Skyrocketing E30 prices. Is it worth it anymore?

[MPLFoster]

I haven't been in the E30 market for years, but from what I see locally - about 75% of them are basically rolling parts cars at this point. Finding a good one and a decent price has got to be much more difficult. ...

Truth.

When i was in Anacortes, searching for an E30 in the valley and surrounding areas, i had to wade thru some over-priced shit before i found a gem. So many were barely running yet listed as "runs good, great DD!"... even went so far as Seattle to look at a heap...waste of time. The E30 tax kept the prices well above the true value of the car. It's too bad that some people are willing to pay such outlandish prices for junkers, thus keeping prices at a premium.

I got lucky and found my '90 325i in Anacortes for $750 and only a couple miles from my house at the time. The PO was just glad an enthusiast was interested and pretty much gave it to me. Some minor damage to the right rear QP, AC didn't work and sunroof cables had come off-track, but everything else was OK. A little over 180k miles and NO rust. Even had brand new khumo tires and a full size spare/full tool kit.

So there is hope. There are diamonds in the rough out there, just have to dig until one pops up.

[Julien]

dude, but was it stanced?

oh yeah, H&R super sports (may have had a cut coil up front too), unkown shocks and... multilug ICW wheels.


ebay fuh raze seats too

[TimKninja]

unfortunatly as people realize how great of a car they are the price goes up. There is also many going to the scrapper that could be saved.

I would classify my car as a rolling parts car. 281k on it, a good amount of rust (Getting patched now) and a wavy rear quarter panel. But I dont care. Its fun as hell to drive, it still looks ok, and im not gonna sell it anytime soon. and if I did, i wouldnt be asking an insane price for it.

Half these kids dont care if the floors are rotted out and it barely runs. as long as they can show up to car meets and take overly doctored pictures of them and post them all over the instagram and get internet famous.

[matthugie]

Reminds me of a local e28 that's been for sale off and on for a while. It photographs well, but I've seen it in person a couple times and it's completely clapped out. Slammed on Chinese coils, chewed up fenders, missing hood, absurdly painted knock off wheels, "custom" harness bar, stripped interior, and ebay seats. All this for only 7k...

[RDM3]

Prices have gone up, but as someone who was just in the market up until a few weeks ago, i'll tell you what's going on....

People list E30's at completely stupid prices. The cars look amazing in pictures and are listed as "no rust", "perfect paint", etc. Then you get there and the thing is a rust bucket with the paint chipped off the fenders from aggressive tire fitment and holes rotting through the frame rails from the undercoat being scraped off.

The seller will then come down on price. Way down. As an example, I went to see a late model red coupe with euro houndstooth interior that was listed here and indeed looked amazing in pictures. I won't go into detail, but the car was far from as clean as it presented in the FS ad, or was described. But in the ad, it did look amazing. Asking price was originally $7200. I looked the car over for about 20 minutes and said no thanks. Seller came down to $5500. Still, no thanks. Seller came down to $4500. Still, no thanks. Ok, howabout $4K? No thanks. The car was too rough.

I happen to know the car sold for $4K (best of luck to the guy who paid that much). But here's the issue...now the seller posts "SOLD" on the FS thread, and everyone thinks the car sold for $6 or $7K. This is happening with a lot of E30's, and it gives the next guy a completely distorted viewpoint as to what the market value of his car is.

I walked away from 3 cars that were listed on this forum because they had big rust issues or notable body/chassis damage. All were listed as "rust free" and "near perfect". Many sellers have a pretty distorted viewpoint of what a rust free car is, and what a car in nice condition is. They list the car at a completely unrealistic price point, and noone knows that they come down as much as 50% or more from their asking price. It's driving up the price of E30's.

I love my E30 and E36, but in different ways. It's the same with my E46. My E36 M3 still remains to be, IMO, the best car i've ever driven. If I had to choose one car of the 3 I own (E30, E36, E46), i'd choose that one. It simply blows the E30 chassis out of the water in every way. But, it doesn't have that old, quirky raw mechanical feel of an 80's designed E30. And some people just really love the look of an E30. This is totally understandable, they're gorgeous cars.

E36's are stupid cheap for what you get in return. That's for sure. E30's are overpriced at this point, and there's an epidemic with sellers being out of touch with the condition and value of their cars. But that will plateau sooner or later.

I have found the same thing in my search, like the one below from CL 91 325ix, he states no rot, but if you look around the wheel wells there are chips and they are rusting, he is down to $5600, but I basically said it is too much.

http://lancaster.craigslist.org/cto/4280513078.html

http://s1266.photobucket.com/user/hansmarks/slideshow/

[nando]

that thing is a rust bucket. the first place I always look is the engine bay. if the strut mounts are original and the nuts are rusty, the rest of the car isn't going to be pretty.

[RDM3]

that thing is a rust bucket. the first place I always look is the engine bay. if the strut mounts are original and the nuts are rusty, the rest of the car isn't going to be pretty.

If you look at this photo you can see rust along the bottom, I told him sight unseen the most I would go is $2,000.

[agent]

I can't stress enough about looking for matching vins.
...you never find 25yr old cars with the same vin panels.

I did. Twice.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

that thing is a rust bucket. the first place I always look is the engine bay. if the strut mounts are original and the nuts are rusty, the rest of the car isn't going to be pretty.

I'd like to see the floor pans for that thing. Probably resemble mine haha.

[Herr Faust Schinken]

Can attest to what fiveightandten is saying. Been looking for a clean example of an e30 for a while. The owner of a particular e30 I found on Craig's blatantly lied to me claiming "absolutely no rust". Needless to say when I got there, the thing was coated with cancer. These days when sellers refuse to send me additional pics I don't even bother. Usually means they have something to hide.

your in socal there are e30s available

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/4376671651.html

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/4378546549.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/4370903861.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/4376333198.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/cto/4373576467.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/4361855558.html

if your willing to be a bit flexible your spoiled for choice, I've never done a deal on c-list where the price wasn't negotiable. there was also a white plastic bumper vert i can't seem to find now. i admit most of these are autos but a manual swap can be done easily for 500-700 bucks

[elbrack]

I found a low mileage one with some rust spots near the trunk, but nothing severe to the frame for a fair SOCAL price. Basically bonestock except for the radio. A lot of guys are asking over 5K for cars that aren't even mechanically complete. (No A/C, No P/S etc)

That was my main concern, is that I found a car that was mechanically sound and not completely rusting from bottom up.

The prices will go up from here, they aren't gonna come down.

A lot of guys are just buying and flipping the really nice ones out there too. Seen a lot of very nice versions being listed over 10K. :-\

[RDM3]

your in socal there are e30s available

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/cto/4376671651.html

http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/4378546549.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/4370903861.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/4376333198.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/cto/4373576467.html

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/4361855558.html

if your willing to be a bit flexible your spoiled for choice, I've never done a deal on c-list where the price wasn't negotiable. there was also a white plastic bumper vert i can't seem to find now. i admit most of these are autos but a manual swap can be done easily for 500-700 bucks

From what I can see and my opinion, the last one is the one I think is the best.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cto/4361855558.html

[Julien]

All I'm going to say is I can't stress enough about looking for matching vins.

so.. thoughts
I have a vin matching car but the trunk has several dings, paint is fading (primer starting to show in one tine spot) and one bigger dent. I've found a replacement trunk from another car with oem paint. What's more important vin matching or all original paint (replacement trunk matches perfectly)

[KIRIEIW]

I did. Twice.

Cool man. Me and my friends car are all matching. My point is there extremely hard to find

[elbrack]

so.. thoughts
I have a vin matching car but the trunk has several dings, paint is fading (primer starting to show in one tine spot) and one bigger dent. I've found a replacement trunk from another car with oem paint. What's more important vin matching or all original paint (replacement trunk matches perfectly)

From a collector standpoint, the matching VIN is more important. If you can repair the trunk that is. If it's not repairable, then it doesn't matter.