E30 325i Rag-Top

I have pm'd you!

Yup, it's not a proper public track day unless at least one Honda / Nissan / Mitsi / Scooby has broken or crashed!Open Track Days at Pukekohe, the day before a meeting, are my favourite...

As they are new it would stop me, or anyone else, getting any other new stuff in the same shipment without having to pay the GST, which obviously adds another 15% on top. I would suggest you try and get them sent on their own, you should be able to avoid paying the GST (I think - double check) and $300 is a pretty good price for the shipping. Just check the company is able to handle sorting any problems out should things go wrong, who are they actually using to ship the stuff, how big are they, how long in the game, etc. Cheap is fine until it all turns to custard.

I don't know what it is about the cars that this guy puts together, but they certainly get a reaction! Must have started more handbags on Bimmersport than any other builder. Personally I am a fan, and love this new car to death, but then "older" classics, lowered on good rims floats my boat . It's not as easy as it looks, plenty of others have tried harder and failed to get the look right. Each to their own I suppose.

There is a limit on "personal items" which can be brought in new, after which there is then GST and a usually a load more questions from customs about what is coming in. I'm guessing the value of the wheels would be over $700? Declaring the wheels as belonging to you, a different "person" also gets tricky in terms of who owns / is responsible for the contents of the container - again more questions and paperwork.

Hey Seth, I can't reply to the other thread either? Is it locked for sponsors only? Mow much would it be for an E46 Touring? I would like only the rear doors, rear 3/4 windows and tailgate done. Would the car have to come into you to be tinted? Could you maybe meet me at Hampton Downs track when I am up? Just an idea...

New wheels or used? Could get a little tricky if brand-new in boxes, etc. And how soon are you looking to being them over?

I think I have a fog light switch somewhere in the garage, I will have a rummage for you. Do you know the part number for the relay - i have a box of them, so should have the right one somewhere!

Wow! What a great combination of retro-cool and stance, love it. It will be interesting to see where he goes with this project....

The depreciation figures I usually hear bandied about in the industry are around 50% over the first 3 years, so a 3 year old car is worth half of what was originally paid for it. That figure then roughly carries on for the next few years as well, so after 6 years worth quarter of the original value, after 9 years one eighth. There are exceptions to the rule obviously, but usually only by a few percent either way, unless you buy totally the wrong car, like a Falcon XT which depreciates faster than a used condom! Harder to answer your other question, that much for a 2002 325 would seem a bit high, unless it had lots of extra fruit on it, but yes, I would pay more than 15k for a 10 year old car - if it was the right car.

True there are BMW imports from Japan / Singapore / Uk, but these would tend to be the older models, and realistically E30s, E36s, E46s, etc not prestige models any more and this is reflected in the prices. The current models are still very scarce, either as imports or NZ new and still have a price premium - compare a 3 year old 3 series price and specification against say a Subaru or Lexus.. Asking prices on TradeMe are often very optimistic so don't take that as a guide to what the market will take for an E30. Certain models will go for good money if they are in very good condition, the expectation of some is that their E30 is worth more as a result, conveniently forgetting the rarity and condition factors that make the other cars worth their price!

A couple more from facebook, loads of images up now..

Andy, I'm not saying it shouldn't be driven, just that it should be at the right time and place. I would love to see it at more events and being used on the track as often as possible, in the environment it was made for.AFAIK it hasn't been used in years, and hasn't raced in a long, long while. I wonder if it will come out for the Festival in January?? Would be cool to see it in the grp-A race. I wonder if they would be interested in a lease and drive package

First pics of the DTM concept car from the launch in Munich, taken from BMW Motorsport on facebook (well worth a like, lots of good stuff on there).. Looks amazing, not sure about the carbon black look, but hot nonetheless. Lots of good stuff on http://www.bmw-motorsport.com/ms_en as well if you haven't seen it. DTM car not up on there yet, but won't be long!

I know the Longhurst car you mean Josh that is a "normal" E30 bodyshell, but the one I saw on the road was an E30 M3. It is a replica of the JPS race cars, and looked pretty good.If the guy is trundling around town, through muddy roadworks, in a genuine grp-A JPS car then it needs to be taken away from him and cruelty charges laid against him !

Never mind all that fancy, luxury goods, its the price of essentials which is killing me... ..beer and petrol gone up again !

True.I thought bimmersport was pretty un-friendly to females, seems the Jeep guys are even worse!!

A good point Pjay, but Sam is quite right, they have used a bit of poetic license to cut out the boring bit in the middle where the scan information is taken and turned into a CAD model. Even with the greatest software in the world this still takes a CAD operator a considerable amount of time and effort. It wouldn't make interesting viewing on the video though!Undoubtedly it's great technology and has a lot of applications, and it's coming on in leaps and bounds. I'm looking forward to it's application in production use, rather than one off and proto-typing, that will be fun!

^^ x 2 Get BMWorkshop to look at it and save the money on the AA inspection. Need a specialist for this kind of car, to check out any errors on the ECU etc. That is a sharp price for an E46 330i, good luck, hope it goes through.

Agreed. Got a linky to more info and pictures, love this car.Looks like they had no option but to remove the Vanos, no room in there for it. Very, very clean install though, looks like it was in there all along.

"Police denied they made changes. The Honda just looks like a Merc, they said." Lolly-pops! Just don't tell that to Clinton!!

Need the metal plate that the headlights mount up to only, not the lights. Anyone got one for cheap?

Listing has disappeared again.. wonder what has happened now??

I got to see a number of great events there over the years, did a few meetings as a marshall and managed to drive quite a few laps as well. The really annoying thing is that the race track was there before the houses around it, why buy a house next to a race track and then moan about the noise?? The rules and controls got ridiculous in the end, just so the rich people in the big houses didn't have to listen to the noise of race cars at the end of their garden, absolute joke!

Yup, the decision was made a couple of seasons back, so while the race was still held at Silverstone last year (or possibly the year before) was supposed to be the last British GP at Silverstone. This was supposed to give Donnington time to get the track ready, but they failed to get it done. Agree 100%, Brands was my local track in the UK and is a great circuit, however, it would need lots of work to get it up to current F1 standards, plus there are lots of NIMBYs that live around the circuit and don't want racing there - just like Western Springs. I would love to see Brands back on the F1 circuit, but it will take a huge amount of work and money to make it happen, that was partyl why Donnington was the winning British GP bid. Luckily Silverstone managed to get things resolved with Bernie in time (with help from the government) otherwise there would have been no GP in th UK!