How did you get into E30's?

[Andrew325is]

I first became impressed with BMW's when one of my mom's friends took us for a drive in his 735i in 1998 on some windy roads along the Rogue River. It was a beautiful car and it handled amazing. I always remembered that car and I knew someday I had to have a BMW. In 2002 my mom helped me get a '96 328i. I was a college student and I couldn't afford it very well so it didn't stay long. After that I got an old Mazda 626 from my great aunt. Then in 2004 I was living in Ashland and I had a roommate I was helping look for a car to buy. We were at the Nissan dealership in Medford and we test drove an Altima (I didn't like how it felt at all) and next door was the BMW dealership so we walked over and starting looking at the cars and we test drove a new 2004 325i which drove amazing and I instantly realized I wanted another BMW. We picked up a nickle ad and there was a 1986 325 advertised by a used car dealer in Grants Pass for $1986. I managed to sell my Mazda right away and I took the bus up to Grants Pass and bought the car. My roommate bought a Ford Taurus from the same dealer. I met someone who told me they thought the E30 belonged to a professor at Southern Oregon University. That may or may not be true but it was an Oregon car. It still had a Roth BMW license plate frame on the front. It was pretty much mint and original except for the rear spoiler I added.

[Prost]

When I was a kid growing up in Hong Kong, there were always a Alpine white E30 M3 park at somewhere that I will pass by everyday after school, RHD E30 M3 were super rare in Hong Kong (like there are only 5 or less as far as I recall. I was looking for an E30 M3 to fulfill my childhood dream but cannot locate one that is reasonable price. I was looking on eBay late last year and found an low mileage alpine white 325iC M-Tech II App Pkg that is 90% of the M3 (outlook wise) but in a price range that I can afford...so here I become an E30 owner. :)

[EndreM]

I was looking for a winterbeater, and got this



316iA. It was so slow, but it still made me smile, and when I sold it (to buy a E39 523i), I missed it, and 7 months later I bought another E30

[quikveedb2]

I was always a VW guy in high school & college, but I went to school with Alex & Stu Mchenry, so I was exposed to the e30 tuning scene in my early teens. Late high school/early college a good friend & roommate of mine purchased a black on black 325is which we did some work on, and between toying with that car and knowing Alex & Stu I had at least some interest in the e30 chassis. A few years ago a beat up 325is appeared in the parking lot of my condo and didn't move for quite some time. I found the owner, a neighbor of mine, bought the car for about $200, and the rest is history.

[F34R]

Bought first one off the side of the road when I was 15. Coming up on 12 years of owning these fun boxes.

[e30Villain]

After sitting in my first e30 at 14/15 years old, i knew i had to get one.

[GillesBigCowboy]

Great stories here!

In college in the eighties, the e21s were all over, but I truly hated the propeller brand and the boxy lack of style (though I must say the e28s were looking nice, and we all know that love and hate are much closer than love and indifference). I was runnin the 924, a couple 240zs, and my greatest car pre e30: mk1 scirocco S with turbo and suspension built by an autocross fanatic. FLASHFORWARD 20yrs.
Took my mk4 Gti 1.8t to summit point road course for my virgin track weekend... Tore that car up (melted the outside edges of some Michelin pilot sport all seasons). Grassroots motorsports was doin lots of spece30 write-ups, and I NEEDED a track car! Lucy was being sold by a late 20s air force man. When I test drove it, the shifter was the actual spoon in the pasta colander, but the pirellis were pretty sticky, she felt real good in the corners, and when I felt the LSD harnessing that smooth ripping power as I launched that car through a corner exit, it was over for me. Since that moment, I have bought 5 cars. All of them have been e30s. I will be buying more.

[Stanley Rockafella]

When I realized that VW/Audi is complete junk....

+1

After I smashed up my 90 Protege, I went to look at an e21. The shop owner recommended I look at an 86 es. Sold it a year layer and have had the 88 is since

It was actually originally a toss up b/t the 325 es and a mid 80's VW Cabrio.

[85e325]

In 2006, after a short and unsuccessful stay in socal. I moved in with a college buddy of mine who was about to graduate and was looking to sell the Snap-on tool package he got when he graduated. I was working at a Chrysler body shop at the time and so I gave my buddies number to the local Snap-on guy. He ended up meeting with snap-on at the Treehouse performance (now Bimmer's USA)parking lot and was offered a job on the spot.

A few months later he bought HIS first E30, a POS '87 325 IS. Which ended eating up a timing belt so we built a 2.7 stroker for it over the winter. He then picked up a '89 325 IS and swaped the motor into that. Then I got to drive it, and I was hooked!! Up to that point I had always been around Classic domestic cars. My first car was a 1974 Gremlin, and I drove a 1962 Dodge lancer GT in college. I loved how nimble and responsive the E30 was...

That brings us to 2011, I was working at the Navy Exchange(aka Hellhole)in Oak Harbor, WA as a junior service writer and one of the mechanic's (Quadrajet) had a '91 318is. After a couple of months we became friends over our mutual hatred of the Senior service writer at the time. He then drove is other E30 into work, a '85 325e. I was driving a '95 acrua legend at the time that needed 91 octane. That got old quick, driving from my house in Anacortes to the navy base which is about 18 miles away, I would have to fill up twice a week. Money for me was getting really tight and I needed to do somthing, so I talked to Quadrajet and asked him how the gas mileage was on the eta, about 25-28 mpg. I was sold, I picked it up for $1800 and the rest is history...

[Dozyproductions]

I was in San Diego in Pacific Beach. I was walking the 'strip' back to my car and just watching all the nice fucking new BMWs and Mercedes and what have yous drive by. Right when I was walking to my honda civic I saw what looked kinda orange or kinda red old car drive by and since then I was hooked. I didn't even know what I had seen but after some serious internet research I figured out I saw a pristine, fully restored, on nice BBS wheels, e30 m3 hennarot. People can tell you where they were when they first heard Kennedy died or when 9/11 happened and I can equally recall where I was when I first saw my first e30 m3. *good memory sigh*

[LJ851]

I typically use the drivers door....

[A_Whelan]

I was looking for my first car and one a 4door 325i caught my eye. Couldn't resist and haddd to buy it. A month later I made a cash offer and drove away in it. It worked for 3 months, then I broke it and it hasn't worked since... shitty.

[5Toes]

Gran Turismo 4 + internet

[defaultName]

I typically use the drivers door....

[shameson]

I typically use the drivers door....

But the sunroof is 3x more badass