Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The stunning 1974 Fjord Blue 2002 Touring, reportedly built for a BMW executive with some rare options like the unique sliding roof, has reappeared on eBay. The reserve is on and the auction has garnered no bids at a $25,000 opening price. While that’s pretty steep for a 2002, this is certainly one of the most special models that is out there. What do you think it’s worth?
I posted a couple of Laguna Seca Blue E46 M3s yesterday that looked like they were owned and modded by a couple of similarly-minded fanboys. Today, we’ll shift gears and look at one of the most tastefully and maturely modified E46s out there (chrome exhaust surround notwithstanding). Carter featured this car for Tuner Tuesday earlier in the month and it’s received the full Dinan treatment, earning enough points via supercharger, exhaust, suspension, and more to get the official Dinan badge. The badges sit on a custom and beautiful red paint job, with CSL nods in the wheels and trunk spoiler. It has only covered 40k miles in its 10 years and was honored with the cover of BMWCCA’s “Roundel” magazine a couple years back. The seller says its “generally considered to be one of finest E46 M3 in the country,” and it’s hard to argue against that.
-NR
I’ll admit that a fair amount of these 10K face-offs are somewhat limited in their execution. Often, the examples of cars I’m able to track down for the day of the article aren’t the best that are out there or, more often than not, in an effort to fit the cars under the 10K budget they’re just not the prime examples or they’re not good matches. However, there are two performance convertibles on fairly equal footing that really offer a tremendous amount of proverbial bang for your buck these days; come to the table with around $10,000 and you can pick up either a E36/7 BMW M Roadster or 986 Porsche Boxster S. Granted, in some cases the stars have to align just right and there are many weeks where there aren’t two good examples in the price range – but today there just happen to be two very comparable examples to look at. Similar mileage, similar colors and similar power and drive mean that these two are still competing with buyers as they were when new. However, it’s there where the two cars seem to point towards the very different philosophies and character of their respective parent companies. Let’s then in the waning days of a summer gone by at two special and quite reasonably priced convertible sports cars:
The Netherlands, for some reason, seems to be a breeding ground when it comes to great examples of classics that we love. Case in point this low-mileage BMW 2002tii that was sourced from Portugal. This one is a later model with the square taillights and has a few tasty add ons such as the Minilite style wheels and rally lamps. The vintage white on black Portuguese license plates finish off the decidedly period look. give it a decidedly period look.
I feel sometimes that the BMW E30 3 series is kind of like the Mazda Miata of the classic German car world. It’s the answer to almost every automotive question. Whether you want a modern classic to cruise in, a track day warrior or a practical commuter vehicle, there’s an E30 for everyone. This particular one came to our attention via our friends at Classic Car Club Manhattan. One of their clients, Mike, has it up for sale. This is one sleeper of a 325i sedan, with an S50 3.2 liter engine under the hood. Want a dual purpose street/track day car? This would be an excellent solution.