Totally Restored Market

[cavpilot]

Most of us on this forum like to work on out own cars. It's not about the the monetary investment, it's about the time investment. Frankly, these cars pay huge dividends when the pay off comes from behind the wheel. Knowing that you are the reason that this pile of shit you bought a couple of years ago is now giving you nothing but pleasure is worth it's weight in gold.

Bottom line...poor fiduciary decision, genius pleasure decision.

[Luke_M]

I think if the business was operated smartly it could make some $$$. E30 M3 prices doubling and tripling in the past few years is an indicator that people will pay money for certain e30's. Obviously not as much as the porsche market but the market is moving in the right direction with respect to age and prices.

Just consider this. Imagine 5 years ago someone told you they were going to restore a Porsche 930 and sell it for $400-500k. You'd think they were crazy.

[mr2peak]

Figure out how to build an N54 M3 clone for ~$30k and you might have a market. Don't think it can be done correctly for that much though

[15Michaeljoseph]

make me a full resto early iS for 37k and I'd pay.

if I had that kind of money to drop on a new car.

THAT'S your problem, I think. Nobody knows about e30's, and the age of these cars is at an awkward stage... it's like 78% classic car now, but also has elements (to other people, outsiders) of being 'just an old car'. and yeah i mean theres thousands of 'enthusiasts' but they're not going to pay that kind of money no matter how nice the car is. This would be a great idea 15 or 20 years from now though.

But honest if I won the lottery tomorrow and there was a fully restored, like 110% full, like you said,for sale... well call me crazy but I'd rather have that than a ferrari. or at least have the ferrari on the side as a parts getter when things start to go bad in 15ish years :)


--Mike

[e30onBBSs]

There may not be a market now, but I bet if you made an e30 with new parts like you said, and safety nearing a newer vehicle, there would be a market. I see e30's as cars that aren't classic enough yet to be something that an individual wouldn't want to daily drive, so if you make an awesome classic BMW similar to a new one, I think people would jump on it. I would love to buy a "new" 1989 325i for the price of a new 325i if it was similar in power/weight ratio, without all the computers so it's still fairly easy to DIY. turbo m20 would be perfect. I bring up safety just for Daily driver purposes, I bet a lot of BMW customers would be interested in having a mint e30, but when there is this 2015 325i with the craziest features in safety/ lighting/ performance etc it would be hard to convince someone to buy the e30 for the same price point unless it is extremely well sorted in all regions.

Like someone said before though, maybe someday the e30 will be one of those real classics that you would only take out for a Sunday drive, and the regards for safety and modernity would disappear because the people buying them may only want the grassroots version, not a new modern version

[IDM]

Hello fellow R3vvers. I have a question to get a feel for the market. I'm always looking at the forums, checking out people's listings, and am ready to jump on the right e30 at almost any time, but it hardly gives me an idea of the demand for an idea that I have, so I'm putting this out there to get some feedback on how we as a community feel about something I want to do. I'm considering restoring e30's, and not just run of the mill restoration's either, I'm talking about full, down to the metal, no corners cut, restomods. Essentially building brand new e30's with lots of love and modern technology. Is there a proper demand for a business like this? I know I would like something like this, not only e30's but e28's, e24's, etc....... Great German cars from the pre-cupholder era. Am I alone in this, or is the demand substantial enough to justify a legitimate business? Thanks for the input guys, it's definitely appreciated.

Maybe not to the level of them, but something similar to what Singer does with Porsche's?

Every 6 months someone posts the same idea in here. No one has been able to pull it off, those who've tried end up realizing there is no money in it, end up cutting corners then end up being called out for their desperate antics. Couple names that come to mind...sonny and vlad.

[mark1991]

IMHO, the reason why such a business will not take off is that there are still quite a few excellent condition unrestored E30's out there in the hands of private sellers. These people when they sell will satisfy the current demand for the cars.

Also, it costs $$$$$$ to restore a car so a business will not make it unless there is a sufficient profit margin. Restoring any car can easily run $50k. Will people pay over $50k for a restored E30? No, unless it is an M3.

Businesses are restoring and selling early Porsche 911's but this is because they can sell them for $100k and up.