E30 M3 history
Discussion
Hi all
I'm thinking of buying a friend's E30 M3. The car is in Spain, where it was first registered in January 1987. It's a highly original early car, with no sunroof, no air con, cloth seats, manual windows. The only non-original item is the steering wheel, which is an Evo alcantara item. The car was treated to a full refurbishment in 2012, which involved a bare shell respray, gearbox and diff rebuild, all-new suspension and brake componentry, new wiring looms, and a full engine rebuild with new seals, timing chain, pumps etc. All backed-up by 20k of invoices, plus a large file of photos showing the restoration work. The car is in incredible showroom condition, and is sitting around the 70k miles mark. Original windows all-around complete with running in stickers on the windscreen, original owner manual, tool kit and log-book. OEM componentry throughout, even down to the battery. BMW have supplied a Classic certification, and the car even wears number plates from the dealer that supplied the car in '87. So far, sounds very good. However, there's a problem...the car was initially registered to a company, and was with this first corporate owner for 20 years, until 2007. During that time, the story goes that the car was maintained by the company's in-house mechanics (it was a construction firm with a big corporate fleet). Nobody bothered to stamp the book, or keep any kind of records, and the company has now been wound-up. It was then acquired by the next owner who started the paper trail, and commissioned the refurbishment in 2012. So we have a paper trail from 2007 but a nice 20 year black hole prior to that. Finally, whilst we have servicing and restoration records since 2007, nobody has stamped the book since 2007 either. So although we have a nice paper trail, and the car is in super condition and drives very well, I can't get my head around the paperwork issue. My initial reaction was to walk away, but I remain intrigued by the car - it's a beautiful spec and in superb condition, and I wonder if I am being a little harsh dismissing it on the basis of the paperwork. How would the market view the car, and what kind of value would it hold? I see that the best non-Evo examples are now fetching north of £30k, but I have little idea of how the price of this particular car should look.
I'm thinking of buying a friend's E30 M3. The car is in Spain, where it was first registered in January 1987. It's a highly original early car, with no sunroof, no air con, cloth seats, manual windows. The only non-original item is the steering wheel, which is an Evo alcantara item. The car was treated to a full refurbishment in 2012, which involved a bare shell respray, gearbox and diff rebuild, all-new suspension and brake componentry, new wiring looms, and a full engine rebuild with new seals, timing chain, pumps etc. All backed-up by 20k of invoices, plus a large file of photos showing the restoration work. The car is in incredible showroom condition, and is sitting around the 70k miles mark. Original windows all-around complete with running in stickers on the windscreen, original owner manual, tool kit and log-book. OEM componentry throughout, even down to the battery. BMW have supplied a Classic certification, and the car even wears number plates from the dealer that supplied the car in '87. So far, sounds very good. However, there's a problem...the car was initially registered to a company, and was with this first corporate owner for 20 years, until 2007. During that time, the story goes that the car was maintained by the company's in-house mechanics (it was a construction firm with a big corporate fleet). Nobody bothered to stamp the book, or keep any kind of records, and the company has now been wound-up. It was then acquired by the next owner who started the paper trail, and commissioned the refurbishment in 2012. So we have a paper trail from 2007 but a nice 20 year black hole prior to that. Finally, whilst we have servicing and restoration records since 2007, nobody has stamped the book since 2007 either. So although we have a nice paper trail, and the car is in super condition and drives very well, I can't get my head around the paperwork issue. My initial reaction was to walk away, but I remain intrigued by the car - it's a beautiful spec and in superb condition, and I wonder if I am being a little harsh dismissing it on the basis of the paperwork. How would the market view the car, and what kind of value would it hold? I see that the best non-Evo examples are now fetching north of £30k, but I have little idea of how the price of this particular car should look.
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