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Seeing as this is my 2000th post I thought there was no better way to celebrate than to introduce my latest BMW and project..a 2500 E3 aka project paper weight. So the story goes, my hawkeye brother spotted this and a e12 525 for sale on trademe as a combo deal so ended up nabbing them for a bargain. A few months later he messaged me asking if I knew anyone who might want to buy them as he had too much going woth starting his own business. So sold the e12 and a $1000 later the e3 is mine. Where does project 'paper weight' come from? Well it hasn't been run in 10years, rego is still on hold somehow and is mostly complete. It's likely to not do much for the next 6 months while I finish off a few things on the convertible. First step is to get it running and give it a thorough going over. There is rust but so far have only found it in the body panels and then slowly restore it. I got the car 2 weeks after the birth of my first born so hes a good gauge of how long the restore takes.. hopefully it's done by the time he is old enough to drive ?

The NZ new and low KM's did peak my interest. But then I ran it through the decoder. Other than being an Msport it is virtually a poverty pack. Typical of NZ new cars. Bugger all options.

The massive dents in the bootlid offer an alternate outcome to your line of thinking ?

I was kindly alerted of this by an old highschool mate. His Mum was about to sell, having had it since 1997. Would I be interested in an NZ-new 1990 316i manual? Turned out to be full poverty-spec, 103hp, 4 private owners, 257,000 kms, and reasonably tidy. Our offspring are approaching driving age, and I want them to learn in a simple manual gearbox car, with none of those fancy driving aids we associate with steering, these days. Helps that one can see every corner of the car, too. Sr E-Thirty Andy kindly agreed to come with for inspection, as e30 expert to help with my mid-range mech capability. We determined that it was an honest, reasonably tidy example, needing some TLC. It had only been doing around 250km per year for a number of years now, but had been garaged. It started (stone cold) willingly, first go. Serviced last week by Mike Page. It was sold through Shelly BMW when new, and when the last owner bought it new; I even found @Barryn's card in the service book from back in the day. A deal was struck, I did the ownership change, paid the cash, got the key stuck in the driver's door, Andy sorted that out, phoned insurance and paid, and set out for Wellington from Paraparaumu. I'm pretty taken by it, it's nice to be back in an e30. Plans: give it TLC to get it machanically sorted (clutch and associated bushes and seals), precautionary cambelt kit, general servicing and maintenance (leads, cap, rotor, fan clutch). In summer, check out what's underneath those front guards, and sort out bootlid keep it fairly stock for next three years until both of our scone-grabbers have their licenses then - quite possibly - make it into a well-sorted clone of Andy's "MY E30". Or at the very least, a 318iS. Hence "project" rather than showroom. Here she is in monochromatic glory:

Hi guys, I have been a Bimmersporter for a long time but not a regular contributor. I have a long history of BMW ownership - but despite a stint with a E34 535is and a joint ownership of a X3 with my wife, all of my BMW's have been coupes. 10 years ago two of my close friends concurrently owned E39 M5's in Lemans Blue. Their ownership piqued my interest. Currently living in the USA, I decided I'd finally pull the trigger on a E39 M5 purchase. I have been looking for 6 months - seeking ideally a face-lifted Lemans Blue example. Despite 10,000 E39 M5's being sold here (versus 30-35 in NZ), and a 1,000 sold in that hue, I couldn't find one that fulfilled my criteria. The market has gone a little crazy for these cars, and believe me there are ample, baggy examples with inter-galactic mileage that are struggling to find new homes. Decent ones are getting expensive. I finally did a deal on a very rare car - a July 2002 example in Bluewater Metallic - the 2nd rarest colour for the E39 M5 (83 made for the USA and 160 global) (they sold nearly 7,000 global in carbon black). It was delivered with black Ostrich sports leather (05SW) and Titanium trim. it was sold new with Dinan S1 modifications. It is a very quick car - and has a sensational Dinan exhaust note. Probably one of a handful in this colour with Dinan S1 specifications.

Potentially for sale in about two weeks. (dependent on another car arriving) I have owned this car for the last 6 years, lots of service history, off the top of my head it has had new Bilsteins front and rear, new rear airbags (suspension), water pump, thermostat, belts, tensioner, viscous fan, beisan vanos seals, DISA valve. Having said that most of these things were replaced as preventative servicing. 203500kms, still runs very smooth and quiet. Car is in nice condition. Staggered alloys, 235/45/17 front (brand new tyres), 255/40/17 rear VIN: WBADS62050GL80548 (I have replaced the fake wood trim for the silver trim) Clearcoat has started to peel a bit on one side, worst bit is a handsized piece above rear window see photo. $5750 Car won't be for sale until I have finalized my next car. Any questions, let me know.

Uh, nope. Try again.

? Volvo looking for a new home. I need to advertise it. Just reinstalled batty tonight after a full reconditioning charge (flash new battery charger), cleaned terminals and clamps, and sprayed with funky purple protectant (to my daughter's delight), it's starting with great urgency.

sure, the kms are low but other than that its just an E46. nothing special in terms of options or features. The low mileage being neither an option or a feature. But asking price is *reasonable* compared to some non msport, 200km+ rubbish asking for 8s and 9s.

5 years later lol

These are not a good looking car in the flesh. And one off or not. Those wheels are terrible and give it a nice 1999 wheel trend look.

My Lawyer is Skiing at the moment.. Haha. It should all still unravel this week. I have a really good Document as mentioned above which is just dates and factual bullet points with anything emotive removed. No matter what, I'll post it and the Dealership in question.

I think that would affect top speed and fuel consumption more than handling

Time will tell. But if you benchmark the 330i as the previous 'best non M' then it's likely they'll follow a similar curve IMO.

2003 I think: +LED tail lights +Different trunk lid handle And not much (anything?) else.

There is a good chance some of the owners dont actually want to sell their M3, and being vague with the TM listing is a good way of buying time while keeping the other half happy!

Switch now. You'll continue to lose on depreciation on the 335i.

low life