E30 325i Rag-Top

https://www.bmw-m.com/en/topics/magazine-article-pool/the-first-bmw-m3-touring.html

A bit too technical for me Dan, but somehow these sites were getting access to the data behind the BMW systems. Yeah that’s one of the parts catalogue (ETK) copies, which pulls even more data from somewhere.

It's down now - for "maintenance" Hmmm, i'm not so sure, the information would have to come from a very central source. I would imagine it's either been previously publically available, or there was as open route into once of the IT systems that has now been found and closed for security.

My question would be how the sites were getting access to the data, as even very recently built cars were on the unofficial sites.

Ahh bingo! Now the penny drops. Saw your car when I called into see Peter & Sam the other week, looked very cool. Didn’t recognise the car with the wheels on it,Now I have put the two together and realised it yours.

Not surprising really - have you seen the horrific things they bolted to the front and rear of an E30 to make it meet US legislation..? The usual supply versus demand would apply too, not many of them in the country, and lots of people wanting them obviously pushes the prices up. Have a look at some of the E30 M3 parts on U.S. sites - Euro Bumpers / Grilles / Gearboxes, etc all go for big premiums. E30 tax + M3 Tax + Euro Tax = $$$$$$

@Sammo - legend!

Agree about the wheels, possibly it needs a bit more low to pull off that size of wheel? Certainly a lot of potential in this car, interior is a retro heaven, and looks to be in fantastic overall condition. Without too much effort and money it could be a real cracker.

Plenty of other ways, subscribe to the thread, is it only Admin that get the "Notify me of replies" option at the bottom of the window?, tagging people in, liking the post, checking back a few hours later to have a look. It's not too bad on a PC screen, but on a phone it becomes a real pain as the thread is much longer to scroll through than it needs to be. Images are a real pain.

People posting a quote of the post that is right above their response...

EuroTech at Mount Wellington, top quality work. Towards the top end of the price range, but you get what you pay for in this area.

Currently, not a lot. This is due to a lot of time and services being provided for free to help with running the site. For example the site is hosted on an admin’s personal server for no cost. What it would normally cost to host a site like this I have no clue, sorry.

Covered here...

Original E30s in good condition are becoming much harder to find, lots of them have gone to the big breakers in the sky, or been messed around with by previous owners. So from that point of view your Dad's car is a fairly rare beast this days and also pretty desirable for an enthusiast. The drivetrain is not the most desirable, the 320i is neither one thing or the other in terms of performance v economy and the automatic is not the greatest and so manuals get a hefty premium in the prices. On the other hand, the NZ New part and one owner (hopefully with lots of service history and maintenance records) with a reasonably low mileage will all be points to attract better money. Very hard to put a dollar value on it, more photos would be a help, of interior and exterior, showing any options which can be desirable - wheels, seats, etc. Do you want a value for insurance, or is your Dad looking to sell it? If he is in no hurry to sell then that would help, as there are those out there that would pay good money for an original, good condition example but it may take a while to find them in the current market.

Tried again to get the fan off the 330d wagon so I can replace the serpentine belt, thing is tighter than a tight thing, can't really get at it from above so tried underneath - and managed to drop a spanner onto my face. Luckily it was only a small spanner - not, 32mm bugger. Still no joy getting it shifted so had to purchase a second 32mm spanner to hold the water pump pulley whilst trying to coerce the fan nut off (in the opposite direction as it's LH thread...). So gave up and went to get a beer instead. Whilst in the process of buying said new spanner, also bought a sheet of hardi-board for the fence panel that's buggered. Found out the rear hatch of a G21 Touring doesn't take a board 1200mm wide. More cursing and swearing. Then towed a trailer for the first time with the 116d - with the board in it. Was a very light load, so apart from the noise of the trailer and the rear PDC beeping a lot I didn't really notice the trailer. Need to try something a bit heavier in the trailer next time to see how grunty the 1er is when towing.. Got there in the end, but a lot of buggering about in the process. Hopefully something "task" related will go to plan in the near future to give me a little bit of encouragement. On a happier note - bought an E30 M3 Sport Evolution - unfortunately it was only on Gran Tourismo and not in real life but you can always dream.

The joys of the internet and text based communication unfortunately, all the intonation and feeling is removed so the meaning is often mis-understood.

Yeah, sorry forgot to put the comedy font on that statement. Which is which why I started the next line with "But seriously..." Last time I looked at the BBS website I thought they still had a lot of the older styles available, certainly the E50s I was after were on there.

And it’s got a mini-disc player! Will be very interested to see how this one goes, as I’m very tempted to join the cool kids club.

Pretty much everything come withn an immobiliser on it these days, not just BMWs but pretty much all new vehicles. Alarms are incorporated into the immobiliser systems as well, with all the smart key EWS codes, etc. GPS trackers work well for high end vehicles that are likely to be targetted by more intelligent thieves, and if you want it back quick before it gets damaged / stripped, etc. With the subscription fees, etc it can work out quite expensive.

All those out there running BBS RS reps on their E30s take a long hard look at yourselves. See what you have done!! But seriously, I would suggest trying to compete against the reps / fakes / copies is proving harder and harder for them. Not sure which (if any) of the current BMW wheels are BBS as OE, will have to try to find time to have a look see.

What looks to be a pretty nice red 320i listed up on TradeMe yesterday... would post a link but can’t seem to do that on my phone..?

PPI for sure, from a well qualified specialist in these type of cars, not the rubbish AA type of inspection. Maybe some of the Wellington peeps can recommend someone?

If you are into a bit of brrrrrrmmmm pssst, brrrrrm psst from your car then this could well give you a lot smile for your dollar. If the mods listed all check out and have been done well then it should be a fun rocket ship. For that price it could well leave you a few bucks in your budget to make a few changes to suit your style, trims, rims, etc. It could also be a ticking time bomb that goes boom on the first trip and turns into a complete money pit. Registers quite high on the risk v reward scale.

Because... In the same way my wife can never have too many bags or shoes, I can never have too many cars and parts.

This is Nu Zilland mate, you can bring pretty much anything into this country! Mate of mine in Palmy had a self-propelled cannon in his yard, basically its a tank with a bigger gun on it (in non-technical non-military terms), tracks, the works. We used to regularly take it for a blat (relatively speaking) across the fields and up and down a few country lanes - used to get some funny looks from drivers going in the opposite direction.