Discussion
I've had a hankering for one of these since the day they came out, it's just that I never got round to buying one till now.... about 15 years ago I dragged my wife up to Munich Legends to persuade her and to be honest she was game. Until she sat in it and realised the wheel was on the wrong side. We drove back home to Brighton and bought a 2 year old Poogeot 106 Rallye instead for £5500 - about the same price as a nice E30 M3 at the time....
Any way in the last few years I've owned a '73 Escort Mexico, an '02 M3 and an '03 m3 CSL. The CSL came before the E30 and is what I sold to buy the E30. I missed my mexico and realised that I was more of a classic car guy than I thought... so the hunt began for an E30 M3.
I'd restored the Mexico and a '70 cooper 's' back in the day so I'm savvy when it comes to a keen eye for a dog. Everyone knows that there are LOTS of tarted up turds advertised as great condition cars in the E30 world so it took a while to find a minter. I paid top dollar for it I'll admit but this car is so straight and solid it's like a timewarp! I went for a solid body first knowing that the engine is cheaper to work on than the body - although the motor is strong too. It's technically a 'lightweight' car and true to its motorsport heritage in that it has no sunroof, no aircon & keep fit manual windows. It has a original few options fitted, these being the rear window blind, upgraded 16" alloys and lovely 'proper' fat bolster recaro's...
A few pics to start off....
with a mates Cecotto
I've done a fair bit of maintenance in the last year, lots more will follow asap......
Any way in the last few years I've owned a '73 Escort Mexico, an '02 M3 and an '03 m3 CSL. The CSL came before the E30 and is what I sold to buy the E30. I missed my mexico and realised that I was more of a classic car guy than I thought... so the hunt began for an E30 M3.
I'd restored the Mexico and a '70 cooper 's' back in the day so I'm savvy when it comes to a keen eye for a dog. Everyone knows that there are LOTS of tarted up turds advertised as great condition cars in the E30 world so it took a while to find a minter. I paid top dollar for it I'll admit but this car is so straight and solid it's like a timewarp! I went for a solid body first knowing that the engine is cheaper to work on than the body - although the motor is strong too. It's technically a 'lightweight' car and true to its motorsport heritage in that it has no sunroof, no aircon & keep fit manual windows. It has a original few options fitted, these being the rear window blind, upgraded 16" alloys and lovely 'proper' fat bolster recaro's...
A few pics to start off....
with a mates Cecotto
I've done a fair bit of maintenance in the last year, lots more will follow asap......
Edited by sjb1970 on Tuesday 21st July 17:25
That looks lovely. It's hard to find honest examples nowadays. I bought my CSL from Dan up at ML a couple of years ago and my e30 M3 came from there too back in the Barney days.
Oddly enough I imagined that my old E30 M3 would be sold on in time once the CSL arrived....as good as it is, the E30 is the one for me
Lovely looking car, enjoy
Oddly enough I imagined that my old E30 M3 would be sold on in time once the CSL arrived....as good as it is, the E30 is the one for me
Lovely looking car, enjoy
Cheers all, I'm 100% sure I've found a keeper in this car....it has the the kudos of the csl and the memories (and smell) of my old Mexico. I would have kept the csl too but in our two car garage there resides a 1963 VW camper that we've had for 15 years so there's no more room....
Anyway I've been busy since I bought the car last July....
Firstly it had the later mtech2 steering wheel which I simply think looks too new for an E30, also shows the 'proper' fat bolster real recaro's ;-)
I bought this beauty, re-covered in the finest Italian leather and stitched in the BMW motorsport tri colours..
A super rare and rather desirable mtech1 'small' 370mm diameter wheel, it feels so much different comapred to the 385mm standard wheel..
that's better..
Anyway I've been busy since I bought the car last July....
Firstly it had the later mtech2 steering wheel which I simply think looks too new for an E30, also shows the 'proper' fat bolster real recaro's ;-)
I bought this beauty, re-covered in the finest Italian leather and stitched in the BMW motorsport tri colours..
A super rare and rather desirable mtech1 'small' 370mm diameter wheel, it feels so much different comapred to the 385mm standard wheel..
that's better..
I had no intention of messing with the soundz and fitting some unsuitable modern crap in the car but I did want to upgrade the (optional upgraded) BMW bavaria cassette deck
back in the day at the dealers there were a few options for stereo uggrades, here's a 1989 list
I had my mind set on a Blaupunkt Memphis, £798 to have one supplied and fitted in 1989 !!!! I was lucky enough to google the deck and find one for sale from some old guy 10miles away. He'd fitted it to his mk2 Golf gti but took it out and mothballed it when he sold the car, it's basically like new and has the superbly handy din socket on the front which would originally been used to hook up your portable cd player but nowadays great for hooking up your iphone/ipod with a 3.5mm-3.5mm phono lead!
the creaky old speakers wouldn't have been up to it so I replaced them with these direct fit JBL's, hidden when the original cover is fitted
It all sounds fine for when I occasionally use it!
back in the day at the dealers there were a few options for stereo uggrades, here's a 1989 list
I had my mind set on a Blaupunkt Memphis, £798 to have one supplied and fitted in 1989 !!!! I was lucky enough to google the deck and find one for sale from some old guy 10miles away. He'd fitted it to his mk2 Golf gti but took it out and mothballed it when he sold the car, it's basically like new and has the superbly handy din socket on the front which would originally been used to hook up your portable cd player but nowadays great for hooking up your iphone/ipod with a 3.5mm-3.5mm phono lead!
the creaky old speakers wouldn't have been up to it so I replaced them with these direct fit JBL's, hidden when the original cover is fitted
It all sounds fine for when I occasionally use it!
The brake calipers had lost their coating and were looking pretty sorry, the front pads were new but the rears were shot to pieces..
whilst under the car I replaced the knackered rear drop links and anti roll bar bush, strangely the front had all been refreshed!
calipers off
all new parts ready for re-assembly, I know the calipers were originally yellow/gold zinc passivated but I prefered the gloss black to the too blingy gold
front discs were already new but rears were a bit rough so new zimmermann discs for the rear
whilst under the car I replaced the knackered rear drop links and anti roll bar bush, strangely the front had all been refreshed!
calipers off
all new parts ready for re-assembly, I know the calipers were originally yellow/gold zinc passivated but I prefered the gloss black to the too blingy gold
front discs were already new but rears were a bit rough so new zimmermann discs for the rear
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