E30 325i Rag-Top

I don't mean to be picky, but the only one of the highlighted parts of the text which may not be true is the bit about the driver accelerating back to their side of the road. The rest is all spot on, it's a very good system that was originally developed in Japan at dangerous junctions, then adapted for use in heavy vehicles. Works well at modifying driver behaviour and is pretty conclusive in finding out what happened after any accident!

I think you are looking in a different price bracket for the cars mentioned in this case, even if the 15k was in Pounds Sterling rather than NZD. No official prices have been listed for either the whole sale or car-by-car. Estimates for the M3 Sport Evos range from GBP45k - GBP75k EACH! As for the RS200, pick a figure and double it I guess.

Back in the late 80s early 90s there was an "investment" boom and after the stock market went tits up a lot of people were convinced to swap their investments into other things, property, art, fine wine and even classic or collectable cars. It is quite surprising how many and what cars were put into storage for investments like this guy has with these.There are very few limited numbers editions being made now, as homologation rules for Group A, or B, etc. have been pretty much forgotten and any Limited Editions are now down to a few stripes and a set of rims. In terms of production cars I would say locally the HSV W427 could be in this category, I know many of them were bought for collections / investments. World wide, maybe a couple of the high-end Ferraris, Enzos, etc. or possibly some limited edition American Muscle, like a limited edition Mustang or the new model GT40. Other than that not a lot...although I would get pretty excited if I found an E90 M3 with only 57kms on the clock in 20 years time!!

Have just swapped out my RJS 5 Point Harness as they have gone past their expiry date in January, originally SFI certified. Belts are in excellent condition, just a little sun fading where they were mounted up on the cage. Still good for track days or club events, no good for me as I run in scruitineered classes. Includes all mouting eye bolts and harware to mount to cage or OE seat belt holes looking for around $50. This is for one set only - keeping passenger ones for now.

I hope the CSL isn't maintained in the same way Tom!!

The whole issue revolves around one word - Parity. Rules and regs are written to have two makes of car that are very, very close in terms of performance, speed, power, handling, etc. and to a lesser extent recently to control the costs of development and life-span of the parts. Start throwing in other manufacturers and cars and the whole thing gets a whole lot more difficult to keep in line. As has been previously stated - who wants to see one make of car dominate the rest of the field, I don't. I want to see racing - cars through the field fighting for position, passing and battling each other. That's what motorsport is for me - not a technological arms race to see who has the best boffins. Has anyone watched a WTCC race recently? Only three car types of note, the BMW, Seat Diesels and the Chryslers. WRC anyone - Ford and erm? Not even Subaru, Works Citroens or Mitsi Evos now. Part of this is the world financial climate - not too many $$$$s to throw at racing when the whole company is in the sh!t and part is the astronomic costs of being competitive in these formulas. One thing is for sure, the V8 Supercars will have to evolve to survive, money is tight there as well, and it may be that other makes need to be included. As long as the racing is close, the winner can be anyone of 6+ car / driver combinations in any given race I will continue to watch avidly.

Have a good one Mr Olson, hope the girls are all looking after you today!

Hey Jamez, did you swap the LSD over into the car as well, I see it's not listed on the spec sheet. M325is were LSD as standard yeah? Are you around at HD next week-end timing? If so I will grab you for a chat about your car. Cheers, JTP.

A WW2 army tank, a train and an F1 car..

Bit of a step upwards - 205 GTi (good cars are they were..) to an M3 CSL! must have won lotto....

As soon as it gets to 20 years old it is exempt from all the LHD, emissions and frontal impact rules. So as long as the vehicle was first REGISTERED more than 20 years ago when it ARRIVES in NZ you will be Ok. Need to start looking for an early '90 reg'd model, or wait a while.

All of which can, and quite frankly are much more fun, done very, very quickly

An RS6 is a little more coin, unless an older one pops up, not going to stretch to a new model for the same money, looking at $120k+However, this RS4, new model is only a little above it price wise... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-264242217.htm But do you really need a wagon? The M5 is big, and comfy (probably bigger in the back seats than the RS4 actually) and goes like stink!

Oli, I still have the coupe doors in my shed, with the regulators in. If you are coming up on the 11th April for the Intermarques I will pull them out for you.

Or a bit of the other.. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-261979871.htm Never been a fan of this, and as for that, well it may have lots of shiny bits, but it is still a Nissan!

Not the sort of facials I was hoping for - must be in the wrong forum !Really pulling some amazing entry angles in those clips, looks like there is no way they can make the corner, but they do!

Reckon you'll be ready for the last round at Hampton ? Good to see it coming along, looks like you're getting down to the nitty gritty stuff now, fingers crossed it all goes to plan!

Are you being serious Foxy, or just fishing for the reserve price? Still not within 15% of reserve but does look to be a very nice condition Tech 1 M(?)325 so would be worth considerably more IMHO.

Interesingly the chassis number for both cars has the same numbers at the end 859252, according to Carjam anyways. Now if it has been re-shelled that would be one hell of a co-incedence? Suggests to me that it could well be the original vehicle, registration lapsed and for some reason the guy went to the lengths of the personal plate to make the rego look the same.Old service or warrant details would have the chassis number on as well, but I think he said he didn't have any of those.Also both plates refer back to a vehicle first registered in NZ on August 6th, 1987 which would tie up with the build date of May '87 from real OEM (which also links the stated VIN back to a 325i 2 door manual, but doesn't specify the M or not). The first vehicle lapsed the registration in '91 and the second vehicle was re-registered in '97, which again all suggests to me it is the one and the same car. Seems a lot of aggro for a not very-personal plate? Maybe he just wanted the rego to match up with the old history or something?

Have a good 'un fella! Here's to many more

^^ = Corporate colour scheme Seriously though, lots of new performace cars do look smoking hot in white, not sure why, used to be an awful colour on most cars. Practical side it is an absolute b!tch to keep clean, especially on a race car eh Foxy? Not a good idea.

Some nice pics and history in that M3 brochure. Like this one... Anyone got this pic in a poster size? Would look great and provide inspiration in the garage?

That CF airbox is soooo awesome, you could easily suck a small child into that, excellent You're a lucky man Danno getting a lift round Puke in one, I hope you were keeping up in your E30?? I'm in two minds with the CSL, yes I would so love to own one, but I think you would have to track it regularly to get the proper use from it, there is no way you could do it justice on the public roads in NZ. How much different is the CS? I have heard it is 99% as sharp as the lightweights but a lot more useable as a daily, plus quite a bit cheaper to buy and maintain.

I think they would work ok but not the best, just be an absolute b@##$d to get the things on there, would need some good spring compressors and a lot of pushing and shoving!

Glad it has gone to a good home, I know that the previous owner (Tom) spent a lot of time and effort on sorting any issues with the car and maintained it to a high standard. Enjoy!