Two weeks - 20K return on "investment"?

[Neil McCauley 394]

Decent LHD to RHD swaps on FHQ678 and GAF97 at least, both of them have the handbrake on the correct side.

[Driftit 2078]

1 hour ago, Neil McCauley said:

Decent LHD to RHD swaps on FHQ678 and GAF97 at least, both of them have the handbrake on the correct side.

Sometimes the decoders get that wrong for some reason so they could have always been RHD.

[Neil McCauley 394]

1 hour ago, Driftit said:

Sometimes the decoders get that wrong for some reason so they could have always been RHD.

The decoders have been screwy for a while now, I agree, but @Bandit did say they were LHD when they landed, and if you punch the chassis numbers into the ETK on bimmercat they come up as LHD. 

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

1 hour ago, Driftit said:

Sometimes the decoders get that wrong for some reason so they could have always been RHD.

Both have got LHD VINs, the model code info in the VIN is a LHD model.

[Bandit 194]

2 hours ago, Driftit said:

Sometimes the decoders get that wrong for some reason so they could have always been RHD.

@LeonF correct, that is the sister car to the silver one. @driftit, both cars were LHD, as was the 3.0 coupe donor car for the body and suspension bits. The owner certainly did the conversions correctly. all the bits were available then more quickly than they are now.

There is quite a bit more info, not all of it good but as the car is still for sale I'm gonna zip my lips. Most unlike me ☹️ Actually thought the current owner had sold it.

Coming back to this having read the listing. All the statements the owner makes on the listing are false. The history of the cars and the ensuing saga is common knowledge among M coupe owners here in NZ.   

I knew one of the cars was flagged on import and the blue one was it. How some of the unrealistic sellers of interesting cars can sleep at night I just don't know. Ignorance is no excuse .

.

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by Bandit

[KwS 2425]

If you google the chassis number of the blue one there was an old thread on here asking about it

 

[Bandit 194]

2 minutes ago, KwS said:

If you google the chassis number of the blue one there was an old thread on here asking about it

 

Yes OP6 and I knew the owner very well. Its all very sad really. He died a horrible death about 2018 and his affairs were in a frightful mess.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Seller is definitely trying to play it down, but a little off not to mention clearly from the outset.

[Twistee 454]

Overseas people use VINWIKI quite a lot to document the history of cars, it has yet to take off in NZ though. Obviously there are issues with any online WIKI as it is a public run db- my issue with this sale is that there is a strong possibility that someone could buy this without any idea of the history of the car, a car that on paper regardless of how well it was repaired or converted is not as advertised. Omitting details is not appropriate on a 100k sale. I have family that bought a super low km classic from a reputable car museum, who completely ignored the fact that the car had been well shunted. Due to the age of the car and repair it was not on any documentation, but later when questioned about it a huge back story suddenly came to light. People who know me wonder why I'm a control freak and have trust issues....... Genuine people are getting harder to come by everyday.

 

[Bennyboy 199]

Looks like all of “Emma’s” vehicle related listings have been pulled by tm…..

the thick plottens 

 

 

[Bennyboy 199]

On 7/16/2022 at 9:02 PM, MD13 said:

M3

Even better than that e39 M5 "investment" on trademe at present!

It’s back 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/m3/listing/3965291867

[Sammo 2544]

Much better photos though!

 

[Bennyboy 199]

Flippers special 

[Bandit 194]

Different seller I think. Maybe sold a few months back. This vendor has a marketing plan.........

[Vass 831]

At least it doesn't bang on about a "sunroof delete" anymore. 

[bradgalbraith 218]

Yes, it’s back! I traded my previously accident damaged 911 for the M3 as I was getting nowhere with selling it. The M3 is a great car and drives very well. I run the Auckland Central franchise of Trimfix and have reconditioned the interior, fitted a ZHP gearknob, lowering springs and carried out a service. Im facing a BIG loss on this car as the 911 repair went well over budget, hence the high asking price. I am however negotiable so if anyone is interested, please get in touch as I’d like to move the car along! 
 

P.S the sunroof delete comment got me good 😂

[Vass 831]

Looks a great car and I'm sure you've done a great job on the interior, but I don't really understand the justification of a higher asking price because "the restoration of another car went over budget". Like I get you wanting to recoup some losses but those are two completely unrelated things.

Top marks on the well crafted listing, you've definitely put in way more effort than the previous mob and what you've done has definitely added value but not $20k's worth. Good luck with the sale regardless.

Also, and I don't know if it's news to you or not, but it's not a factory manual.

[Harper 548]

3 hours ago, Vass said:

Also, and I don't know if it's news to you or not, but it's not a factory manual.

The usual vin decoders suggest it is a factory manual, not optioned with S793. Just looks like the cluster has been swapped out for an SMG one at some point. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Harper

[Vass 831]

1 minute ago, Harper said:

The usual vin decoders suggest it is a factory manual. Just looks like the cluster has been swapped out for an SMG one at some point. 

Fair enough. I might be wrong, but my money would still be on the gearbox being swapped rather than just the cluster for some weird reason. The cluster is usually a dead giveaway of a manual swap that's almost always overlooked.

VIN decoders are notoriously unreliable when it comes to transmission type. Some would no doubt also classify an SMG as being manual. Which it technically is. But really isn't.

[Harper 548]

On 2/2/2023 at 8:56 PM, Vass said:

Fair enough. I might be wrong, but my money would still be on the gearbox being swapped rather than just the cluster for some weird reason. The cluster is usually a dead giveaway of a manual swap that's almost always overlooked.

VIN decoders are notoriously unreliable when it comes to transmission type. Some would no doubt also classify an SMG as being manual. Which it technically is. But really isn't.

I would bet on the opposite. Clusters fail, the displays get dead pixels, the stalks on them are delicate and break, the needles fade and start to look like trash etc. SMG clusters are usually cheaper and more available, probably just had one swapped in.

The vin decoders are usually accurate for E46 M3 unlike the non-m with regards to what trans because SMG doesn't show up as manual or automatic, it shows up as option "S793 Sequential Gearbox M Drivelogic" and they don't usually get specific options wrong. 

This is almost certainly a factory manual unless the vins wrong. 

[Vass 831]

13 minutes ago, Harper said:

I would bet on the opposite. Clusters fail, the displays get dead pixels, the stalks on them are delicate and break, the needles fade and start to look like trash etc. SMG clusters are usually cheaper and more available, probably just had one swapped in.

The vin decoders are usually accurate for E46 M3 unlike the non-m with regards to what trans because SMG doesn't show up as manual or automatic, it shows up as option "S793 Sequential Gearbox M Drivelogic" and they don't usually get specific options wrong. 

This is almost certainly a factory manual unless the vins wrong. 

Fair enough. Haven't really heard of clusters failing being a common occurrence on E46's. Still, swapping a cluster over is quite an involved mission to get right, having to code several modules for the correct VIN and mileage and such. Next to that, undoing the 4 screws and swapping over the small backing panel from the supposedly bricked manual cluster to make it look legit is piss easy. If that is indeed what happened, pretty lazy to go through all the effort and not put a small finishing touch on it.

[Vass 831]

"40k 6 months ago sounds very unrealistic..." 

Epic copium. Of course you didn't pay that. You got had. Do your research. 

[topnotchrally 106]

So, this owner *isn't* the guy who bought it for $40k back in July? (which we all know did happen)  Or is he but he has a different trademe account?

[Bennyboy 199]

Nope different guy

[udez 12]

Looks like the same seller has an smg one for sale too - just saw via fb marketplace