Ooops, I accidently bought an e30...

[MrMoonyMan]

Hey guys,

Thought you may all be amused to see my latest addition.

It seems to be a Febuary thing for me, two years ago in Febuary I put a deposit over the phone for a (then) tatty looking 9000 Aero and now I seem to have aqcuired another car to add to the fleet.

It is a 1990 e30 BMW 320 touring. 150k miles, seems very nice and straight mainly.

The story is that its previous owner (who lives next door to a friend of mine) bought a newer car 2 years ago and just parked this up on his drive. Left it to grow mould, while he got on with his new car - a nasty Merc A-class of all things

Now, I've always been a fan of the 3 series touring - in my mind it is just about the most perfect estate shape ever.

So, with another friend of mine being on the look out for a first car I suggested we went and had a look at this beasty. Arrived, negotiated price, added jump leads.....

whir..whirr...brum!

Ahhmazing! 2 yrs sat still, no fresh fuel, no fresh sparks, nothing at all and she started first time!

So, with the cash handed over took her for a drive to the nearest Shell for some Vpower to sort out the stale fuel and flat tyres - Drive on the way back was much nicer.

Car seems to pull well in all gears and brake straight and true over the 5 miles I tested her on - all the while I'm falling more in love with the noise of that glorious straight 6, intoxicating.

So, by now my friend (who was never really that ready to buy a car..) has decided he's not ready for a car and I've fallen for it. Great. another car. Better get it MOT'd then...

So, I book an afternoon off work, jack the car up and inspect/adjust anything that needed doing - very little really. Take it for the MOT and.... she failed! Un surprisingly really. What was surprising was that it was just on the illegaly fitted towbar!

So, 20 minutes, a grinder and some persuasion later got the car back to the MOT centre and she is fully MOT'd!

Result. Now, to make up a purpose for her or potentially sell her..

(Pics are pre cleaning / MOT'ing) Note the green mould all over and the nasty towbar!

[billzeebub]

decent colour..though have the original wheels been painted black or is that just dirt?!..I would take it over an A-class (even a brand new one) every time! Wheeler Dealers did one of these up fairly recently, always repeated on Discovery if you are interested

[MrMoonyMan]

Thanks, pleased with the colour - do you know what it is?

Sadly the wheels have been home painted, as well as the bonnet and driver wing. None of them very well, no rust but naff paint.

Think some original colour wheels would make a huge difference to the car.

Will have to check out the wheeler dealers episode..

[Xenocide]

Ooh lovely. I remember my mate's mum used to have one. It's got some cool buttons near the rear view hasn't it?

What did you pay for it? I kind of miss having an estate..

[soad]

I like this. Any interior shots?

[tr7v8]

Nice one of the few BMWs I like & would own. What was the issue with the towbar?

[mig25_foxbat2003]

Any pics of the interior? Does it have the ripped driver's seat or have you found the holy grail, an E30 with intact cloth upholstery?

I'd love a bog standard 325i Touring manual with leather and air - one came up last year with 100k on the clock, but it went for £1900! These things really are appreciating in value.

I can't believe I'm about to say this but... how much would you want for it if you did decide to sell...?

ETA: THESE would sort out the looks...

Edited by mig25_foxbat2003 on Thursday 24th February 16:39

[kieranjholland]

tr7v8 said:

Nice one of the few BMWs I like & would own.

Agreed, awesome looking car, I've always loved the idea of owning an E30

[bmthnick1981]

You might find some Nitromors brings the wheels back to silver, although they may still need a refurb - guessing they were painted black for a reason. The ebay wheels above would transform the looks no end.

[MrMoonyMan]

Xenocide said:

Ooh lovely. I remember my mate's mum used to have one. It's got some cool buttons near the rear view hasn't it?

What did you pay for it? I kind of miss having an estate..

Cheers. I'm a real fan of the estate shape of these too.

The buttons are an on board computer thing that checks all the levels/ lights. Have got all the lights coming on and going off as they should. Great bit of 80's gadgetness

soad said:

I like this. Any interior shots?

Thank you. I'll get some interior pics soon.

tr7v8 said:

Nice one of the few BMWs I like & would own. What was the issue with the towbar?

VOSA have recently been asking MOT testers to clamp down on dangerously fitted tow bars - so he did. The towbar had not one bolt holding it to the car! :shock: Was just held onto the bottom of the fuel tank with a few rusty patchs of welding.

mig25_foxbat2003 said:

Any pics of the interior? Does it have the ripped driver's seat or have you found the holy grail, an E30 with intact cloth upholstery?

I'd love a bog standard 325i Touring manual with leather and air - one came up last year with 100k on the clock, but it went for £1900! These things really are appreciating in value.

I can't believe I'm about to say this but... how much would you want for it if you did decide to sell...?

ETA: THESE would sort out the looks...http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/post.asp?h=0&f=47&t=969248&r=17108367&m=quoteReply&mid=68634

Edited by mig25_foxbat2003 on Thursday 24th February 16:39

Will get some pictures of that in a minute, have just given it a hoover so far.

As for how much? Well it's not really for sale but feel free to PM me an offer..

Those wheels are just what it needs imho. I found a nice set like that on e30zone with better tyres for £80 so if they're still for sale this weekend I may pop them on.


Thanks for the comments

[MrMoonyMan]

Turns out the flash on the iphone 4 works better than I expected;







Turns out the seats are all un ripped too!

Also, I love how the central locking really bangs up and down, are they all this 'energetic' ?

[Sim89]

I had an E30 touring over winter. It had done 204k and just kept going. They're tough cars, and a lot of fun in winter.

[Baked_bean]

Fellow E30 owner here! looks nice. Get yourself onto E30zone.net and buy some 15" bbs for it, they go for £120-£200 condition dependant. would set it off a treat.