This post will be to track and share my progress as I work on my 318 project. Sorry for the long first post!
The lovely early 318. What better way to dive into BMW's than the least desireable model ever made? :D
Some background - I've been a VW guy ever since I was a little kid and have owned a bunch over the past few years. So when I finally got a "real" job in early 2007 and a place with some space for a project car, naturally I went looking for them again. This led to one problem: I wanted RWD, so VW's were off the list.
I wanted to stay with a german project at least, so a friend of mine suggested an E30. I looked around a bit and they definitely fit the bill; small, boxy, RWD, cheap. So the search began....
6 months later, a pretty clean looking '84 318i popped up on eBay at a BMW dealer about 6 hours away (CR's in Newville PA, they seem to be pretty well known around here). I put in a bid and to my surprise won at $600.
I had the car trailered up here a few weeks later and it was even better than described; besides a little rust on the battery tray, the car is absolutely rust free - better than my '99 Nissan Maxima daily driver.
Cliff notes: '84 318i 5 speed, 98% rust free, 78k miles, for $600. Runs and drives great. Yee haw!
Fresh off the trailer and dirty as hell:
Only mod when I bought it were the E36 325is seats pictured above. They're being yanked and replaced with racing buckets - the E36 seats give me no headroom at ALL.
I drove the car for a week in October 2007 before putting it away for the winter. The past few months have been spent gathering parts, and in the next post I actually start doing something with them! haha
The lovely early 318. What better way to dive into BMW's than the least desireable model ever made? :D
Some background - I've been a VW guy ever since I was a little kid and have owned a bunch over the past few years. So when I finally got a "real" job in early 2007 and a place with some space for a project car, naturally I went looking for them again. This led to one problem: I wanted RWD, so VW's were off the list.
I wanted to stay with a german project at least, so a friend of mine suggested an E30. I looked around a bit and they definitely fit the bill; small, boxy, RWD, cheap. So the search began....
6 months later, a pretty clean looking '84 318i popped up on eBay at a BMW dealer about 6 hours away (CR's in Newville PA, they seem to be pretty well known around here). I put in a bid and to my surprise won at $600.
I had the car trailered up here a few weeks later and it was even better than described; besides a little rust on the battery tray, the car is absolutely rust free - better than my '99 Nissan Maxima daily driver.
Cliff notes: '84 318i 5 speed, 98% rust free, 78k miles, for $600. Runs and drives great. Yee haw!
Fresh off the trailer and dirty as hell:
Only mod when I bought it were the E36 325is seats pictured above. They're being yanked and replaced with racing buckets - the E36 seats give me no headroom at ALL.
I drove the car for a week in October 2007 before putting it away for the winter. The past few months have been spent gathering parts, and in the next post I actually start doing something with them! haha
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