Getting my 1st E30

[SubDad]

+1 for wishing my first e30 looked that nice

And
+11 for

my wife talked me into it

Jealous,jealous,jealous.
Good find, have fun.

[einhander]

Congrats yo

[george graves]

That looks like a great car .. Id take all the risks you can in lieu of what Farbin says .. The stupidest things Ive done on road trips are the most memorable and make for the greatest stories. Ive always made it to my destination and the setbacks along the way make it an adventure

so true.....I helped a buddy pick up a 200ti in SF and drive it back to Santa Barbara....We didn't exactly stick to the speed limit.....It broke down once along the way...IIRC we scavenged a bit of headlight wiring to jumper the main relay - Good times....Bring some tools and a friend. AAA is for suckers...

[slammin.e28]

so true.....I helped a buddy pick up a 200ti in SF and drive it back to Santa Barbara....We didn't exactly stick to the speed limit.....It broke down once along the way...IIRC we scavenged a bit of headlight wiring to jumper the main relay - Good times....Bring some tools and a friend. AAA is for suckers...

BOOM.

Drove my old 'vert home, after the PO shrugged his shoulders when I asked when the timing belt had been replaced last, from Pittsburgh PA, to Waynesboro Va. Then, without doing a single thing to the car, I drove it to Aberdeen Md for Bimmerfest 2012, and back, and all over.

Call me dumb, but I planned on dumping the M20 for a V8, but then I sold the car for a good profit.

It makes for good stories.

[delatlanta1281]

That looks like a great car .. Id take all the risks you can in lieu of what Farbin says .. The stupidest things Ive done on road trips are the most memorable and make for the greatest stories. Ive always made it to my destination and the setbacks along the way make it an adventure

Agreed. As a teenager and in my 20s I traveled all the time, and many great adventures ensued. Now that I am older, wiser, less broke, it's even more fun. The drive to V@V for instance... Huff's engine blew up on the way back. No problem, tow it home slap an engine in a week later.

[Holland]

Where in Phoenix are you going to be?

[blunttech]

Agreed. As a teenager and in my 20s I traveled all the time, and many great adventures ensued. Now that I am older, wiser, less broke, it's even more fun. The drive to V@V for instance... Huff's engine blew up on the way back. No problem, tow it home slap an engine in a week later.

About 6 years ago Avi and i flew into Sacramento and picked up an unknown 2002... Set the GPS to avoid all freeways and took off for Minnesota with no tools. We were on washed out dirt mountain roads running into road crews that told us we would never make it past some of the washed out sections. We beat that car mercilessly drifting it on gravel roads etc etc One of the most fun trips ive ever done and made it without one breakdown.

[2mAn]

I just flew up to Seattle and drove my 77 Rabbit 1200 miles in two days. I swapped the motor back in July and never drove it more than 25 miles since then. I had no idea if I was going to break down, in fact I was expecting it. Never happened. 4 speed trans was singing at 4k+ rpms for hours straight! haha I love the car now, but Im still selling it. Doing the same with my E30 this weekend.

Good luck on your trip, at least you'll have a navigator

[Hoffbrohaus]

Where in Phoenix are you going to be?

I live around the 51 & Shea

Good luck on your trip, at least you'll have a navigator

Ha thanks, it will be a navigation training session. She's not the best but hopefully I'll get her there. My dad trained me back in the day pre-cell phones, pre GPS, when we moved from PA to AZ and then back to PA and back to AZ. 3 different routes cross country with paper maps :up:

[marshallnoise]

I picked up my first e30 a little over a week ago. Nothing even remotely as clean. Upon exiting the driveway, I realized one of the front rotors was being eaten to death by a brake pad having no material left (metal on metal) and it was smoking like a son-of-a-bitch.

My small journey from Fallbrook to Oceanside (10 miles) was a freaking blast (learned by people love these cars), scarier than hell (brakes? who needs them!), and the smoking was cured by the time I arrived at home.

So that is proof that buying an untested car and driving it back = making the car better.

[goldenbb]

I have the exact same car, presently not as clean cosmetically. Mine runs well, though. I am going to be sorting out a host of suspension needs and then paint/body issues over the winter, hopefully. Hope you didn't pay like $10K for that car...

Good luck!

[ParsedOut]

Car looks CLEAN!

Road trips to get cars... reminds me of about 10 years ago I flew out to Los Angeles from Phx to pick up a 91 VW GLI 16v. Super clean, bone stock. Nice Mexican family insisted I stay for breakfast (homecooked!) before I hit the road. About 20 miles out of town on the I10 I hit some pretty rough highway and realized the tranny mount was shot, couldn't go above 55 without it banging around. Middle of the desert, no A/C, no radio reception, only had one CD in the deck...to this day I can't listen to Jimmy Eat World without remembering that trip. No breakdowns though!

I suggest you watch a few episodes of RoadKill on the Motortrend youtube channel to get in the correct mindset for what you're about to encounter. Hopefully less adventurous for you though.

[Hoffbrohaus]

We just got to Vegas. Car runs like a champ! Nice and flat on curves. Only lost 2 parts on the way so far. The front lip and the brake duct on my driver's side. Radar detector has paid off big time! What a great way to learn the car. I'm loving it!

Here's my car in Twin Falls, ID. I'll have pics from Vegas tomorrow. Im heading out to gamble now...

[ak-]

Very nice! How'd you lose the lip!? Damn.

[marshallnoise]

Great looking car! What wheels are those?