WTB E30 Touring

[VS70]

Originally Posted by hobbsm3

Hey vs70, guess we have e63 wagons and a burning desire for e30 wagons in common. Mine's black. I'll have to wait for the quarter century mark though for the e30.
Roy

Hah! What are the odds? You and I prove there are indeed just a few wagon nuts here in the states. I searched for my AMG wagon for over a year. Had four 997s, a Lotus, a G-wagen, an M3, a 996 Turbo and a CTS-V during the search, but nothing could pull me from the desire to have an AMG station wagon (even though I'm a single guy!). Resigned myself to a 55, then found a good deal on a 63 and flew to Indiana to buy it. Three months later I couldn't be happier. But as the E63 needlessly burns fuel, I think the E30 would make a perfect daily driver... at least better than my Jetta... ick.

Finding a perfect car in Europe is much harder than in the USA it turns out. Most of them were plain and simple rust buckets and those that were restored were usually racer boy toys with very tacky modifications. Also dealing with people by phone is not the easiest thing. Fortunately I had an army of friends and family who were ready to help me through the whole process.

So here it comes.

Car: $2650
Paint job and parts: $2200
New set of leather seats: $300
Registration, tax and insurance in Poland: $400
Shipping (including customs fees and handling at departure port) : $3100
Arrival Port Handling: ~$500 (I didn't pay that yet but that's what I expect the fee to be)

So total: $5150 for the car and $4000 for shipping and various administrative fees.

Thanks for the breakdown!! Very useful stuff and proof that it might be worth spending a few extra grand to buy one that's already here. Of course as you've shown if you're willing to do the legwork, you can probably make some cash on it if you want.

Did you ever go to Poland to do this or have you just been working the deal from afar?

[MC Hammered]

Originally Posted by tcheb

Finding a perfect car in Europe is much harder than in the USA it turns out. Most of them were plain and simple rust buckets and those that were restored were usually racer boy toys with very tacky modifications. Also dealing with people by phone is not the easiest thing. Fortunately I had an army of friends and family who were ready to help me through the whole process.

This is what I found as well when deciding to buy the one I have here or ship a car back from Europe or Japan. Tourings seem to be used as daily workhorse vehicles and just get beat up.

So here it comes.

Car: $2650
Paint job and parts: $2200
New set of leather seats: $300
Registration, tax and insurance in Poland: $400
Shipping (including customs fees and handling at departure port) : $3100
Arrival Port Handling: ~$500 (I didn't pay that yet but that's what I expect the fee to be)

So total: $5150 for the car and $4000 for shipping and various administrative fees.

I was wondering how you found one with a body in such great shape over there... now I know! lol

Thanks for the breakdown as it matches up with numbers that I budgeted as well.

[tcheb]

Originally Posted by VS70

Did you ever go to Poland to do this or have you just been working the deal from afar?

I did go to Poland to put the car on the boat. I was going there anyways at the end of May so I started looking for a car in December last year. I found a few cars that I considered buying. One seemed to be in pristine shape but then I did a simple google search on the seller's name and found out that he scams people for a living and there was a class action suit against him

I found the car I bought in late February and closed the deal in March after a friend of mine brought it to a shop for a Pre-purchase Inspection. While the car was not in as good shape as I thought it was when I purchased it, I'm overall very satisfied because the shop I brought it to did wonders to it for a sum that in states would be considered peanuts! It took them over a month to put it back into shape and I almost missed the deadline to put it back on the boat. Hence the missing skirts and rain gutter trim. They ran out of time to install them but fortunately had enough time to do the important stuff!

[VS70]

Originally Posted by tcheb

I did go to Poland to put the car on the boat. I was going there anyways at the end of May so I started looking for a car in December last year. I found a few cars that I considered buying. One seemed to be in pristine shape but then I did a simple google search on the seller's name and found out that he scams people for a living and there was a class action suit against him

I found the car I bought in late February and closed the deal in March after a friend of mine brought it to a shop for a Pre-purchase Inspection. While the car was not in as good shape as I thought it was when I purchased it, I'm overall very satisfied because the shop I brought it to did wonders to it for a sum that in states would be considered peanuts! It took them over a month to put it back into shape and I almost missed the deadline to put it back on the boat. Hence the missing skirts and rain gutter trim. They ran out of time to install them but fortunately had enough time to do the important stuff!

Crazy. Sounds like it's been a labor of love for you - or maybe just a labor! Nonetheless after all that, driving the Allroad for the next few months will be agony!!

Those M3 guys can go pound sand - congratulations on buying the real ultimate E30!

[tcheb]

Originally Posted by VS70

Those M3 guys can go pound sand - congratulations on buying the real ultimate E30!

Hee hee... Ironically, I am one of them.

This will be my second E30 and will sit in the garage next to the E30 M3.

[Wschnitz]

The uk is a good place to look. Fair amount of rust but dang they are cheap.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C311668

[Wschnitz]

If you can deal with right hand drive

[tcheb]

There are 95 E30 touring currently for sale on mobile.de

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto/search....AGE_UNREPAIRED

9 of them are 325ix

http://suchen.mobile.de/auto/search....AGE_UNREPAIRED

[hobbsm3]

Too bad my wife doesn't think the AMG wagon is sexy . I love every minute I'm driving it. I usually keep a diesel in the arsenal as a DD. Would love to add the e30 estate into the rotation.

Tcheb's insight into the importing process is invaluable, but unfortulately, I lack the knowlegdeable contacts to make it happen. Shipping from Germany or Rotterdam might be cheaper and I am sure there are a few gems in the 95 currently for sale over there. Had a potential buyer from Germany look it shipping my 993 C4S and with insurance was around $1500 from Houston.

[JA1991]

Awesome thanks for the break down. I feel like importing it isn't as bad as i thought

[VS70]

Originally Posted by tcheb

Hee hee... Ironically, I am one of them.

This will be my second E30 and will sit in the garage next to the E30 M3.

Combine them and paint it blue - maybe you, too, can get $45k...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E...t_45461wt_1161

[tcheb]

Hee hee... Don't feel like becoming the face of evil in the eyes of R3Vers.

Originally Posted by VS70

Combine them and paint it blue - maybe you, too, can get $45k...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-E...t_45461wt_1161

[evanc]

Originally Posted by tcheb

I searched high and low for exactly what you're looking for (manual 325ix Touring). Got tired and decided to import one. It's on the boat and will be on this side of the pond on August 6th.



There's I think only one more in USA and I believe 2 in Canada.

Did you find this touring on Allegro.pl? That's where I found mine. Down near Krakow. I'm sure you won't have all that other stuff in there when you ship it. When I shipped my 02 to Europe in 02 it wasn't a problem to have stuff in the car... it was the return trip back to the States that stipulates ONLY original equipment may be present in the vehicle upon inspection. Otherwise they'll take it, burn it and give you the bill! Stoked for you that you'll have a touring stateside! I'll be shipping mine back to the West Coast in a few years time.

[oliwer78]

Poland would be the last place when you wanna look for this kind of cars. Great for tcheb to be able to find one worth restoring.

[lostininglewood]

There is an ix manual for $6,500ish on maxbimmer, although in Toronto area, in Canada.

I'm going to be selling mine next year once it's legal to the US for about $5,500ish obo. My bottle caps are still pink so you're wife will love it.