what's the rarest E30 know to exist?

[Jand3rson]

That Kelleners Z1 must have handled amazingly well, look how far back the motor sits behind the strut towers. It's damn near mid-engined lol.

[Ryann]

The '93 318ic is probably the rarest U.S. production e30 @ 48 cars total.

[priapism]

I'm guessing the South African 333i.

[Roysneon]

So damn, put an s14 in there or something. But the second you do that youre throwing like 10-20k out the door because this is a collector car with 8000 numbered copies.

BMW did that...once, on a car that was never really put into production and is now hidden away at BMW M headquarters or somewhere like that, in Germany. Someone posted a thread about it here not too long ago.

[TopOfTheLine89]

I think a better question to ask would be what is the most desirable/ valuable e30.

[stamar]

the z1 or some modified v8 alpina one.

better yet combine them both.

[thealbert]

My vote would be the E30 M3 in right hand drive. Probably the rarest straight from the BMW factory. Only three known to exist. One was made for the Sultan of Brunei. I'm sure there are other Hartge or Alpina, etc ones out there that are equally as rare or more rare but those are technically not from the BMW factory directly.

[rThor432]

In the US any Z1 is rare.

Were they really never officially imported? I thought they were.. I've got a picture on one of my old phones from 4 years ago (or so) when I was servicing 2 at the same time at an independent shop. One was a pristine black example and the other was a red daily driven car with leopard print seat covers owned by a local dance instructor. They are neat.

As for rare factory cars, the 333i has to take the cake, but even that one had input by Alpina (iirc). Once you start talking about tuner-only special editions you enter a very grey area..

[M3 euro ltw]

Z1, E30, rarity

The Z1 is hardly rare with production of 8013.

In terms of how often you see them, well, yes, they were not imported by BMW NA here, and any that came in under the gray market early rules had to be converted by the later Show and Display rules.

I have one of these that came early, and was converted later.

It is NOT a re-bodied E30 chassis by any stretch of the imagination. Floor is a composite product, the rear suspension is the precursor to the E36 Z Link.

While it shares E30 front geometry, and an IX engine and gearbox, its oilpan is unique to the Z1. Instead of a transfer box, there is a torque tube between gearbox and diff. Very structurally sound for its time.

It does share many features of the E30, and some interior bits are a mix from many sources, even motorcycles!

Kellener's, AC Schnitzer has conversions, Alpina made the RLE officially with really rare 17 inch 4 bolt Alpina rims... truly made of unobtainium.....

The car does scream out for a bit more power, but in its day, the S14 would have been too buzzy, and the S38 too heavy. It was just a smidgen too early for the S50B30 which I believe would have been perfect.

(as shown by Kelleners in the link) The S50B30 shown in that link is positioned exactly as an M20 would be. Many refer to this as a front mid-engine car. Cylinder one is almost right over the front axle line giving a very neutral balance to the car.

This is possibly OT, but there were some inconsistencies about the Z1 posted, perhaps interesting to some to know what is what on that.

I'd hazard a guess that there are between 15 to 30 in the states.

[einstein57]

Mark Norris" e30 m3 vert with factory grey dash board

[stamar]

according to wikipedia the m20 engine is tilted up at 20 degrees. while we do not have a interior picture Im sure that means that there is a large doghouse like structure inside the car like a us made van. not as large but the same concept, below the dash where our cars have the radio it bumps out.

i believe a us made van has a front mid engine layout.

or an aerostar or astro van...

[Farbin Kaiber]

In all reality, I think the most rare would be the Alpina C2 that got was the only one built in the US, and still got an Alpina number. It was in Bimmer magazine last month IIRC.

[Kershaw]

That Kelleners Z1 must have handled amazingly well, look how far back the motor sits behind the strut towers. It's damn near mid-engined lol.

bmw had it that way from the factory. would have been nice if they did this to our e30s....

[flyboyx]

thank you everyone for the education on the z1.

the alpina b6 3.5s was really rare with only 62 produced. this was the e30 m3 version with an alpina tuned m30b3.5 engine.

[M3 euro ltw]

rare ones

E30 EVO M3 verts, I think they only made a hand full of factory specials....

That is a rare one too, and totally factory.