Finally found an e30 for me!

[Ricapar]

I'll be honest, I don't need a second car.. but the e30 has always caught my eye. I've been idly searching around our local Facebook for sale groups, Craigslist, etc.

Last week, I finally found what I had been looking for!

1987 BMW 325e
70,xxx miles
5 Speed Manual

There are a few dings on the body and a dent on the front of the hood (looks like someone lightly hit a bollard), but other than that - she's in near perfect shape. Interior leather is great - no rips or anything. Locally maintained by a shop that is trusted by the neighborhood.

The radio is currently locked out, but I think I just need to call up the dealer and get the unlock code. (The numbers weren't in the manual unfortunately..)

Here she is next to my e93 :D



And shortly after an afternoon detailing:

[101]

That's a very nice find! Moar pictures please!

[Ricapar]

More pics coming right up!






The back seats are also in similarly good condition.


I think my plan right now is to do all the usual e30 maint work... Belts, hoses, brakes, rotors.

[Staszek]

Awesome good luck, what are the plans beyond the maintenance items. Also what made you want the four door.

[MR E30 325is]

Nice first E30!

Also curious as to why the 4 door grabbed your attention.

[Ricapar]

As for beyond general maint..

Right now the radio is locked out, and I'm debating between getting that sorted out with the dealer vs putting in a new head unit of my own with more modern features (namely bluetooth and aux-in). I'm reading through a bunch of threads on the audio sections of this forum at the moment... trying to find something that fits with the rest of the look and feel of the car.

Might be frowned upon, but I may try to do a vinyl wrap of the chrome bits of the car - diving board bumpers and window trim. I did the trim on my e93 and it came out alright; though it does look a bit more tricky on the e30 since the window chrome is a lot smaller.

I'd like to keep the car stock-ish I think. It's a mere 120 HP according to most references, so if anything I'd go for comfort-enhancing mods over anything else.

As for the 2-door vs 4-door... I would've grabbed it had it been either. It happened to be a 4-door. I love the look of the 2-door, especially after the facelift, but sedans need some love and attention too :)

[Staszek]

As for beyond general maint..

Right now the radio is locked out, and I'm debating between getting that sorted out with the dealer vs putting in a new head unit of my own with more modern features (namely bluetooth and aux-in). I'm reading through a bunch of threads on the audio sections of this forum at the moment... trying to find something that fits with the rest of the look and feel of the car.

Might be frowned upon, but I may try to do a vinyl wrap of the chrome bits of the car - diving board bumpers and window trim. I did the trim on my e93 and it came out alright; though it does look a bit more tricky on the e30 since the window chrome is a lot smaller.

I'd like to keep the car stock-ish I think. It's a mere 120 HP according to most references, so if anything I'd go for comfort-enhancing mods over anything else.

As for the 2-door vs 4-door... I would've grabbed it had it been either. It happened to be a 4-door. I love the look of the 2-door, especially after the facelift, but sedans need some love and attention too :)

Trim shouldnt be too bad, I did it on my E93 also. It not frowned upon as all to go shadowline.

As for headunit, if you want to stay stock looking you can get a CD43 its an E36 headunit that you can add BT too. Its kind of a pain but will look really stock. Other then that you could do one of these it looks the part but the backlit colors are off a bit.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_522JHD1630/Jensen-Heavy-Duty-JHD1630B.html

The one thing I would do with that car is tuck the front diving board bumper. Doing that and your wrap that car would look great as stands.

[Ricapar]

The one thing I would do with that car is tuck the front diving board bumper. Doing that and your wrap that car would look great as stands.

Has anyone done a vinyl wrap of the diving board bumper? I was thinking of wrapping the chrome bits of it in black and seeing how that looks before attempting a tuck. Not sure how keen I am on drilling out those shocks...

Or maybe plasti-dip..

Hoping to find some examples of that type of approach either way.

[Staszek]

Has anyone done a vinyl wrap of the diving board bumper? I was thinking of wrapping the chrome bits of it in black and seeing how that looks before attempting a tuck. Not sure how keen I am on drilling out those shocks...

Or maybe plasti-dip..

Hoping to find some examples of that type of approach either way.

I have seen other paint them, not sure if anyone wrapped.