E30 325i Rag-Top

Seen two ridiculous accidents today on the commute, nose to tails both of them. How can you drive into the back of someone on a clear sunny day on a perfectly dry road??

Hmm... Can't think who you mean?

Good idea Grant - I never thought of doing that!!

It is a nice car Alex, there is some market feeback on the thread here.. http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/51844-wow-e30-rag-top-3/

I know that it's illegal and dangerous to use RFTs on a car that is not set-up for them, that is it doesn't have a tyre pressure monitor system to tell you when you have a flat and the first you know about it is when the tyre blows out, but I've never heard of it being an issue the other way around...?

Those part numbers and the inter-changeability tie up with what I found out fitting my tow-bar. The coupe / saloon bar doesn't fit on the wagon due to the lock for the rear hatch sticking out a bit further in the middle, which would be why the Part No. 8 look to be different lengths. I "engineered" a solution to get around the problem as I was already committed to buying the bar and needed to use it urgently.

Covered the front of the F30 in dead insects, driving to and from Napier over the long week-end. Boy do those bugs get attracted to the adaptive LED headlights at night. Extra note: the front of an F30 is a real bitch to clean dead bugs out of, so many nooks and crannies that they get caught in, where it's hard to get a sponge or brush.

Wiring kits with relays don't work very well on the face-lifted E46, due to way the side / brake lights are pulsed to give different brightness.

You do feel more vulnerable, being out in the open... but then you can keep a F#3k off big stick down under the seat, should it be needed at any point ! I hired an E36 Cab for my wedding and was driving it through London, when an anti-capitalist protest turned into a smash sh!t up riot just around the corner whilst I was stuck in traffic, was more than a little worried then, mostly about whether I would have to pay for any damage excess!!

Yes, very rare that you make any money on a car, unless you pour $$$s into it, or do all the labour yourself type situations. Once in a while, a car becomes the hottest collectible on the market, once it was E-Type Jags, even rusted out hulks in fields were selling for $20k+, then that market crashed. Probably been a couple of cars in between, but right now it seems to be the E30 M3. Which is a real sh!tter because I so badly want to buy one and as fast as I save the prices are going up faster. It is not so noticeable in NZ as there are so few cars, and a very restricted demand, however keeping an eye on prices in Germany, UK and USA show how much they have gone up., and how much people are trying to cash in on the boom, and in some cases are. Fingers crossed the bubble will burst and I will get to own my dream car at some point. Marketed correctly and sold through the right channels, a car that was worth $40k in 2008 would be easily worth $70-90k now, even if it had been driven quite a bit and maintained at a reasonable level. As I mentioned on another thread, the best E30 M3 road car is leaving NZ soon as it's owner was made an offer that was too good to refuse. But overall, yeah, who buys a car as an investment rather than to drive the thing.... shouldn't be allowed, especially with M3s!

Pretty sure that air-con wasn't available on E30s in '83.Also, '83 was the pre-pre-facelift and there are quite a few differences around the front valence, including the fog-lamp mounts.

I know who HOWDEN Ganley is, I even shook his hand at the festival. However, this thread is called HOWARD Ganley, it is he whom I do not know...

Could Kayne re-build it for you Dan?

Who is this Howard Ganley bloke? Is he related to Howden Ganley, the racing driver? Or even Len Ganley the snooker referee?? All jokes aside, some good shots on there!

Haha, yeah, that has been on there for ages! Still not gonna move at that supposedly reduced price.

The gentle Annies is a great road from Toepaw but might be a bit rough for some of the low brigade...

Ah, so this was about the 320 'iS' that was for sale. Thought about questions but didn't want to crap all over someone's auction.

Rusty Merc 2.3 16v = money pit Rusty E30 325i = nice bits to put into a sound shell.

The Benson & Hedges M3 is tucked up in a shed, with a couple of other M3 race cars, I don't think the owner is linked to Jerry's though.If it's the $55k silver one on TradeMe then it's far from the best M3 road car in NZ, the one I meant sold for a lot, lot, lot more than that and was worth every last cent.

Try Christian on here (CSET) he has set up as Clean & Capture and OC Detailing and really does a good job.

For a week-end 'fun' car then it would be worthwhile, provided the price was a bit below the RHD equivalent, I don't think this is tbh. Bruce, you are the exception - dailying that 320 would be interesting, you would maybe get used to it after a while, and when you jump into the M3 all the bits are in the same place - excellent! If anyone is interested in buying this and swapping to RHD, I would be interested in the LHD parts and swapping for my RHD as I am thinking of converting the race car over.

What was it, just out of interest...?

Are you looking for a road car or race car, project or a garage queen? They don't come up for sale very often, and quite often without having to be advertised in "public". I was very disappointed to hear that the best E30 M3 road car in the country has just been sold and is now off overseas... sniff, sniff. Hopefully the owner has a new car in mind that will be even better than the last... The NZTA are about to update the CarParc data so I will be able to see total numbers in the country once that info is released.

Personally I would say there is a much smaller market in NZ for LHD over RHD, there are not many people who are prepared to sit on the wrong side of the car to drive, from my own experience it is a real PITA (especially if you have other RHD cars) if not a bit dangerous, for example when trying to pull out to overtake. Because of this much smaller pool of potential buyers I would say it is unlikely to reach as high a price as a similar example in RHD. This Tech II 325i looks to be in good condition, but it is hardly "mint" and has a reasonable amount of kms on it, so I would say it will struggle to reach that asking price. If it were RHD I think the seller would still be doing well to reach that price. Only exception would be any car that was only ever made in RHD, and is a collectors item, such as the E30 M3.

Yup, this. ANY type of van at the side of the road and people brake just-in-case it's a mobile speed camera, even if they are nowhere near the speed limit. Or they see a police car at the side of the road, in the distance, going the other way.. again brake even though nowhere near the speed limit. All down to poor information from the Police on "zero tolerance" and poor driving. Did lots of Kms up and down the motorway to HD over the week-end and noticed SOOOO many drivers that are just totally un-aware of anything that is not directly in front of their bonnet, utterly, utterly hopeless. Case in point, driver in right-hand lane (nothing for miles in left-hand) at 90km/h totally shocked and suprised when I went past on the left, and gave them a friendly wave after sitting behind them for over a km. As if to say 'where did you come from..', use the mirrors - they are not their just for doing your make-up love!