Low engine mileage vs. Perfect body

[garciabe]

Recently i found 2 e30 verts.
One was a white one with low mileage around 80000 for an 88 and did a vin check and it was clear. Then found a 91 vert with 160000 miles that was perfect cosmetically. Im in the market to buy a new one and im not planning to do any swaps but my question is, what would benefit me more in the long run? I know there are other things that i should factor in but i need some feedback on this!! Thanks!!

[bmwstephen]

pick car with a nicer body if everything is original. beauty of these engines are that they are simple, durable, and easy to replace if necessary.

I can tell you from experience that body work is always a pain in the ass. if you tell yourself that you'll take your time restoring the body, I can tell you that unless you spend 6k on it professionally, the aesthetics will always have some problem.

[slammin.e28]

91 because plastic bumpers.

[agent]

91 because plastic bumpers.

I think the OP is looking for facts, not opinions.

[hendrixvodu]

i agree with these guys go with the nicer body m20s are very good motors

[Wschnitz]

160k is nothing, go with the cosmetically perfect one.

[slammin.e28]

I think the OP is looking for facts, not opinions.

This is a fact, and a factor in this decision. A nice PB 'vert looks much better than a ragged metal bumper one.

[bmwstephen]

This is a fact, and a factor in this decision. A nice PB 'vert looks much better than a ragged metal bumper one.

although the potential to do a euro bumper is teh sex.

[TrentW]

pick car with a nicer body if everything is original. beauty of these engines are that they are simple, durable, and easy to replace if necessary.

I can tell you from experience that body work is always a pain in the ass. if you tell yourself that you'll take your time restoring the body, I can tell you that unless you spend 6k on it professionally, the aesthetics will always have some problem.

i agree with these guys go with the nicer body m20s are very good motors

160k is nothing, go with the cosmetically perfect one.

Agreed. M20's or M50's are cheap and easy to swap out. As someone else stated, 160k is nothing--you could even redo the upper end and you're good to go.

Body & paint work however, is a different story. You can expect to spend around $5k for a professionally done job.

[CHIF8008]

early cars rock. get the one with the better body

[slammin.e28]

although the potential to do a euro bumper is teh sex.

Damn. Checkmate.

[CrusherCurtis]

I bought my vert becuase it was clean inside and out with 115k miles. Less than a year later its been completely repainted, I'm looking for e36 m to get an s50 out of and redoing my interior. Wish I would have just bought a rust free shell. You live and you learn. A clean rust free e30 is worth its weight in gold in my book vs on that has lower miles and body issues/rust. Go with the clean one. Trust me you will want to swap.

[agent]

A nice PB 'vert looks much better than a ragged metal bumper one.

In this case the better car cosmetically happens to be the late one, so I'd agree that between the two cars the OP has to choose from, the late car is the better option. But categorically stating that a PB car is better than a DB car is a matter of (your) opinion.

[N2MYE30]

I could depend on the color imo. If its, lets say a very common flavor, AWII, there are a plethora of body panels that can be replaced with a quick search on the FS threads. Now, my glacier blue is impossible to replace anything without a full repray...to do it right. Are we assuming that the top and leathers are even par?

BTW, not all 91 have DBs.

[N2MYE30]

Trust me you will want to swap.

Oddly enough, I do not ever plan on swapping out my M20 nor the auto in my cabrio. Maybe im getting old but a well sorted clean M20 is getting more appealing to me everyday. It also could be that I get my jollys out in my swapped coupe.