Project E30: Sale Away?

I’ve done it.  I’ve put Concorde up for sale.  Concorde?  Well, yeah, because an E30 in this condition is a borderline one-off; well certainly on my budget anyway.  Why have I done it?  I’m still not sure.  I guess it’s a mixture of the constant worry of running a car this clean and possibly, now I have the Herald for general retro play, I want something a bit more mundane for the daily grind… No, I’m not convinced either and will probably end up with something less suitable if it goes through.

I took some pics to make me feel better though.  This has only helped to talk me out of it.

Please don’t buy my car.

Project E30: Self Inflicted Restoration

So, this weekend I chucked the KP out the garage and got the Beemer in.  I got a quote from the body shop to do the arch and lets just say it was erm, steep.  So I took it on myself and cleared the weekend to do it!

The splitter cam back from the shop too, so I had 2 days and everything I needed to get it back to as good as new/ before I slammed it and drove it through a ton of snow.

I re-shaped the arch and rolled the lip while I was there.  I got 95% of it out so I only had to use a tiny skim of filler.  I hate filler.

Primer and Paint and left to bake…

Quick flat/ blend/ polish/ mop/ luck

I put the splitter back and supplemented BMW’s own c-clip mounting system with some good-old zipties.

I also completed my ICE install…

Yeah boi; old skool Sony walkman and in-car tape kit.  I couldn’t bring myself to pull that sweet head unit out.  Retro chic or a step too ’90s?   Well, pretty much both and that’s why I love it.

Project E30: M-Tech Tracksuit

I’ve had the car a week now and all is well.  I’ve started ordering parts for it, but more on that later…I know it’s boring, but I’ve mainly been doing service stuff and finally getting a few pics:

Current wheels are 15×7 et 13 Fondmetals which are alleged to have come on it from the factory; there is a lot of cool history with the car and some of the other parts fitted point towards either someone being big buddies with the manufacturing plant or spending a lot of money on the options list…

Got tapes?

Stereo remote

OK, I’ll come clean…depite the iS front lip, SE skirts, Shadow line pack, boot spoiler and wheels…it’s…it’s…a…..316i

I looked at loads of these cars and they were either destroyed or rotten.  This car is immaculate, even better than the pics show.  I actually feel bad getting it wet.  I figured it was better buying the best car I could and then, if the urge takes me, throw an M42 in it.  To be honest I thought it would be slightly slower than driving something steam-powered.  Happily it’s not that bad; it will cruise at 80 in silence without revving its head off and is even good on fuel.   For what I need it to do right now it’s perfect.

Service time:

Yeah, that’s genuine NOS BMW underseal.  OEM+

My compressor regulator broke, so I ended up spraying it at 100psi.  At least I know it’s got everywhere!

Hopefully my parts will start to come in over the next couple of weeks and I can get the old girl closer to terra firma in a big way.

Batmobile