My '92 E30 Cabrio

[DavidV]

Thanks to Sky for the pics:

http://www.squidd.net/gallery/Blacke30Oct3rd2004?page=1

-- DavidV :D

[DSchultz325e]

very nice. top down looks better :)

[///M42 sport]

your paint is amazing.

[spencers]

I think the top looks better up..

Throw a front lip on the car and it will be amazing.

[BS87]

lol, even the rocker panels shine.

[hamann318is]

So unpainted rear lips doo look good on amazingly awesome looking black. I hate you and your paint. ;)

Hawt. :up:

[rwh11385]

nice cabby.

be careful, Stewie might want to buy it.

[///M Powered]

Looks incredible.
Keep it clean 8)

[Erick]

Goddamn black cabbies look HOT!

Maybe I should wash my car more often.

[golde30]

hey dave good to see another nice e30 in the city, where did u take that pic at? im racking my brain tryn to figure out the location...you should come out to one of the baye30.net events. peace


-cary

[DavidV]

Thanks for all the kind words. The car looked awful when I got it -- typical neglected e30. It was owned by an older lady who had never heard of wax before, apparently. I had my doubts about bringing the paint back to life. Besides the badly oxidized paint, it had lots of little dings, nasty factory chromed rims, peeling tint, cracked fogs, etc.

Mechanically, however, the car was solid, the top was nearly new, and since she was an older lady who never put the top down, the interior was amazingly pristine. Most importantly, it was a 5 Speed in triple black. Since buying it, I have another 40+ hours into hand polishing each panel to get it to its current condition.... still not flawless, but nice enough to make me happy. Paintless dent removal got rid of the little door dings, and then it was a matter of replacing little trim items and doing the small upgrades that make a world of difference in how the car looks/drives.

It has been a labor of love getting it to this point and I am proud to now be the owner of the car that I used to drool over in high school and college.

Anyway, I now live in Redlands, CA (updating profile) and the photo was taken in Ontario nearby. I am still up in the Bay Area once in a while, so I'll try to drop in on meets up north, but more likely, I'll be at the SoCal meets.

I'm trying not to go overboard with this car as I already have an MR2 that is more than a little bit of an obsession for me, but I have to say, it is nice to see it come together as well as it has and Sky's photos really make it look amazing, so in my mind, he gets all the credit.

-- DavidV :D

[Spencer]

Wow great looking car.

What steps did you take to get the paint looking that good?

-Spencer

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

amazing!

I love your car

I'm jealous

[DavidV]

Wow great looking car.

What steps did you take to get the paint looking that good?

-Spencer

In my case, it was less about specific products, and more about working panel by panel and just putting in the time/patience, not to mention sweat labor, to get it to where I felt it could not really be effectively improved upon. I have had good experience with the 3M line as far as paint prep, followed by Zaino, and most recently, Meguiars NXT.

-- DavidV :D

[mgold]

Its nice to see another 318iC and its great to see that you're from S.F. Like Cary said, you definetly have to check out the baye30 group.

http://www.baye30.net/

Here's a link to pics of my '91 318iC

http://homepage.mac.com/mgold/BMW/PhotoAlbum42.html