Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

New to me Euro E30 M3 and the crazy story behind it...

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    New to me Euro E30 M3 and the crazy story behind it...

    Hi everyone. If you don't feel like reading the story behind it... just go ahead and scroll to the pics at the bottom of the post. If you like a good story... keep reading.

    I just managed to get my hands on my all time dream car. An 87 M3 in Diamantschwarz... almost completely stock. E30 M3's in Germany are getting hard to find, especially good ones. Prices have gone through the roof in the past years, it's pretty much impossible to find one for less than 15,000EUR... even in poor condition.

    Since I already have a nice E30 ( see thread: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...769&highlight= ) i really wasn't actively looking for another. But much like the story in my other thread, I just seem to magically attract once in a lifetime deals on these cars...:rofl:

    About a year ago as I'm driving through my neighborhood I notice an M3 just sitting on the curb. The car looked neglected, it was obvious that it had been sitting in that same spot forever. The tags had been expired for over 3 years. I couldn't believe that someone would just let my all time dream car sit on a public road without driving it!

    So i immediately try to hunt down the owner. This already proved to be harder than anticipated. No one seemed to know who owned the car. So I left a note on the windshield asking the owner to contact me. No one ever replied. I kept looking at the car, sometimes just staking out the spot in case the owner ever showed up. This went on for a about three months.

    Then finally it seems to be my lucky day on one of these stakeout operations! Someone walks up to the car and opens the passenger side door. I immediately confront the owner with my intention to rescue the car. Unfortunately this conversation went nothing like I had always imagined. He just laughed at me and told me the car is not for sale. I did manage to exchange phone numbers with him, in case he ever changed his mind. I also noticed that the car seemed to be in good condition, if you looked past the dirt and grime that accumulated from years of just sitting there.

    Time passed. Priorities changed. I never really forgot about the car, but I kept telling myself that it just wasn't meant to be. I would pass by the spot every now and then... the car still just sat there, completely neglected.

    One day, as I'm passing by the spot again... the car is gone! This is when I try to erase it from my memory completely, hoping that it went to a better home. The thought of owning that car one day seemed completely absurd. I thought it was gone for good.

    Fast forward to new years eve 2013. I'm at a party and meet a long time friend that I hadn't seen in a while. Back in the day I told him about the M3 and how badly I wanted it. Were just talking when he casually tells me: "Remember that old BMW that just sat there forever"... "it's been sitting on my road for a while now, without ever being driven" ... "to top it off, it even has a sticker on the windshield that says that the car needs to be removed from the side of the road by January 13th, otherwise it will be towed and crushed"

    Those words sent chills up and down my spine. The good: The car was still there! the bad: it'll be sent to BMW heaven in 13 days!!!

    From now on I made it my mission to buy that car... no matter what.

    Remember how I got the owners phone number? It was disconnected. But I had his name and address. So I went there every day after work for the next couple of days. Ringing his doorbell, staking out the car. No luck. The guy is nowhere to be seen.
    Then on thursday I finally see him coming out of his front door. As I walk up to him he seems to already know why I want to talk to him. But he doesn't seem any more eager to sell the car. I negotiate with him and tell him that I want it, no matter what. All I want is for him to tell me how much he wants for it! Out of nowhere he finally caves in and says "If you want it, I'll let you have it ". I haggled him down to an insane price. I had just bought an M3 for a price that I didn't think was possible!!!!

    The next day I picked it up with a trailer. The car came with all the paperwork. The engine had undergone a complete refurb in 2006. Everything was complete and mostly original. Did I just get the bargain of a lifetime? I wouldn't know for sure until I started digging into it. So thats what I did all day today. I cleaned it, checked out all the problematic areas that are prone to rust, changed out the flat tires... etc.

    The verdict: The car is in great shape. No rust, no dents, no scratches, no leaking fluids, no missing parts, and only 140000km's on the ODO. :grin:

    I've been grinning cheek to cheek all day today!

    I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking:

    How it had been sitting:





    How it looked when I finally got it home:









    How it sits after today (the AZEV wheels where included in the deal):




















    Last edited by evil-diesel; 03-02-2014, 01:39 PM.

    -chris

    Early 323i
    http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=214425
    320i V8 Swap
    http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=345807
    M3
    http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=310470




    #2
    It's always nice to see someone save an M3 :up:

    Originally posted by SpasticDwarf;n6449866
    Honestly I built it just to have a place to sit and listen to Hotline Bling on repeat.

    Comment


      #3
      Well done! Congratulations
      Originally posted by codyep3
      I hope to Christ you have looks going for you, because you sure as fuck don't have any intelligence.
      2001 silver/Blk 325 cabby. SOLD
      1988 Blk/Blk e30 factory wide body kit car SOLD
      1992 DS/BLK 325 m-tech II apperance pack cabby SOLD!
      2002 325xit Sil/blk. SOLD
      2012 328i xdrive touring. Wht/blk. SOLD
      2009 135 cabby. monacoblue/blk leather SOLD
      2007 Z4m coupe. Silver grey/black/ aluminum. 1of50
      2010 F650gs twin
      2016 M235i cabby. Mineral grey/Red leather

      Comment


        #4
        Bloody nice work!

        LOVE your other E30 as well!

        SILBER COMBAT UNIT DELTA (M-Technic Marshal)
        RTFM:http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=56950

        Comment


          #5
          Wow! Great job saving this thing. Looks like a wash, clay bar and wax did wonders. Keep us posted.

          There's an abandoned 964 Targa on my street. Makes me wanna work a little harder to track down the owner.
          diamantschwarz 1991 318is

          Comment


            #6
            you just won your own personal lottery there my friend (again) , nice job on the persistence, amazing find in Germany (looks like a $20,000 car in the USA with only 86k miles)

            your other E30 is quite a find also ,you are a lucky man

            be sure to join http://www.s14.net/forums/ and register on the M registry http://www.bmwmregistry.com/
            Last edited by spdracrm3; 01-12-2014, 03:39 PM.
            Angus
            88 E30M3 X2
            89 325IX
            92 R100GS/PD
            :)

            Comment


              #7
              Great story and I am jealous. Are all e30 m3's shift patterns like that?

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by navid41691 View Post
                Great story and I am jealous. Are all e30 m3's shift patterns like that?
                its a Euro dogleg close ratio gearbox ,all US E30M3 models came with the overdrive w/ standard shift pattern. gearbox value alone is prolly close to what he paid for entire car
                Angus
                88 E30M3 X2
                89 325IX
                92 R100GS/PD
                :)

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by navid41691 View Post
                  Great story and I am jealous. Are all e30 m3's shift patterns like that?

                  ..................."dogleg"
                  sigpic

                  Comment


                    #10
                    You sir a lucky lucky dawg. I'd go out and buy the lotto while I'm at it.
                    Fantastic story, and congrats on buying one of my dream cars ;)

                    1991 BMW 318i (Old Shell RIP, Now Being Re-shelled & Reborn)
                    1983 Peugeot 505 STI
                    1992 Volvo 240 Wagon
                    2009 Toyota 4Runner SR5 Sport 4WD

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Wow, nicely done! Glad to see it being saved, would have been a tragedy to have that thing crushed.
                      88 325is - S52 powered

                      Originally posted by King Arthur
                      We'll not risk another frontal assault, that rabbit's dynamite!

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Ridiculous!

                        Sent from my GS4 Active
                        '91 318i (Alpine) - daily
                        '88 325ix (Zinno) - drive here and there!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Great looking car...I love cars that have a great story behind them!!! Congrats!!!

                          Comment


                            #14
                            i hate those AZEV wheels on it... still debating on which wheels to go with as soon as spring rolls around... suggestions are welcome...

                            -chris

                            Early 323i
                            http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=214425
                            320i V8 Swap
                            http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=345807
                            M3
                            http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=310470



                            Comment


                              #15
                              Great story. Congrats!
                              88 M3 Diamantschwarz
                              89 M3 Zinnoberrot
                              56 Isetta

                              __________________________________
                              ALL California E30 M Owners CHECK HERE
                              http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=307420
                              __________________________________
                              LIKE ARCHIE'S on Facebook!
                              www.facebook.com/archiesicecream

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X