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When you know what you have you best keep that thing covered from prying eyes. Bet he just got sick of classic car collectors making offers on his rare one of 2 million made E30's and covered it up. I cover my projects as so I am not tempted to actually work on them let alone look at them. One day I'm going to uncover them and pretend its a barn find in my own garage.

A few of my favorites'. "First owner" when selling a Japanese import. Guys name is Hemi and he lives in Putaruru. "Service history" going back one year since they purchased it and its wiper blades and a battery. The car is 10 years old. "Always garaged" again, owned 12 year old car for 18 months. "Always used 98". Its a V6 Commodore that will run on 91 no issues and there is no advantage to running 98. "Super economical, gets 500km to a tank". Scientific measurement of fuel economy. "Rare". There are 8 the same colour on Trade-Me alone. "Failed WOF". Claims its just a light bulb but they don't have time to fix it. "Not in a hurry to sell" Drops price the next week and state "MAKE ME AN OFFER" "No test drives without proof of funds". Its a 180kw open diff Lexus with traction control worth $7,500. "Justies". Just f**k off. I'm sure there are more.

I had that a few weeks back, they even put a bid in after me assuming I would keep bidding. I didn't. The "other buyer" won the auction. But wouldn't you know it, that same day the seller contacted me saying the "other buyer" didn't make contact. Was actually to my advantage as I offered him less than what I would have paid and he accepted it knowing well that the item had been relisted for 8 weeks and I was the only real bidder. I have over 5,000 sales on trade-Me and can say out of that 5,000 plus sales I could count on one hand how many "question askers" actually follow through, the conversion is so low I could only recall two in the past 5 years. Real buyers do their own homework, read the descriptions properly and if still in doubt, call me on the phone. Remember than next time your two Export Golds deep and decide to ask if that 2017 AMG E63 you cant afford has had its cambelt done.

This look nice - Cab Discussed already?

Ad says: "One owner for 27 years..." Question - "Any service history from before you bought it?"

Saw this parked in Sumner Christchurch Saturday afternoon. A lovely looking little car. Shame the seller is getting a bit of a pasting from "bona fide" inquirers on the listing...

That actually looks like a great car with a realistic price

PDR done by Anton at http://www.mobilecarspecialists.com/ did a really good job, took out everything... I'm picky as sh*t and covered it in little bits of tape (including some dents that were microns deep) and he found and fixed even more.

I was getting sick of the diff noises so i swapped the mfactory helical back into my original diff. Decided to do it myself to avoid the shipping hassle and buy the shim kit with new output shaft bearings from difflabs.au. Since i had 4x original shims from both diffs including thinner shim i could build up, figured i could make most sizes without needing to get them machined down. After a bit of fiddling around with different sized shims i got the backlash and gear pattern looking like it was originally. Backlash @ 0.09mm down from 0.14mm so clunking\knocking mostly gone or much quieter. Unfortunately still have a similar gear whine when cruising ~110kph. Both diffs have wear to some extent, but i can only guess based on the previous diff being ok before the solid subframe mounts and\or meyle front diff bushings that they are allowing more noise to be transmitted. The plan now is to convert most of the suspension back to 'OE' spec, chuck in a replacement open diff and sell it when economic outlook is better. I did plan on keeping this but i find i don't really desire to drive the car after converting my Ti to manual. Given the state of the average road these days its very harsh (compared to that) and only really enjoyable when driving fast\hard on decent condition ones. The 80's BMW ethos is what drew me to them nearly 2 decades ago and why i had E30 for 8 years.

Oh... and not oil related, but in the Repco "clearance" section, I got a few parts for the Land Rover: a set of V8 "OEX" HT leads, 6 sets fo front "TRW" brake pads and 4 sets of "Silverline" cheaparse brake pads for NZ$33-10 plus $8.50 delivery 🤣 If you add a vehicle to you garage, "shop all parts" for it, then expand the search on the left side and select the "clearance" category, it shows all the cheap parts for you car. Mine was pretty flukey, but worth a try occasionally to see what crap you can buy 😁

Win!

My favourite is their pride and joy they’ve owned for 3 months.

The "gets X km to a tank" crowd makes my blood boil. Or, its increasingly popular variant - "rear". Other notable pet peeves are "sort after" and "Manuel" [sic]. Must be a Mexican import. Scary amount of people out there that should have their high school certificates revoked.

My favourite is their pride and joy they’ve owned for 3 months.

I tried to limit myself on FCP. Should be enough to get the job done I hope. I will check the fuel rail inlet hose whilst I am there and hope it is in good condition. The car still playing up a bit and would love to get it fixed so I can enjoy some trouble free summer cruising. Totally agree Olaf they are a sweet drive. Oil dipstick o-rings Intake and Throttle body gasket Intake manifold nipple cap 3x water pipes Manifold air temp sensor o-ring Air distribution o-rings CCV kit I bought already.

Then there's the 'organised' flip side - the questions from non-buyers which start with "Looks like a great car!" and go on to either praise the seller, praise the car, or offer opportunities to compare to lesser examples.

The questions section becomes a comment's section on Trade-Me when it comes to "special" interest cars. Has anyone asked about the cambelt yet? I swear that's the "Dad is a bit of a car expert" weapon of choice. Has anyone actually ever purchased a car on trade-me after asking that question? The best thing about running a classified on there meant no one could ask questions, not sure if its still the same.

Thank goodness he's used a cover on it

Just listed mine, open to offers: https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/130i/listing/4316273265

f**k all new cars in general. Soulless crapbuckets.

Maybe this one is more suited to the budget perhaps cheapest E30 on trademe 🙂 https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/toys-models/die-casts/corgi/listing/4287582913

Long gone, now idiots can ask questions on anything they want.