E30 325i Rag-Top

You are so fickle and easily swayed

Very nice indeed Ray . Is that the Dolphin Grey metallic? As that is my favourite of all E30 colours. Although I am more than happy to settle for the Lachssilber on my 'vert. Weather must be better up your way, mine is still in bits from it's usual winter make-over, and no hurry to get it back together from the looks of the forecast!

Reminds me of a true event that I saw on the motorway in England, involving a truck full of beer that caused a huge tail-back on the motorway. There was an electrical fault in the rear of the trailer that caused a small fire to start, the truckie saw the smoke and pulled over on to the hard shoulder, and opened the curtains to see where the smoke was coming from (not the brightest move)... this revealed the fire and fed it with more oxygen, and also revealed the trailer was full of pallets of beer on the way to a supermarket distribution centre. The tail-backs on the motorway were NOT caused by the fire in the trailer, but by all the very helpful motorists that just stopped on the main carriageway to "assist" the driver in putting out the fire and "saving" the load. In the end the police had to arrest some people for obstruction before they could get the traffic moving again. If I hadn't been stuck in the queue for over and hour and a half, I might have found it amusing when I crawled past the scene!!

An English tourist in Aussie spent all day lying in the sun, without and sun-block on and as you would expect he got very badly burnt, especially on the tops of his legs and his stomach. The burns were so bad they were assessed as third-degree burns with the added complication of sunstroke, and as a result the guy had to be admitted into hospital to help him recover. When he was admitted to the ward, the Doctor prescribed him some pain killers, a big bottle of calamine lotion and some Viagra. The nurse who took the prescription told the Doctor that the man was in no fit state to be thinking about sex. So the Doctor replied.... "I'm don't want him to have sex, I just want to keep the bed sheets off his burns!" Boom, Boom!

Whilst it is true that some of this change is a styling issue again the main drivers in this type of design have been aerodynamics & weight saving for fuel economy and changes in impact system design.That and improvements in the manufacturing techniques on moulded fascias making the big one piece possible which have lead to a big reduction in the manufacturing costs. Developing the design is always a long process which goes round the loop many times, styling, engineering, bean counters and back again. Ends up being a trade off in many directions. I'm an old school chrome bumper style personally. If you hit something with those, take 'em off hit with a hammer until they are straight again. Try doing that with a plastic fascia!

Most people don't actually engage the steering lock properly when they get out, which makes it easy to break them off.In case you don't know, once the keys are out of the ignition you should turn the wheel until you hear a loud click, which is the pin engaging in the lock. If not engaged just giving the wheel a real hard yank will snap the pin and break the lock. For all the cars on the list, I would guess they are the older versions, as there are more of them in NZ and they are easier to steal. Modern cars have better anti-theft as standard, plus datadot security on parts, etc. Recent trends from Uk are people being car-jacked to get the keys to modern cars, or breaking into the house to get the car keys (a fishing rod through the letter box to get the keys off the hall table is a common one). My mate had his Renault Clio Sport nicked by someone breaking in while he was asleep upstairs, taking the keys then just driving off! Like someone said - if they want it that bad, they can have it! Still scumbags though.

When the guy at the recovery place showed me how they get in I was pretty amazed at how simple it was to open up a Scooby. It's all down to the pillar-less glass, tear off the plastic monsoon thing, pull the top of the window then reach down to grab the door handle with a coat-hanger or screw driver. Once you're in you can do what you want to the ignition lock and away you go. About 20 seconds tops.Same is possibly true of the E36 coupe as they have the pillar-less glass so it would be simple to get in through the windows - not sure how good the steering locks are on E36s? As for an alarm being the answer - don't you believe it. Most after-market alarms, even those with immobiliser circuits, are not that hard to get around. Plus when was the last time anyone took a blind bit of notice of a car alarm going off? I have stood in a shopping centre car-park with a bag of tools at my feet, opening a car with the alarm going (it was a friend's car - honest!) and not one person came and asked me what I was doing - not even the centre security! But then..... that's the UK for you !

The list is from claims made to the AA Insurance company, there are a number of high-performance vehicles they won't insure, which would probably include Evos, so they won't get any claims and not on the list. I know for a fact they won't touch Scooby Sti's.My Legacy Turbo will be part of that list, I had that insured by the AA and a local drop-kick took it for a joy ride and got chased by the cops in it. Got a full agreed value pay out and got my excess back as I could give the name of the bloke who was arrested for stealing it, plus the car was found and we got all our stuff back out of it. Thought it was funny when I got the insurance, went to the AA and told the woman what the car was I'd just bought and she said "oh, the insurace is quite high for those, it's $408 fully comp" at which I laughed and told her I was paying nearly $1000 third party on a seventeen year old diesel in the UK!

Some manufacturers, espcially BMW, have a trademark grille styling - the double kidney grille, and go to extreme lengths to maintain that in some shape or form and also the Ford blue oval as you show the photo of. But the end result is still much the same with a larger air grille in the lower section of the front fascia.Would you believe that the bottom arrangement of the grille mouth and fog-lights as styled on that Falcon is supposed to be influenced by F1 front wings ??

The trend is caused by changes is legislation and the drive for better fuel economy. To make cars more pedestrian friendly (less injuries to people if they are run over) bonnet lines have to be lower and smoother, also a factor in aerodynamics and drag which affect the fuel economy.The end result is that there is less room to get the cooling air through a radiator above the bumper area (as if cars have bumpers anymore!) so grilles and radiators are having to be pushed lower down on the front of the vehicles, giving the smiley face look. It is very interesting to see the changes from what the sylists want as a concept, to what can be made to meet the laws of the land and engineering concerns. Some changes for the better IMHO and some ruin the whole concept.

Hey, would you be willing to deliver to Pukekohe? Very interested if you will. Cheers, JTP.

I'm most surprised that Rick Astley is that well known over here, thought he was a UK only star. Best thing about Rick is that he decided that he hated the false nature of the pop industry and gave it all up and walked away. Not many I can think of would pass up a chance of being famous like that.

Thanks for putting the photos up, but I stuffed the race car yesterday so will have to pass on this.Shame to see another E30 parted out, but you can't save 'em all.

I thought this was due to go under the hammer last week? Would suggest to me it failed to reach reserve, which from the little I know of Turners would be $8k as it always seems to be the middle of their estimate. If it failed to reach $8k there must be a few issues with the car, I would have thought? Has anyone been to view the car in the flesh, can they give an honest appraisal? How long does it take to get from Pukekohe to Turners? I might be interested in having a look at the week-end and bidding by phone / internet on Monday.

Where abouts in NZ are you based? I would be very keen on whole car, if you could post up a picture of the damage that would be sweet. Cheers, JTP.

For this type of car to fetch top dollar it would need to be collectable on the world-wide market, not enough demand or dollars in NZ.Unfortunately this particular car is missing either of the things that would make the real money. It is not original, especially the RHD conversion, and there is no interesting history, racing or otherwise. Still a real nice car, and worth more than I can afford but the GBP25k looks much better value at the moment.

Agree 100%I often refer to compacts as "poor man's BMWs" they were developed purely to move into new market segments, namely the lower price bracket. To reach this objective the cars were made to a cost and this just cheapened the whole brand image through cost-down engineering IMHO. Plus they look fugly and to me look like a Coupe that has been rear-ended. Each to their own, some people like them, but to me it is the antithesis of what BMW is all about.

A great photo of two amazing vehicles, side by side. From the www.classiccar.co.nz web site, after their E30 V E90 M3 article a while back. Got it as my wallpaper at work to try and motivate me! White one for the week, black one for week-ends please.

If that list wasn't so true it would be really funny! All countries have bad or inconsiderate drivers, I guess in NZ it's just the high percentage. Coupled with a lack of two-lane roads where you can easily overtake. I am surprised no-one has mentioned those "knights of the road" the truckies? Whose give way rule seems to be "you only give way to things bigger than you, or at a push things big enough to cause you damage" In the short time that I have been in NZ I have had so slam the brakes on, both in my cars and on my push-bike, to avoid trucks that have just pulled straight out in front of me, or failed to give way, purely because they were bigger than me. Absolute wankers of the biggest kind. Rant over!

To try and give you some more info and my experience:1) Bilsteins are often found on standard 325i, either fitted later or added as an option when ordered from the dealer. 2) ABS was again an option on standard 325i vehicles so can be found on non-MSport models 3) Discs all round I think was standard on ALL 325i models, not just M-Sports. I hope that helps. If you're trying to suss out whether a car is a fake or not, just get hold of the VIN number and check the build sheet. I think you can even do it on-line somewhere, as mentioned in other threads. To do it on the spot biggest clues would be 1) LSD - difficult but not impossible to add and 2) the black headlining. Good luck in your search!

I recognise her! Is she famous??

Hmmm, good one. In the 'vert, summer top down, it's Fun Lovin' Criminals - Scooby Snacks or Prodigy - The Fat Of The Land - especially Diesel Power, Breathe and Firestarter. In 320i no head unit or speakers - so try to get the exhaust to play different tunes to me every day - but normally just get bwaaaaaaap, pop, pop, bang!

And I see his Customer Service skills have not improved at all. Check out the answer to my question on this "OE" M3 rear bumper... http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=170330382

The rocker cover sold for $300!! I ducked out when the price went over $100, looks good, but won't make it go any faster.

Ok genius, which particular bit is a crock of crap? Having worked on a car with a different engine you obviously know all there is about carbs on Alfas. So please enlighten me, I am always open to new learning opportunities.