Coast to Coast, an e30 American adventure

[moatilliatta]

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[Haystack]

If you’re picking up the bronzit in Sacramento and come through Humboldt County (west of Sac along the coast), I’ll bring my bronzit out to play too.

[benwalsh91]

this trip sounds mega

(is that the correct way you brits use it? lol)

Not enough curse words but close enough

<— this has no reference to anything I just wanted to use it.

[2mAn]

this trip sounds mega

(is that the correct way you brits use it? lol)

[benwalsh91]

I’m a southern guy and I’m really happy to see your commitment to the southeast coastal regions and the smoky mountain region around north Georgia and Tennessee.

I just took my family up to the northern Michigan area (sleeping bear dunes national park and Mackinac Island.). The Great Lakes are astounding, especially up north far away from Chicago and Detroit. Maybe someday you’ll be inspired to get up there.

Your US e30 is identical to the ‘87 I got for my son’s first car and it puts a smile on my face to see love for an eta.

I will be keeping track of you and would volunteer to support you with any needs you have when touring my southeast quadrant. All my best to you.

I love the south of America, i love the history and i love the southern hospitality and don't get me started on the food!!

I went out there last year and done Florida (only because i have friends there) and then went to georgia, Atlanta, done Helen, Asheville, Deals gap (bloody amazing road) and then came back to Helen where we was staying for the week then headed back down the Florida where i flew home. Georgia/North Carolina/Tennessee is an absolutely beautiful place to be.

North America and Canada trip is on the cards but won't be for a few years yet thats for sure, my bank account needs to recover from our wedding and this trip.

I can't like this enough.

It looks like your itinerary may have you in the Smoky Mountains (and some of the best driving roads in the country) around the same time as the Fall Brodeo, which is usually the first weekend in November. Check the Southeast Regional sub-forum for information on past events.

Either way, it looks like you have a stop planned in Nashville so don't hesitate to reach out!

I love an early model with metal bumpers, just something about it cries out true retros 80s, i do like the plastic bumpers but i 100% prefer the metal bumpers, i am not to sure why either as when i was looking for an e30 previously circa 2014 i was only after a later model but i guess times change and so does peoples tastes.

I shall take a look into that, we have been working on our itinerary in more depth today we only managed to sort the finer details for the first leg of the trip, i will aim to do more of the eastern side tomorrow. We are in Nashville for thanksgiving, a friend of mine has a place out there but he will be heading back to Florida to see his family for the holiday but is letting us stay at his whilst he is away. i will certainly be in touch as would like to maybe see if anything is going on around then for the holiday.

[agent]

I won’t lie, I personally really like the diving boards and the front valance. But American parts are just unheard of over here so it’s nice to be different.

I can't like this enough.



It looks like your itinerary may have you in the Smoky Mountains (and some of the best driving roads in the country) around the same time as the Fall Brodeo, which is usually the first weekend in November. Check the Southeast Regional sub-forum for information on past events.

Either way, it looks like you have a stop planned in Nashville so don't hesitate to reach out!

[325e '87]

I’m a southern guy and I’m really happy to see your commitment to the southeast coastal regions and the smoky mountain region around north Georgia and Tennessee.

I just took my family up to the northern Michigan area (sleeping bear dunes national park and Mackinac Island.). The Great Lakes are astounding, especially up north far away from Chicago and Detroit. Maybe someday you’ll be inspired to get up there.

Your US e30 is identical to the ‘87 I got for my son’s first car and it puts a smile on my face to see love for an eta.

I will be keeping track of you and would volunteer to support you with any needs you have when touring my southeast quadrant. All my best to you.

[benwalsh91]

This looks like an awesome trip but youre skipping philly? I've dreamed of doing a drive of this scale in my e30 but i can't swing it until next summer at least. It would be nice to organize some coast to coast e30 trip with a bunch of cars but i think im on the wrong coast.

Ive actually been doing lots of work to the route and adding extra places in, we now have 60 points of reference rather than the 47 (iirc) points in the above photo but Phili is definitely there! i need to check out where the fresh prince was born and raised.

Looks like a good trip. Hope you can keep us updated on how its going once you start.



Grab on to the E30CCA group next year if they do another trip from East coast to Washington for the picnic.

I certainly will keep you guys updated, and when the car comes back home to England (unless i can find a way to stay out there permanently) We plan on doing a european road trip in 2020 so i will keep updating things for many years to come.

Amazing idea!
I must admit that most State and Federal parks in the USA rock. Beautiful locations, nice amenities, well maintained and affordable. We love to road tripping the US westcoast from Canada.

Can’t quite tell but I’d visit Mohave desert (plane boneyard+occasional supersonic booms and Joshua Tree. I love San Diego. Amazing beaches -Mission, Ocean, Pacific, Blacks and La Jolla+glider port. Always amazed at how they just lift off the ground like that....Love the open air bars in the area. damned good tacos too.
I’d also suggest the Florida Keys. Driving over the bridges with water on either side....epic feeling.
Sounds like you are doing this right with your partner. This will be a good adventure to follow. makes me want to get going on my swap to crete my own route!

I actually spoke a couple of days to Nicholl (my wife) about the plane boneyard and going to visit it and it is a posibility but i think its going to be one of those, if we have time to do it we will make our way there so that won't be decided till very last minute, although we are doing this trip for 3 months it seems like we have a crazy amount of stuff to fit into this trip. we also decided that we are going to need another vacation just to recover from this.

Joshua Tree is on the hit list whilst we are going from Palm Springs to vegas we plan on stopping off and spending some time there!!

San Diego may also be another last minute trip, a work colleague of mine done LA and San Diego and she didn't really have many positive things to say about SD so we decided to stay a little longer in LA but we may venture down there.

Florida Keys is also on the list of places to go, we are spending a full week in Florida as i have a really good group of friends there and we are going to be venturing out quite a lot and Nicholl mentioned about doing the Keys whilst we are down in Miami.

[pondhopper]

Amazing idea!
I must admit that most State and Federal parks in the USA rock. Beautiful locations, nice amenities, well maintained and affordable. We love to road tripping the US westcoast from Canada.

Can’t quite tell but I’d visit Mohave desert (plane boneyard+occasional supersonic booms and Joshua Tree. I love San Diego. Amazing beaches -Mission, Ocean, Pacific, Blacks and La Jolla+glider port. Always amazed at how they just lift off the ground like that....Love the open air bars in the area. damned good tacos too.
I’d also suggest the Florida Keys. Driving over the bridges with water on either side....epic feeling.
Sounds like you are doing this right with your partner. This will be a good adventure to follow. makes me want to get going on my swap to crete my own route!

[Reichart12]

Looks like a good trip. Hope you can keep us updated on how its going once you start.

This looks like an awesome trip but youre skipping philly? I've dreamed of doing a drive of this scale in my e30 but i can't swing it until next summer at least. It would be nice to organize some coast to coast e30 trip with a bunch of cars but i think im on the wrong coast.

Grab on to the E30CCA group next year if they do another trip from East coast to Washington for the picnic.

[kyleconstantine]

This looks like an awesome trip but youre skipping philly? I've dreamed of doing a drive of this scale in my e30 but i can't swing it until next summer at least. It would be nice to organize some coast to coast e30 trip with a bunch of cars but i think im on the wrong coast.

[benwalsh91]

Cool! didn't know you had got an e30 already. It'll make the trip better than any american car would anyways. Is it up north currently?



Not true, early early models (pre-86 iirc) had different style receptacles than the later ones, and they don't interchange. If the release button is just on top, it's a later style one, if the button goes down the side, they're early.

Im sure as you're driving the car across the country you can slowly add cool mods along the way. I would have a set of euro bumpers waiting when you get back and maybe you can convince some european that "its cool to be different" and sell them the NA diving boards along with the cowcatcher

Theres plenty of things to do in LA no matter when you arrive. I will keep my eye on this

Hell yeah my heart is with old school bmw metal. I’ve had a ton of cars in the past from nice model Audi’s to skylines but I always find myself coming back to the bmw brand so I knew I made the right choice.

Already purchased the e30, it’s currenrlt sitting at my friends farm just outside of Sacramento.

I won’t lie, I personally really like the diving boards and the front valance. But American parts are just unheard of over here so it’s nice to be different. And this is actually my honeymoon so it’s nice to keep the car US spec and keep hold of them memories. When I bring it back to UK I will restore it but try and keep the American stylings on the car just make it super clean with an oem+ taste.

Looks like you are swinging by the Grand Canyon. Excellent idea!

Can’t do an American road trip without passing through Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. We decided to then head north through Utah because it’s so damn beautiful, we also pass by pikes peak from Colorado to Texas. Be rude not to go drive it!!

:popcorn:

Can't you bring a car with a temporary permit with you when traveling? The 25 year rule is for importing and titling non-US-market cars. I'm thinking of the world-traveling Land Rover people who ship their Defenders in and out of the US.

Great trip! I love these kinds of things. Parts of that would be too hot for me - I'm sort of a northern tier guy.

I have this trip cooking in my brain (much much smaller endeavor than yours!) - a 1000 mi loop through the mountains of SW Montana, Wyoming, and 10 minutes in Idaho. All back roads, spectacular valleys, little towns, good food, a staggering pass at 11,000 feet, and a cruise through Yellowstone Park. Planned for a few friends with old Alfas, old Porsches, a Mini, and maybe a Subaru sag wagon! Follow famous rivers, explore family history sites, soak in hot springs, and enjoy incredible geography with the top down.

[ATTACH]122447[/ATTACH]

Oh yeah living in England I’m used to rain clouds and being screwed royally by the tax man. But you can learn to love.

I’ve done a few trips similar to this but across Europe but I never truly documented this and I’ve always kind of wished I did so I am going to do my best with this one. You got to find the time to take a break from the working life and loose yourself in the backgrounds. It’s sometnjng about a bendy road, good music and a great co pilot. Memories last forever! Money comes and goes.

I am glad you guys are on board with this. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.

[LateFan]

The original plan was to ship my e36 328i touring over to do the trip, but its just 2 years shy of your 25 year rule so that put a solid and sudden stop to that idea.

Can't you bring a car with a temporary permit with you when traveling? The 25 year rule is for importing and titling non-US-market cars. I'm thinking of the world-traveling Land Rover people who ship their Defenders in and out of the US.

Great trip! I love these kinds of things. Parts of that would be too hot for me - I'm sort of a northern tier guy.

I have this trip cooking in my brain (much much smaller endeavor than yours!) - a 1000 mi loop through the mountains of SW Montana, Wyoming, and 10 minutes in Idaho. All back roads, spectacular valleys, little towns, good food, a staggering pass at 11,000 feet, and a cruise through Yellowstone Park. Planned for a few friends with old Alfas, old Porsches, a Mini, and maybe a Subaru sag wagon! Follow famous rivers, explore family history sites, soak in hot springs, and enjoy incredible geography with the top down.

[Mike36]

:popcorn:

[MR E30 325is]

Looks like you are swinging by the Grand Canyon. Excellent idea!