325i to 325is conversion

[ELVA164]

Good info! And it supports my case even more :nice:

[SickFinga]

Good info! And it supports my case even more :nice:

I agree with you on the collectible factor. 325is will not be a collectible car. Sure a clean E30 will be very desirable and 325is will be the most desirable non-M version, but this can be said about any other car with more time passing.

[IceWhite]

The only iS I'd even consider rare and a little below the M3 collectibility would be the 320iS.

I will leave this here:
The South African spec 325iS. Evo I and Evo II.

[ahrensNW]

why does South Africa always get the cool shit...

[agent]

325is will not be a collectible car. Sure a clean E30 will be very desirable and 325is will be the most desirable non-M version, but this can be said about any other car with more time passing.

So what's your specific definition of "collectible?" These cars are getting wrecked, parted and flat-bill cap'd every day, and their value only continues to rise.

[SickFinga]

So what's your specific definition of "collectible?" These cars are getting wrecked, parted and flat-bill cap'd every day, and their value only continues to rise.

Well, I really don't have a specific definition, because technically everything can be collectible. Rising prices of old cars don't really mean anything since prices for all cars pretty much follow the same formula. Bottom out after 15-20 and then start rising for good condition cars. That doesn't mean that every car is a collectible. But that's just my opinion.

[nando]

Really? There are tons similar age of cars that are worth nothing. Is a 1988 toyota tercel worth anything? A 1990 taurus? Anything late 80’s chrysler?

Surely, just being old isnt enough to drive value..

[nando]

Really? There are tons similar age of cars that are worth nothing. Is a 1988 toyota tercel worth anything? A 1990 taurus? Anything late 80’s chrysler?

Surely, just being old isnt enough to drive value..

[SickFinga]

Really? There are tons similar age of cars that are worth nothing. Is a 1988 toyota tercel worth anything? A 1990 taurus? Anything late 80’s chrysler?

Surely, just being old isnt enough to drive value..

Yes, a clean, original Tercel will cost substantially more than most Tercels. You are also comparing a car that cost less than half of the E30 and built in greater numbers. So naturally, it will not cost as much as an E30. Yes, E30 has a bigger following than a Tercel, but you won't see 325is in a museum, Barrett-Jackson, Bonhams or RM Auctions any time soon.

[nando]

Most tercels are worth about $0, so significantly more is still basically nothing...

[jaywood]

The fascination with iS is something I don't understand. iS parts are too easy to come by. Paying a premium for an 'S' on the trunk is nonsense.

[TobyB]

There's a ton of nonsense in the automotive world, and it's been going on a long time.

20 years ago, I watched a Mouse-Tang turn into a Boss Mouse-Tang by the addition
of some brackets, tabs, a bit of faked paint and stickers,

and the value of it doubled.

Real value? Hell, no. Cash in the faker's pocket? Spent just like real money, that cash did.

Personally, I don't get it either. But that's me.

t

[reelizmpro]

The fascination with iS is something I don't understand. iS parts are too easy to come by. Paying a premium for an 'S' on the trunk is nonsense.

Yet, m tech 1 steering wheels are now selling above $100 for clean ones, tweeter pods are approaching $100 a pair, map light mirrors as well, premium speakers. 13 button OBC conversions go for a pretty penny. The front and rear spoilers almost every car on this forum has, weaves,etc. Nice sport seats are going for several hundred dollars. There has been increasing demand for these parts but only so many 325iS. So yeah I would pay a premium for a factory iS with all of it's parts intact. $500-1000 maybe depending on condition but that number will go up as finding all these parts gets more expensive. I've been going to junkyards for years and can't remember the last time I saw a 325iS and if there was one it would have been raped fast. Most of the time it's an early car, a base model or convertible and i'm in LA where E30's were once a dime a dozen so the writing is on the wall. Not that the iS will reach M3 proportions but they also said the same thing about the M3 many years ago. "There's too many of them.""Too slow to ever fetch big money." "Not that much different from a 325iS." Yet, the few parts that are unique to the m3 go for CRAZY money. As these cars get older, any high trim level car that's complete will be sought after and fetch a premium. Just like the guy who paid $23k for the low mileage 318iS. Just because you don't understand it, it doesn't mean it's not happening.

[jaywood]

Yet, m tech 1 steering wheels are now selling above $100 for clean ones, tweeter pods are approaching $100 a pair, map light mirrors as well, premium speakers. 13 button OBC conversions go for a pretty penny. The front and rear spoilers almost every car on this forum has, weaves,etc. Nice sport seats are going for several hundred dollars. There has been increasing demand for these parts but only so many 325iS. So yeah I would pay a premium for a factory iS with all of it's parts intact. $500-1000 maybe depending on condition but that number will go up as finding all these parts gets more expensive. I've been going to junkyards for years and can't remember the last time I saw a 325iS and if there was one it would have been raped fast. Most of the time it's an early car, a base model or convertible and i'm in LA where E30's were once a dime a dozen so the writing is on the wall. Not that the iS will reach M3 proportions but they also said the same thing about the M3 many years ago. "There's too many of them.""Too slow to ever fetch big money." "Not that much different from a 325iS." Yet, the few parts that are unique to the m3 go for CRAZY money. As these cars get older, any high trim level car that's complete will be sought after and fetch a premium. Just like the guy who paid $23k for the low mileage 318iS. Just because you don't understand it, it doesn't mean it's not happening.

Paying $500-$1000 extra for an iS isn't paying a "premium" and I would have no problem paying that.

Paying $23k for a 318iS is "premium."

[Stanley Rockafella]

Just because you don't understand it, it doesn't mean it's not happening.

:thankyou:


As many have already pointed out, the M3 e30 is far out of the price range of many looking for a collectible car. As a result the focus will go to those that are closest to the M3 in terms of sportiness, and the e30 325is falls directly in line (in the NA market at least) after the e30 M3.

Combine that with the number of them that are being tracked, thrashed, R3v'd and generally fall in disrepair and neglect by those who drive them like they stole 'em, you have something that will inevitably rise in value as the number of those available decreases.