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I was sitting in the airport the other day scanning my Facebook news feed when I came across some old photos of the 1980s sitcom Moonlighting with actress Cybill Shepard driving a BMW 635CSi. It was appropriate that one of the quintessential eighties television series featured prominently one of the quintessential cars from the decade. In 1987, BMW gave the US market what they had been seeking in the form of the M6. The E24 was already a decade old by the time this version appeared. However, this was one potent super coupe for the time, with the 256 horsepower, 3.5 liter inline-6 under the hood. This M6 for sale is a two owner car with under 40,000 miles, perfect for someone looking for a treat to take to the next club meet.
This isn’t the first time I’ve written up sacrilegiously swapped cars, so it’s probably no surprise to see two Japanese-powered BMWs pop up. And in each of their own ways, neither is on the surface, at least, a car we’d typically cover. But before you judge a book by its cover, are either of these cars executed well enough to be a neat package?
After a few months being listed for sale, it appears that the seller of the unique Alpina modified Euro-spec E21 320i has become a bit more realistic and the car’s asking price has dropped from $24,000 to $15,000. That seems more in line with top-of-the-market 320i sport models and makes it a much more compelling alternative to the more typical modified E30 crowd:
The below post originally appeared on our site March 24, 2015:
The E12 5-series is kind of like the E21 3-series, being the first of its name but not quite as cool as the Bavaria/2002s before them, nor as desired as the E28/E30s that succeeded them. This is a pretty sweet example though that has been subtly updated over time so that after nearly 35 years and over 200k miles, it still looks and runs great. The original 2.8-liter inline-6 has been replaced with a stronger 3.2, the wheels are from an E28, and both the interior and exterior have been tastefully redone. It’s old and has a few issues that will keep it a project, but odometer gears and door handles are easy items to start with. There’s definite interest but bidding is very low, making this a nice opportunity to get in a rareish classic BMW for cheap.
The search for what I’d consider to be the ideal M3 continues; my bank account may not reflect it, but I’m one year closer to E46 ownership – at least, in theory. And for those of you who follow my posts, that means my pool of candidates is reduced to something in a shouty color. So when this BMW Individual Dakar Yellow M3 popped up, it seemed to fit the criteria of cars I’d drool over – but at the same time, it looked familiar. Sure enough, last May I wrote this very car up. It’s pretty unique outside of the special shade, as a “slicktop” with no sunroof and with very low miles (less than 500 accrued since last May), this is a neat package. I like, too, that the seller has lowered the price to $28,500 and fitted some ZCP BBS wheels instead of the expensive but ugly (in my opinion) HRE wheels featured last time around. There are even better photos showing how vibrant the color is. The drawback? For me, still the SMG transmission is the one item that is the deal-breaker. Otherwise, though, this is one cool package!
The below post originally appeared on our site May 21, 2014:
