Soldato
Ok so...where to start...
Some of you may know I've been through 2x e36s, a 328i that lasted ~4months and a 318iS that I ran for a year. The 318iS was a good car although it had various issues that I just wasn't prepared to fix as whilst it was good, it wasn't great. I sold it and bought a more practical car as I'd been moving house fairly often and figured I wanted the boot space etc.
It's now nearly a year later and I'm chuffing bored of the Mondeo so have been keeping my eye out for potential new cars to replace it. I was eyeing up E36s again but the cost of a decent one with a proper engine made my eyes water, the shoddy ones, well, they are/were fairly costly for what they are and would need loads throwing at them to bring up to the level I'd want. I was also then looking at Mk1 and Mk2 MX-5s as they are brilliant little RWD cars. I decided to wait until I'd driven a mate's Mk1 before I made up my mind, which also gave me plenty of time to get the money I'd need for a half decent Mk2 or a fairly nice Mk1.
So that's how I left it about a month ago, then, last week I was browsing ebay ads and spotted a fairly decent E30 325i Coupe (2 door 'loon if you're picky) that I linked to a few mates saying to them "that'd be an awesome little project" but I also knew the car would go for silly money. One of them though, being the sort of bloke that he is said "do you want an E30 then?" after saying how I'd have one if I could get a cheap one he went on to say about one that one of his friends had a 325i Cab and wants rid. To cut a long story short, we agreed on a price (low for an E30 325i Cab but with good reason...) and I went looking for transport companies to get it the 200miles to my house. Booked (on Sat) a brilliant company via Shiply who picked the car up on Monday morning and delivered it to me at 8:30am this morning. Absolutely outstanding service from the guys and very cheap too.
I was at work all day so was feeling like a child at Christmas when 5pm came and I could get back to inspect my new purchase...that's right I hadn't looked it.
Rolled up at the house and grinned ear to ear, then got out and inspected the car. Well, it isn't a minter but I knew this, it'll need lots of work to get it to a pristine level and I'm prepared to do this, have loads of the tools I need and will buy more if I need them. After checking the car out I gave it a fairly good clean, didn't want to go too wild with the hose as I spotted a few spots where water will (and have in some cases) get in the car.
The car had been sat for around 18 months so had gained some moss/algae which I've mostly cleaned off, just some areas are impossible to clean without removing parts. The hood was fairly new when it went off the road so that is good, it needs a proper scrub with a wetvac though to get the soaked in grime from being sat, no biggie. The body had also had a respray a little while before it was laid up, so for the most part it is very tidy. It is however a 24 year old car and so it does have it's problems. The arches, all of them, will likely need cutting and welding, especially the rear driver's side as that is flaking quite badly really. There are a couple of spots of rust in other places but it is mostly rust free which is ace. The window seals though, these are a big problem (luckily I should have it in the garage before it rains on the car) as the pillar seals sit about 5mm from the windows when the doors are closed which is likely going to let rain in. On the interior side of things, it is quite shabby to but it bluntly, but that's fine.
The reason why I got it for a 'low' price is because the engine has gone, as far as the previous owner is aware. He was driving along on the motorway, it stalled and the AA man said it had seized. I've had a look and it is showing signs that it may have blown the head gasket but I can't fully tell until the weekend when I can get my hands grubby in the garage.
All in all though I am very happy with my purchase and I really can't complain for £500 (I'm sure a lot of people would/will complain
). I look at it in terms of cost of car + required parts to get it road legal = less than a shoddy running car (£1200+ for a running car when I looked over the last few days). However I don't plan on just fixing/replacing the engine and then rocking around in a tatty E30, ooooh no, this will be a restoration project for the most part. I want to bring it back to it's former glory and potentially make it much more interesting too. 
Anyway, enough talk, on with the pictures!
Exterior before I put some water on it:
Interior:
145k miles
Engine:
Arches:
Exterior after a quick clean:
Some of you may know I've been through 2x e36s, a 328i that lasted ~4months and a 318iS that I ran for a year. The 318iS was a good car although it had various issues that I just wasn't prepared to fix as whilst it was good, it wasn't great. I sold it and bought a more practical car as I'd been moving house fairly often and figured I wanted the boot space etc.
It's now nearly a year later and I'm chuffing bored of the Mondeo so have been keeping my eye out for potential new cars to replace it. I was eyeing up E36s again but the cost of a decent one with a proper engine made my eyes water, the shoddy ones, well, they are/were fairly costly for what they are and would need loads throwing at them to bring up to the level I'd want. I was also then looking at Mk1 and Mk2 MX-5s as they are brilliant little RWD cars. I decided to wait until I'd driven a mate's Mk1 before I made up my mind, which also gave me plenty of time to get the money I'd need for a half decent Mk2 or a fairly nice Mk1.
So that's how I left it about a month ago, then, last week I was browsing ebay ads and spotted a fairly decent E30 325i Coupe (2 door 'loon if you're picky) that I linked to a few mates saying to them "that'd be an awesome little project" but I also knew the car would go for silly money. One of them though, being the sort of bloke that he is said "do you want an E30 then?" after saying how I'd have one if I could get a cheap one he went on to say about one that one of his friends had a 325i Cab and wants rid. To cut a long story short, we agreed on a price (low for an E30 325i Cab but with good reason...) and I went looking for transport companies to get it the 200miles to my house. Booked (on Sat) a brilliant company via Shiply who picked the car up on Monday morning and delivered it to me at 8:30am this morning. Absolutely outstanding service from the guys and very cheap too.
I was at work all day so was feeling like a child at Christmas when 5pm came and I could get back to inspect my new purchase...that's right I hadn't looked it.
Rolled up at the house and grinned ear to ear, then got out and inspected the car. Well, it isn't a minter but I knew this, it'll need lots of work to get it to a pristine level and I'm prepared to do this, have loads of the tools I need and will buy more if I need them. After checking the car out I gave it a fairly good clean, didn't want to go too wild with the hose as I spotted a few spots where water will (and have in some cases) get in the car.
The car had been sat for around 18 months so had gained some moss/algae which I've mostly cleaned off, just some areas are impossible to clean without removing parts. The hood was fairly new when it went off the road so that is good, it needs a proper scrub with a wetvac though to get the soaked in grime from being sat, no biggie. The body had also had a respray a little while before it was laid up, so for the most part it is very tidy. It is however a 24 year old car and so it does have it's problems. The arches, all of them, will likely need cutting and welding, especially the rear driver's side as that is flaking quite badly really. There are a couple of spots of rust in other places but it is mostly rust free which is ace. The window seals though, these are a big problem (luckily I should have it in the garage before it rains on the car) as the pillar seals sit about 5mm from the windows when the doors are closed which is likely going to let rain in. On the interior side of things, it is quite shabby to but it bluntly, but that's fine.
The reason why I got it for a 'low' price is because the engine has gone, as far as the previous owner is aware. He was driving along on the motorway, it stalled and the AA man said it had seized. I've had a look and it is showing signs that it may have blown the head gasket but I can't fully tell until the weekend when I can get my hands grubby in the garage.
All in all though I am very happy with my purchase and I really can't complain for £500 (I'm sure a lot of people would/will complain
). I look at it in terms of cost of car + required parts to get it road legal = less than a shoddy running car (£1200+ for a running car when I looked over the last few days). However I don't plan on just fixing/replacing the engine and then rocking around in a tatty E30, ooooh no, this will be a restoration project for the most part. I want to bring it back to it's former glory and potentially make it much more interesting too. Anyway, enough talk, on with the pictures!
Exterior before I put some water on it:
Interior:
145k miles
Engine:
Arches:
Exterior after a quick clean:
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
