, are tough to find. They're out there, but often take time and effort to source from places like ebay.de. Very few parts from other BMW's will fit the E21. Alloy wheels are an odd offset at ET13, so also pretty unusual. OE exhaust systems are also bloody expensive, so an aftermarket stainless system is usually a better bet. BMW themselves still sell a lot of parts, or there is Walloth & Nesche in Germany.

This is E21 323i LE.
LE = Limited Edition
Quite possibly one of the most gorgeous BMW I have ever seen
This particular example was advertised earlier in 2014 for £10k.
This was also driven by Tiff Needell on TV.
Search on YouTube for E21 323i and Tiff Needell of fifth gear















I guess with the good cars being sold at dealers the prices of E21s have picked up
Also I think E21s are a lot more desireable now IMO having been in the shadow of the E30 for so long
As for what something is worth its worth what someone will pay

E21 323i LE and E30 325i Sport and the E24 M635CSi Highline are my 3 favourite retro BMWs :-)

Edited by 161BMW on Monday 27th October 00:28

Edited by 161BMW on Monday 27th October 00:30

[e21Mark]

161BMW said:

e21Mark said:

161BMW said:

Nice thanks for the info
Any idea how many 323i LE came to UK and how many remaining ?
I think 323i LE with 42k mileage was advertised for £10k in 2014

What do you mean by LE?

The sad thing is that a few of the cleanest, UK 323i remaining have found their way into the hands of dealers. They have also been selling cars, that even 18 months ago would have struggled to make £2.5k, for 3 times that amount. I would urge any prospective buyers to tread carefully and pay someone who knows the model, to take a thorough look for you.

The other thing with E21 is that performance parts, such as LSD and Recaros, are tough to find. They're out there, but often take time and effort to source from places like ebay.de. Very few parts from other BMW's will fit the E21. Alloy wheels are an odd offset at ET13, so also pretty unusual. OE exhaust systems are also bloody expensive, so an aftermarket stainless system is usually a better bet. BMW themselves still sell a lot of parts, or there is Walloth & Nesche in Germany.

This is E21 323i LE.
LE = Limited Edition
Quite possibly one of the most gorgeous BMW I have ever seen
This particular example was advertised earlier in 2014 for £10k.
This was also driven by Tiff Needell on TV.
Search on YouTube for E21 323i and Tiff Needell of fifth gear















I guess with the good cars being sold at dealers the prices of E21s have picked up
Also I think E21s are a lot more desireable now IMO having been in the shadow of the E30 for so long
As for what something is worth its worth what someone will pay

E21 323i LE and E30 325i Sport and the E24 M635CSi Highline are my 3 favourite retro BMWs :-)

Edited by 161BMW on Monday 27th October 00:28

Edited by 161BMW on Monday 27th October 00:30

They were known as 323i Special and were simply regular 323i with 2 tone paint, Recaro and Mahle alloys. The spec' seems to have varied from car to car, with some getting LSD, but they were basically BMW's attempt at shifting stock before the E30 took over. In reality, it's only the 2 tone paint that sets them apart from any other 323i. There were also some 'sport' versions, also done at dealer level, which had Recaro, dogleg box, LSD, sport suspension, 7J alloys and front spoiler. I've only ever seen 2 myself and the most recent was 20+ years ago.

[s m]

benjj said:

Gorgeous looking car. I love the BBS splitter, really suits the car imo.

The BBS front spoilers used to be reasonably common



Had the later mirrors whereas the Hartge modded one below ( around 170bhp ) had the earlier mirrors



It was so cheap to pick up bits for these even 15 years ago - got a LSD for the red one for about £100 and Recaros were still cheap as they wouldn't fit the later E30s (stepped mountings ) that everyone was getting into at that time

Interested to read about your quicker steering ratio E21Mark - always found it the standard E21/E30 ratio a bit of a party pooper after being able to get faster ratio racks for other cars quite cheaply.

In the end got one for the E30 from Griffin Motorsport - Z3 hadn't been invented back then! Would have been nice to try one on an E21 - you almost had to be ready with half an armful of lock as you gave the throttle a stab

They were great fun cars, the Hartge one made a fantastic noise and it was such a lively thing on 185s.

Been bumbling about in a new 1-series Sport with a similar 170bhp just recently and it has so much rubber on the road in comparison (245/35x18s on the rear) you can't have the same fun

Edited by s m on Monday 27th October 20:49

Edited by s m on Monday 27th October 20:51

[SSF1]

This was my t reg e21 323i, this car was F***ing fast! Nothing could catch me in this, hand tuned 2.3 litre engine was running standard k jetronic injection, after destroying this engine I fitted a brand new one in it

[SSF1]

Second one we had

[SSF1]

[SSF1]

My current one

[SSF1]

[Leins]

Only just seen this now, great thread. Congrats OP, that car you've picked up looks lovely

[0a]

SSF1 said:

My current one

Lovely!

Any thoughts on this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E21-323i-/1214565351...

[SSF1]

Yh looks good , we'll looked after example apart from the surface rust underneath the bonnet!

[e21Mark]

I would advise anyone interested make sure they get it up on a ramp. It needs a lot (and I mean A LOT) of welding.

[e21Mark]

Tiff loves an E21

[SSF1]

s m said:

benjj said:

Gorgeous looking car. I love the BBS splitter, really suits the car imo.

The BBS front spoilers used to be reasonably common



Had the later mirrors whereas the Hartge modded one below ( around 170bhp ) had the earlier mirrors



It was so cheap to pick up bits for these even 15 years ago - got a LSD for the red one for about £100 and Recaros were still cheap as they wouldn't fit the later E30s (stepped mountings ) that everyone was getting into at that time

Interested to read about your quicker steering ratio E21Mark - always found it the standard E21/E30 ratio a bit of a party pooper after being able to get faster ratio racks for other cars quite cheaply.

In the end got one for the E30 from Griffin Motorsport - Z3 hadn't been invented back then! Would have been nice to try one on an E21 - you almost had to be ready with half an armful of lock as you gave the throttle a stab

They were great fun cars, the Hartge one made a fantastic noise and it was such a lively thing on 185s.

Been bumbling about in a new 1-series Sport with a similar 170bhp just recently and it has so much rubber on the road in comparison (245/35x18s on the rear) you can't have the same fun

Edited by s m on Monday 27th October 20:49

Edited by s m on Monday 27th October 20:51

What was done to the exhaust on the hartge one s m?? On our t reger we had it free flowed and a smaller middle box with a 6 branch manifold.