Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
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:
Boy, it’s been too long since I did a Wednesday Wheels – amazingly, it seems like late January was the last wheel roundup. But it’s something I love and with the sun shining and most of the potholes on their way towards repair in Rhode Island, I can finally shift my attention from snow chains to summer tires! Today I returned to my favorite subject; BBS wheels, with a roundup of some of neat ones that appear. There are the eponymous 80’s semi-aftermarket wheel choice, the BBS RSs many manufacturers offered at the dealer. This is a set of 16×8 and 9s for a 944 Turbo. Equally neat to see are the the 4x100mm BBS RM wheels; not as prevalent as RSs yet with a similar look, these were the perfect fit for the 16V GTi in 1991 and 1992. If you were looking earlier, you might have been interested in some BBS Mahle wheels; these are a pretty early Mercedes-Benz specific set that would look great on a SL. In more modern times, BBS was still a great option – Volkswagen specified the RXII 2-piece model for the Jetta Wolfsburg 1.8T, and again the BBS RC seemed to be the go-to option in the mid 2000s for a great looking performance wheel – this set is for an Audi. What’s you’re favorite and why?
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!
I think many of us know that in the world of performance coupes the Porsche 996TT is incredibly tough to beat on value. What about sedans? Where does the buyer in need of proper rear seating and a decent trunk look for performance value? The place to start almost certainly is the E39 M5. These also happen to be my personal favorite of the breed. With the E39 you get 400hp mated to a 6-speed manual transmission and a shape that seems almost perfectly proportioned for a sedan. These are aggressive appearing without being comically so and seem to have had all of the extra fat trimmed away. While later M5s would showcase improved performance the design has never appealed to me and the current models seem huge by comparison. Best of all, these days an E39 is about as reasonably priced as they likely will ever get. A really low-mileage example may command a decent premium, but for a driver-quality car they’re darn hard to beat. Here we have just such a driver-quality example: a Black on Black 2000 BMW M5, located in Arizona, with 56,610 miles on it.
