TL;DR: selling my non-running (but ran before being garaged in 2018) 1989 325is with some performance parts, a clean interior, and a clean title
Hi all – before pouring a bunch of money and time into getting the car clean again just to sell it in running order, I thought it might be perfect as a base for someone as a project (spec e30? lemons? refurb for daily driver duty?), so here it is!
Backstory: I bought this 89 325is a decade ago with one of my first paychecks out of school, e30s always being the attainable dream car for me. The previous owner built it out to be an awesome daily driver, and even though it had a bunch of cosmetic defects, I fell in love with it. It was the first car I wrenched on without my dad’s experienced supervision, took road trips down into southern Oregon and up into BC, and otherwise enjoyed the hell out of it, taking care of maintenance, but not babying it like a trophy. Then, in 2018, the oil pan gasket started dripping a bit, and I parked it in my garage until I could fix things, not wanting to run it half-dry. As it tends to happen, life got in the way, and I just couldn’t find that one weekend to do it. Eventually the battery died too, and unfortunately, that’s been its state since. Motorcycles have taken over the fun vehicle category, and my daily driver became something a bit more comfortable and practical (an A4 B7 wagon, still manual). So with another spring starting, I’ve decided to stop being delusional about it, and as much as I’ll miss the car – by far the most fun I’ve had driving anything – let it go to someone who’ll get to drive it like it was intended to.
Tabs are out of date, but the title is clean, in my name, and in hand.
The previous owner put a lot of work into the car before me, so exact bill of materials is unknown. That said, between him and me, here’s a list of things I know of in no particular order:
Because the car isn’t running, you’d need to pick it up with a flatbed. I think $3,000 is reasonable given parts cars seem to be getting asks for not much less than that, but am generally open to offers, so let me know what’s on your mind. I'm in Seattle, WA and would prefer to deal local, but am open to out-of-state if it's not too sketch.
Please contact me here or drop me a line at 89e30coupefs@gmail.com if you’re interested or have any questions!
Hi all – before pouring a bunch of money and time into getting the car clean again just to sell it in running order, I thought it might be perfect as a base for someone as a project (spec e30? lemons? refurb for daily driver duty?), so here it is!
Backstory: I bought this 89 325is a decade ago with one of my first paychecks out of school, e30s always being the attainable dream car for me. The previous owner built it out to be an awesome daily driver, and even though it had a bunch of cosmetic defects, I fell in love with it. It was the first car I wrenched on without my dad’s experienced supervision, took road trips down into southern Oregon and up into BC, and otherwise enjoyed the hell out of it, taking care of maintenance, but not babying it like a trophy. Then, in 2018, the oil pan gasket started dripping a bit, and I parked it in my garage until I could fix things, not wanting to run it half-dry. As it tends to happen, life got in the way, and I just couldn’t find that one weekend to do it. Eventually the battery died too, and unfortunately, that’s been its state since. Motorcycles have taken over the fun vehicle category, and my daily driver became something a bit more comfortable and practical (an A4 B7 wagon, still manual). So with another spring starting, I’ve decided to stop being delusional about it, and as much as I’ll miss the car – by far the most fun I’ve had driving anything – let it go to someone who’ll get to drive it like it was intended to.
Tabs are out of date, but the title is clean, in my name, and in hand.
The previous owner put a lot of work into the car before me, so exact bill of materials is unknown. That said, between him and me, here’s a list of things I know of in no particular order:
- Bilstein shocks and unknown aftermarket springs all around
- Aftermarket bushings (indeterminant make/model)
- Aftermarket exhaust of unknown make, but making a good daily-driver grade sound
- Recent power steering pump
- Recent valve adjustment
- Recent rear fuel filter
- Kenwood KDC-BT948HD receiver with hands-free Bluetooth phone connectivity
- Includes original basketweaves with winter rubber (currently mounted), and Borbet Type Ts with bald a/s rubber
- Mechanically never let me down until the oil gasket incident. The most fun I’ve had in a car driving
- Original toolkit, owners’ manual, both keys, jack, towhook, etc
- Odometer is at 270,760mi. The engine felt much younger, but no known history of any swaps either
- Aforementioned oil pan gasket that grounded me to begin with
- Battery
- Fuel gauge receiver on one side of the tank (never worked, I always relied on the empty light and trip meter)
- Coolant level sensor (replaced them a couple of times, they never seemed to last, so I stopped bothering)
- Fluids given it sat for these 2.5 years. I did put Stabil in the tank after parking it, but worth flushing everything just to be safe.
- Central electric locking was sometimes flaky, never bothered me enough to fix it
- Will need new tires and potentially other rubber pieces around the car
- I’d say a 5ish outside, 7.5ish inside
- Decent front seats (see photos) given age, perfect back seat
- Dash in very good shape, with just one very minor crack
- Perfect glass
- Outside, clearcoat has significant failure on the hood, and is starting to go on parts of the roof
- Some scratches and swirls on trunklid and roof
- Previous owner got it keyed – a fairly faint line, but there
- A dent on the driver’s side door from a hit and run at a grocery store parking lot
- Missing rear corner reflector lenses – got stolen in my driveway overnight one day
- Only rust is best I can tell cosmetic only, behind the rear wheel well, as well as a tiny bit on the seam under the driver’s side taillight
Because the car isn’t running, you’d need to pick it up with a flatbed. I think $3,000 is reasonable given parts cars seem to be getting asks for not much less than that, but am generally open to offers, so let me know what’s on your mind. I'm in Seattle, WA and would prefer to deal local, but am open to out-of-state if it's not too sketch.
Please contact me here or drop me a line at 89e30coupefs@gmail.com if you’re interested or have any questions!
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