Panici's '87 325is E30 - Boosted In Bronze

[econti]

I saw this on Facebook and will say the same thing: if the shock tower isn't totally destroyed, it can be saved. Insurance will total it, take the payout and go to an old school body shop, one that doesn't just hang panels on new cars, take cuts off a donor shell and they'll fix it.
Never lose hope, never give up.

[rzerob]

My condolences.

[paynemw]

Damn dude! Time for a part out, or slow methodical breakdown to save parts for a new car.

[e30davie]

Everything is fixable.

[lukeADE335i]

Argh - that's the worst. Sorry to see the car hit like that.

As much as you want to fix it for sentimental value, I'd take the pay out and buy a stock 318i with a good body & paint and swap everything over.

[Javier h]

My condolences as well. Ditto on the swapping thought.

[Panici]

We Can Rebuilt It!




I have some fantastic news for everyone!
After a month of back-and-forth with insurance, they cut me a cheque for the value of the damage.
Since my agreed-value policy was $20k, the car wasn't totaled out (still has a clean title).




I found a local-ish shop called Delta Park Auto specializing in E30s, and they managed to pull the body and chassis back into car-shape again! Something I didn't think possible with the extent of the damage.
E30 went on their alignment rack, and the rear end tracks true! Doors open properly again, and car feels normal driving down the road.

I asked them to straighten the car with the idea that I'll take it from there. The plan is to cut the quarter panel off and weld on a doner panel.



I can't properly express how happy this makes me, I went from basically mourning the loss of the car, to full rebuild mode!











Before I dropped the car off at their shop, I stripped the entire interior and put in a spare driver's seat. Made their job easier and I didn't have to worry about my Houndstooth cloth getting dirty.
This was the first time I've had the parcel shelf out, so I set about refinishing. Fabric paint for the carpet, Trim paint for the plastics, and a little VHT Niteshades for good measure inside the third brake light.

Interesting thing to note, is that the vents from my spare '86 325e parcel shelf were smaller and IMO better looking then the ones from this car. So I refinished the spare and used those.








I threw a spare taillight back in and drove the car back home on Friday.
This morning (Saturday) I broke out my set of bodywork hammers & dollies and spent a little over an hour working on the panels (until my forearms got too sore to continue).

Considering I've never done this before, I'm pretty pleased with the progress so far.
I don't know if I'll be able to get this back into passable condition, but I've got nothing to lose.
Couple more hammer sessions and i'll re-evaluate how everything looks.

Worst case I'll cut the quarter panel off and replace it like I had previously planned.












I also attempted to straighten out the diving board bumper with my jeep, but found it to be beyond salvageable.
Hoping to find one locally ASAP and enjoy driving the car a little for the remaining 2-3 weeks we have of nice weather.

[mike.bmw]

That is great news! A agreed value policy is definitely the way to go on these cars.

[iXguido]

Wow that was an awesome save. Having the agreed value policy really paid off. Seem like a perfect time to get some euro bumpers on there!

[rzerob]

Great job man. I am glad to see you were able to save her.

[Albie325]

AWESOME! So happy for you man, great save. Really glad to see you were able to save this thing AND without a salvage title

[gnmzl]

The result looks so good, had to go back to the previous page to make sure I remembered correctly what the damage looked like!
That is a great save indeed! Really happy for you

[2mAn]

You just put a smile on so many dudes' faces... well done

[Panici]

Thanks everyone! I'm really glad for your support, only other car enthusiasts understand what it feels like to have this happen.


---------------------------------------
The E30 Lives Again!


Finished my my "temporary" repairs this afternoon.
I'm pleased with the final result, although as you'll see below my bodywork is ROUGH.


I've never even mixed up a can of bondo before, and I quickly found out bodywork isn't as easy as it appears!
Combine that with a can of not-so-colourmatched paint (my friend Thai said it could be the colour of the primer I used under the colourmatched paint?), the result isn't pretty.

I will say that I plan to source a clean quarter and do the repair properly, so this is a "temporary" state. For now the rear end is back together.


Also have to give a shoutout to Hubert from my local Ontario E30 facebook group. He straight up gave me a rear bumper, trim, and a set of cracked tails (not pictured) which I will turn into Startec reps.
Some cleaning and trim paint later, and it looks good from about 10 feet away!

Side notes:
Fixed the wiring for the side marker, which was ripped off in the crash. Thankfully I still have my '86 325e body harness which provided the correct connector.
Disabled the Brake light check feature, since I'm going full LED rear lighting. Not sold on the "cold" white reverse lights yet though, may switch those back to traditional bulbs.
Swapped my tires front to rear. Car drives perfectly straight on the highway now.
Installed 20mm rear spacers (previously ran the euroweaves with 15mm rear spacers).

[paynemw]

Dude, so insane, glad it's taking shape again. Keep up the good work.