E30 prices...Only going to keep going up

[BenDem]

I doubt they will ever be sought after - not everything that is rare is worth money.

I don't know if they will ever be sought after, but I like the way they look better than the e30. It's the only thing I like more about them, but I do think they are pretty little coupes.

[nando]

not knocking your taste, I think they are neat cars in their own way - but you're probably in the minority. otherwise, this would be an E21 site instead of an E30 site.

[8380 Labs]

A popular car (when new) that's instantly identifiable by non-car folks because of the social era / movement they symbolize.

this is a great point, and it obviously doesn't hurt that they look great and are really fun to drive.

Please explain? its a BMW engine, no different than swapping a m20 into a 318. In the long run yes the e30 with the m20 will be worth more than the e30 with the 24v because they will both be ancient and only one will be original. but as far as the prices everyone is complaining about now for stock auto crap cars... its just that, everyone is complaining about cheap stock prices. 24v brings in more cash in this market and no one complains about those listing on CL. We aren't the problem, go find someone else to blame.:hitler:

not attacking you or your decisions, just stating facts. in any subculture (the e30 community), fad modifications (in this case, 24v swaps) can certainly inflate the value of a particular car to someone else in that community, who is familiar with and appreciates that modification while it remains popular.

car collectors aren't necessarily "e30 people", they are people looking to make an investment in the value of a car. and those cars are usually (we're not talking about hot rods or chip foose resto-mods here) stock and original.

transplanting an M52 into a clean 318is might make you a couple bucks right now in the r3v classifieds, but eventually it's value will level off and/or tank. keeping that 318is stock (i.e. original body panels, motor, interior) is a safer bet as far as increasing it's value over the long haul.

no need to be defensive, have fun with your car and do what you like. i recently sold my e30, so i'm not some bitter kid complaining because he can't afford one now. :)

That's the list of my previous e30's. All the prices have been way below market and I do all the work myself. Prices have gone up yes. But patience will get you what you want for the price you want to pay for it.

your situation isn't really indicative of larger market trends in any way - there are always going to be good deals out there for patient/savvy buyers. when a car goes up in value, it becomes a matter of how many of those types of deals exist - the higher the value, the fewer "steals" there will be out there.

a better test of the theory would be how much you could sell the cars for after you tuned them up. ;)

[brbahner]

not attacking you or your decisions, just stating facts. in any subculture (the e30 community), fad modifications (in this case, 24v swaps) can certainly inflate the value of a particular car to someone else in that community, who is familiar with and appreciates that modification while it remains popular.

car collectors aren't necessarily "e30 people", they are people looking to make an investment in the value of a car. and those cars are usually (we're not talking about hot rods or chip foose resto-mods here) stock and original.

transplanting an M52 into a clean 318is might make you a couple bucks right now in the r3v classifieds, but eventually it's value will level off and/or tank. keeping that 318is stock (i.e. original body panels, motor, interior) is a safer bet as far as increasing it's value over the long haul.

no need to be defensive, have fun with your car and do what you like. i recently sold my e30, so i'm not some bitter kid complaining because he can't afford one now. :)

Good point good point, i just assumed everyone was talking about bmw or e30 enthusiasts buying their cars. we all seem to just trade cars and when we dont sell to an enthusiast we part them out so someone can start from scratch.
not many people are collecting the e30, but we are talking about later years from now so it could happen and in that case yea im screwed in resale value. didnt mean to come off as hostile, and your points are 100% true, i just wanted to hear them is all. Thank you kind sir

[QUKBMER]

I am going to start hoarding late model e30's.

[Stanley Rockafella]

If you want a great investment car, go for this!

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/cto/4464973914.html

[nando]

it's already 50 years old and it's still only worth $5k? yeah..

[Killacortes]

I see alot of e30s priced high. But I dont see many of them selling. Most that are for sale have been listed for quite a long time

[Stanley Rockafella]

it's already 50 years old and it's still only worth $5k? yeah..

unrestored

easily 30-40k once done

[nando]

after you put $40k into restoring it? :p

[smooth]

I totally disagree with this. Show me any other 1988 vehicle that's still out on the road and thriving in many ways. For comparison purposes, go onto Craigslist and do a search for 1988 Mercedes 190e. Compared to the e30, there just isn't that much out there. In my opinion they just couldn't pass the test of time, unlike the e30.

you mean besides every asian import currently pushing 200-300k miles and still driving strong?
the reality is that to anyone other than an enthusiast an e30 is just an old car with a ridiculously high maintenance price tag.

not attacking you or your decisions, just stating facts. in any subculture (the e30 community), fad modifications (in this case, 24v swaps) can certainly inflate the value of a particular car to someone else in that community, who is familiar with and appreciates that modification while it remains popular.

car collectors aren't necessarily "e30 people", they are people looking to make an investment in the value of a car. and those cars are usually (we're not talking about hot rods or chip foose resto-mods here) stock and original.

24v swaps are hardly "fad" modifications.
the debate over whether to tastefully mod collectibles or not has been going on for as long as people have been restoring and collecting cars. Very few collectibles, as in a handful, fetch stratospheric prices based on being bone stock. if you want to sell it to a museum or for someone's personal garage collection you *might* have a case but that's so far from reality for the majority of collectibles, and will be even less so for a German import, that it's not even worth worrying about.

If you're driving your e30 for transportation it'll fall apart and/or rust out before people are paying six figures for pristine bone stock specimens.

If you want a great investment car, go for this!
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/cto/4464973914.html

already gone

[bruner]

I am going to start hoarding late model e30's.

Who even likes late models?;)

[BenDem]

you mean besides every asian import currently pushing 200-300k miles and still driving strong?
the reality is that to anyone other than an enthusiast an e30 is just an old car with a ridiculously high maintenance price tag.

I'm not seeing at bunch of '88 Hondas driving around.

At this point, all cars the same age as e30 are old cars, and old cars take effort to keep running.

A 25 year old Toyota might be cheaper / easier to maintain, but you don't see them very often because they died of neglect a long time ago. People didn't keep them because they weren't "special". Most died the same death as the '88 Civic my mom bought new. She drove it, took good care of it. After eight years, she decided it was time to get a new car when it had about 120K on the clock. It never gave her any trouble, but the interior was starting to look a little tired. She gave it to my brother who drove it through is college years. To him, it was just an 'old honda' so he did NOTHING to it for the 4 years he had it. He might have changed the oil once a year, that's it. Everything that broke was either ignored, or fixed as cheaply as possible just to keep it moving. Eventually, the car protested it's neglect. I don't remember if it wouldn't start one morning, or if the clutch died, or if the brakes were toast, but he junked it and moved on to the next crappy car...

If he took as good of care of it as my mom did (and the road salt didn't kill it) I'm sure it would still be out there today, with cheaper running costs than my 88' e30. But he didn't, and it's not. Nobody saw the value in keeping it going.

Nobody drives a 25 year old anything unless they are an enthusiast of some sort. And, there are more vintage BMW enthusiasts than there are vintage Nissan enthusiasts.

The fact that you can easily find e30's at all in decent shape is pretty strong evidence that they are good, desirable cars. I think it will be many decades before you see any selling for 6 figures... and I'm not sure they will be 'collectable'. I think they will always be desirable.

[nando]

^ yeah, I agree. Occasionally I see an 80's mustang or Camaro, but Toyota Camrys? Never - and if I do, they're not something you'd want to be seen driving. Those cars were designed to driven into the ground until they were worthless and finally scrapped.

Even cars from the 90's are getting to be a rare sight. They may have had lower maintenance costs back in the day but they were basically appliances; nobody fixes a broken microwave or DVD player. it gets thrown away and replaced with a new one, there's no value in a worn out 1987 Toyota Camry.

[smooth]

you two are so far off from reality it's hilarious. but whatever you want to tell yourselves don't let me splash cold water on your fantasies :)