Tidy30 38 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 (edited) Hello fellow bimmersporters! I am ecstatic to announce that after around 8 months of searching I finally found and acquired the car of my childhood dreams. Bought her from up North in Whangarei, and she is an absolute dream. She is a 1990 E30 320i automatic in a gorgeous cirrusblau. Virtually stock standard aside from the Tech1 steering wheel. (I've recently found and bought a matching Tech1 spoiler which will go on sometime in the near future). Considering a couple of mods but I've found myself smitten by the standard look. Ironically, almost all cabrio's I see are dropped on lipped 16s, and I found myself drawn to the original form. Sometime ago the side bolsters became worn and were replaced with an amazingly tasteful leather for the recaro sport seats, as well as all the headrest side faces. A few paint chips, but a respray in the last yew years has left the exterior in a largely good condition. The images below are after my mammoth 15 hour detailing session (2.5 hour wash, 12.5 hour clay/cut/polish/wax). My photographer friend applied a few edits to bring out the sharpness, but the reflections and colours were largely representative. Anyway, enough talk, you've probably skipped the text above already or have been reading this last sentence through your peripheral vision. Edited May 3, 2014 by tidyverty Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lucan 196 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Very nice example , I know what you mean about every other cab too haha don't see many in stock form around Auckland now days. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JayCee 26 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Wow thats beautiful! Looks amazing and love the recaros! Want to clean mine? Very good job Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tristan 338 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Like! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qube 3570 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Looks amazing! But wondering why a 1990 model is prefacelift? Or is there something different with cabrios that I don't know about? Hmmm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
euroriffic 609 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Wow! That looks absolutely stunning! Good find. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Phil-540i 166 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Nice find - amazing looking car!! You've done a primo job on the clean-up - I've got a wee job for ya one day if you're ever really bored & south of Bombay... How many km's has that done??? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSET 583 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Beautiful! Congratulations! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Etwenty1 45 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 (edited) Looks great, my suggestions would be to get your chrome bumpers painted to match the car colour and shadow the rest including the windscreen surround. I have a set of refurbed 15" weaves that would finish off nicely. Edited October 9, 2013 by etwenty1 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cab 148 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Very nice example , I know what you mean about every other cab too haha don't see many in stock form around Auckland now days. Ironically, almost all cabrio's I see are dropped on lipped 16s, and I found myself drawn to the original form. I'd love to see them. I've only seen 3, and two of them are mine lol. Just slam it on some 16's. Looks very tidy, nice. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nath 134 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Looks great, my suggestions would be to get your chrome bumpers painted to match the car colour and shadow the rest including the windscreen surround. I have a set of refurbed 15" weaves that would finish off nicely. Would look good, but only another version of the good that it already is. So no no no! That car is a classic as- is, and the chrome on PFL cars is hugely tasteful. Leave everything as it is now and enjoy a great example of an E30 as intended. Great Sunday drive alternative to a Porsche etc. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
E30 325i Rag-Top 2957 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Well done Howard, that is a good result, so glad you managed to find a nice example. Love the rear head-rests, something I wish I had, and I am also a big fan of the cloth with half-leather looks good and very practical. Enjoy, and have fun doing the little jobs to keep her looking top-notch! Ps. what's wrong with dropped verts on big wheels??? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
qube 3570 Report post Posted October 9, 2013 Leave the chrome leave it exactly as it is. Only changes id make is a manual conversion and maybe 15" weaves but that's it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_ethrty-Andy_ 2132 Report post Posted October 10, 2013 very nice car, has the rear headrests too (like mine) which were an option your passengers will be pleased the original owner picked. Mine is 100% stock too, will probably get some lowering springs i already have in the shed throuwn at it, that will be about it though i think Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
liyi_92 37 Report post Posted October 10, 2013 Wow! Very nice! Some great photography there too! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tidy30 38 Report post Posted October 13, 2013 (edited) I'd love to see them. I've only seen 3, and two of them are mine lol. Just slam it on some 16's. Looks very tidy, nice. Whoops! My semi-rushed typing in the original post seems to have caused a bit of misleading! What I was meaning to say was that I am definitely considering a few mods (I've got myself a Tech1 spoiler to put on sometime, and a lowered Lola on stepped 16's is definitely on the cards) but have found myself really enjoying the stock look for the time being, since I don't see so many around. It's a bit of a "vocal minority" thing, I see significantly more E30 cabrio's on the internet than real life, and people don't really post "original" E30's very often. In reality I've only seen 2, 1 is another pure factory, 1 is lowered fantastically on BBS LMs. Nice find - amazing looking car!! You've done a primo job on the clean-up - I've got a wee job for ya one day if you're ever really bored & south of Bombay... How many km's has that done??? The car has just cleared the 196,000km mark, and has just come back to me from a service with Ernst at Bavarian Motorworks. Had the fanbelt changed, rusty coolant flushed (was in storage for a while, topped up with tap water!) along with other things like bled brakes, wiperblades etc. Fixed the valve clearances, so there's no more slight "clicking", and had the half moons replaced so hopefully the weeping oil from the top of the engine would have stopped now. She still surges a little when idling on a sloped surface, and when driving up my supremely steep driveway to park in the garage (#1 argument against lowering Lola) if I ease off the gas 4/5 times he engine will stall. A bit annoying and concerning, since each time it stalls it takes 2-3 goes to start her up again so I can reverse her all the way back down for another attempt. Heater core is also disconnected, probably due to a leak which a previous owner decided not to fix. Engine is due for an oil flush sometime in the next 10,000kms and the lower thrust bushes are a bit old. I'm thinking I'll have found some lowering hardware and new rims by the time the bushes need replacing, so I can have it all done with a single wheel alignment. Other than that she is in pretty good nick. Soft top is in great condition, (although a bit of reading indicates they usually stay looking great, but can sometimes be pretty worn) and there are no problems that we can see looming ahead. *I've still yet to decipher what this smiley actually means. Looks great, my suggestions would be to get your chrome bumpers painted to match the car colour and shadow the rest including the windscreen surround. I have a set of refurbed 15" weaves that would finish off nicely. Windscreen surround is something which niggles at me when I see it. Any suggestions as to nice ways to recolour it? You seem to have a lot of bits and pieces that I am interested in etwenty! Any more information on these weaves? However, given my steep driveway, my practical side is leaning toward putting her on 17 BBS LM reps and reducing the wheel gap with an H&R kit instead of purely putting her closer to the ground. Well done Howard, that is a good result, so glad you managed to find a nice example. Love the rear head-rests, something I wish I had, and I am also a big fan of the cloth with half-leather looks good and very practical. Enjoy, and have fun doing the little jobs to keep her looking top-notch! Ps. what's wrong with dropped verts on big wheels??? The only thing wrong with dropped verts on big wheels is that all the ones I see aren't mine! Thanks for the all comments though! I am amazed how well the detailing turned out, and am still in the phase where I'd check the car over for 1-2 minutes everytime I get out after driving with my quick detailer and microfibre cloth in hand! Drove the merc to work yesterday and had a whopping big splat from a passing bird as I turned left down the Harbour bridge southbound, thanked my lucky stars I didn't drive Lola and hosed it down as soon as I got home. The big session was quite a killer though, I'm not looking forward to the next one as much as I was for the first! Edited October 13, 2013 by tidyverty Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tidy30 38 Report post Posted October 13, 2013 Thank you for all your responses Chris, I really do appreciate it. I think given the situation I am going to consider the original chrome trim. Ballpark price figure? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tidy30 38 Report post Posted December 15, 2013 Back in the country now, here are some "artistic" photos of the car and it's new height from a lazy weekend afternoon: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hotwire 352 Report post Posted December 15, 2013 Just seen this, love it - a great example. Now that you have lowered it I recon it highlights the need for bigger alloys though... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pommy 33 Report post Posted December 16, 2013 Very nice looking. Will be following this build...... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vtgts300kw 90 Report post Posted December 16, 2013 Did you post the wheel arch heights ( to the ground ) somewhere? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tidy30 38 Report post Posted December 16, 2013 Nope! Haven't done it yet, but haven't forgotten about you Kurt. Will do it when I have some time. I've got the before and after measurements, just have to have a small dig for them Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vtgts300kw 90 Report post Posted December 16, 2013 Cheers dude. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tidy30 38 Report post Posted May 3, 2014 Hi all, Bit of a mix between the project thread and this showroom thread, but I've managed to get my hands on some genuine 15" RS's at an excellent 7.5", 8.5" staggered fitment. During a rare day off work I spent a day bringing the wheels back to an acceptable lustre using the wheel polishing kit and some good ol' 2000-3000 grit wet-sand. Gave her another thorough polish all over and headed out with handgrenade (Kendrick) for an impromptu photo session, the results of which are as below. I have little photoshop expertise, so the extent of the alterations are just some moderate WIndows Photo Gallery sharpening (which I think looks really "showroom", it is also to get rid of some unwanted blur) and a little saturation increase to get that "idyllic" feeling. Gotta love the late, lazy afternoon shoots: Dusty gravel makes tyres look meatier than they actually are Obligatory rear end appreciation pic: Shootin' in the sun, almost tilt-shift style: NZPC-esque wide angle shot: Extra-obligatory dish appreciation shot: Buddies: sneak peek at Kendrick's M3. (have left them off here since my amateur photo editing skills won't do it justice) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
