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Tag: e30

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1988 BMW M3

Published August 2, 2014 by Nate

$_57 (1)

This E30 M3 is an interesting proposition thanks to reversible decisions. The owner has taken some liberties, mainly surrounding his love for the color red and some minor modifications to the running gear, but with some diligence this car could easily be returned to a very stock exterior look (the red valve cover is probably here to stay for a while). One thing that is not reversible is the salvage title, which clearly contradicts his claim of a “clean MN title.” This confusion along with a lack of explanation as to why the engine was disassembled at 196k miles without doing a full rebuild raises question marks that E30 M3 buyers don’t like seeing these days. On the other hand, question marks can also keep it from smashing through the $30-$40k barriers we’ve seen many E30s surpass.

Click for details: 1988 BMW E30 M3 on eBay

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1985 BMW 333i

Published July 3, 2014 by Paul

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Ask anyone what the largest engine ever fitted to the E30 BMW 3 series was and you may get a few folks citing the M20 2.5 liter inline-6 in the 325is. However, South Africa received their own special edition by way of the M30 3.3 liter “big six” being slotted under the hood to create the 333i. These cars were built in collaboration with Alpina, all fitted with a 5-speed manual transmission and limited slip differential. Slotted front brake rotors, 16” Alpina wheels and optional ABS were other features on tap in this package. With 194 horsepower on tap, these were very potent machines in their day, capable of 0-100 km/h in the mid seven second range. A mere 204 were produced in 1986 but these special E30s, like this one for sale in Germany, have cemented their place in history amongst the E30 faithful.

Click for more details: 1985 BMW 333i on Classic Driver

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1990 BMW 325is

Published June 27, 2014 by Nate

$_57

(megaphone blares)
“German car enthusiasts, please stay behind the barriers until the horn has been sounded…

Yes, we realize that clean, moderately-miled E30s are few and far between these days, and yes, we realize that they were plentiful when you started searching and now all of sudden fanboys and LeMons racers have taken them all.

Ok, ok, ok… you may enter the BiddingDome. The reserve is on, but we are confident you will clear that first hurdle with aplomb. Soak in the low miles, and imagine yourself bathing in almost 25 years of records. Imagine the clean, leathery smell of the reupholstered seats, and feeling the balance of inline-6, manual transmission, and rear-wheel drive sedan under your butt.

Sure, the last one you saw this clean went for $8k, and it has a cracked dash, so maybe you can just be patient. But at that rate, it’ll appreciate, so you might as well just pull the trigger now. Not buying this car is losing you money…”

(just at 10% the rate it’s costing you money)

Hop on the E30 bidding train, folks. It’s an express route.

Click for more details: 1990 BMW 325is on eBay

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Motorsport Mondays: Unconventional Updates – V8 E30 M3 and 944 3.0 16V

Published June 23, 2014 by Carter

The Porsche 944 and BMW E30 are two of the most popular chassis to use in drivers events and club racing. Cheap, plentiful and effective, they’re usually turned up with race suspension, cages, and once you’ve run out of gusto, it’s not uncommon to see them get greater motivation. Generally for the 944, this means looking towards the turbocharged variant of the 2.5 liter inline-4 that was available from Porsche themselves; similarly, E30s receive a great swath of later Munich-based motors including the S50, S52 and even S54 if you’re really racey. But today there are two lesser-used mills powering this pair of perennial favorites. Which is the one for your sporting needs? Let’s start with the 944:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Porsche 944 on eBay

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Motorsport Mondays: 1988 BMW M3 Evo2

Published June 16, 2014 by Carter

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I generally try to stay away from the E30 crowd, mostly because I really don’t think the current values on the M3 are justified. For under $10,000, it was a great track car. For under $20,000, it was a great occasional driver and memory of fun times in the DTM. At $30,000, it starts to become a show car that you’re not willing to drive to the store. Past that, it’s pure speculation and there seems to be no end in sight. Likely, that won’t be the case but if the Hemi bubble taught us anything it is that there will always be something new for people to latch on to. Of course, I watched a Mecum auction this past weekend and saw a Hemi Barracuda hammer for a few million dollars, so I guess the market on those cars still hasn’t returned to anything resembling normal.

Will the E30 M3 drop back down? Well, it can’t stay on this trajectory for long, that’s for sure. Cars have tripled in value in the past two years, a trend which is simply unsustainable. They’re no longer values – they’ve become the absolute top of the 1980s BMW market outside of the ultra-exclusive M1. And why? Don’t get me wrong, the E30 M3 is a cool car. But exclusive? They made 16,000 of them, for goodness sake. Compare that to some other notable BMWs – 450-odd M1s, about the same amount of pre-war 328s, or 250 507s. To put that even into more perspective, BMW made only about 6,000 E24 M6s and a scant 2200 E28 M5s. Rarity isn’t on the side of the M3, but few have ever accused the automobile market or enthusiasts with any sense of sanity, so the climb continues. Now, in my mind there are some E30 M3s that deserve the attention and loftier prices, and the Evolution models have to be one of the most deserving. With a touch more power and a little less weight, the M3 Evolution was closer to it’s track-winning relatives than the standard production M3. As they only made 500 of each run, they’re rare to see – but the market is such that for some who got in at the right time, they’ve reached their stop on the crazy train:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 BMW M3 Evo2 on eBay

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