Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I posted on here. Hope you’re all well
I have a little dilemma. In August 07, I left England and moved to Holland. Alas, I had to leave my beloved E30 behind. The plan was, my brother would keep it ticking over so when I came back to visit, I could keep using it.
However, due to finances and time, I haven’t been able to return as often as I would like so I need to do something with the car. Taking it to Holland isn’t really practical as driving it on the ”˜wrong’ side of the road would be a major pain in the ass. So, I need to get rid of it even though it breaks my heart
It’s pretty much the only thing I miss about England (apart from fish and chips and proper beer ;) )
Some history about the car:
It’s a 1989 316i in Wine Red which I bought around 7 years ago
I kept it a couple of years totally standard before making a few changes.
Replaced the interior from the horrible beige to grey comfort.
Front indicators, side indicators and rear lights blacked out.
Front IS spoiler fitted
Rear spoiler fitted (the standard little rubber one as I didnt’ want anything too fancy)
De-chromed
Genuine 15”a BBS wheels fitted (with all centre caps)
Eyebrows.
Lowered 40mm
M-tech steering wheel
Overall the car was in pretty damned good nick for her age. I had the clutch done, all the suspension bushes sorted (those rear ones were a nightmare apparently), serviced regularly.
When I changed the carpet, I was expecting to find some nasty surprises but the metal work underneath was still shiny. The only rust anywhere on the car was by the rear towing hooks (the normal place!) apart from that, not a spot of rust anywhere. She ran great, was cheap to insure and pretty good on petrol.
I’ve attached a couple of pictures so you can check her out.
Now, here’s where the problem starts. Just before I left England, the battery went so I got a nice shiny (and expensive!) new one. I was running a very large amp and sub at the time so got a decent battery.
Off to Holland I went and my brother just took the car out once a week to keep it running nicely. However, after a few weeks, the battery was flat again. Sounds like maybe the alternator needs replacing. The problem was, I wasn’t in a financial position to be able to get it replaced.
So the car sat. Basically, it hasn’t been driven for about a year. It’s been SORN’d ( Sept O8) and the MOT ran out in March the same year.
As you can imagine, sitting at the front of my house hasn’t done it any favours. It’s now a bit of a mess. A couple of different guys keep popping around and asking my brother. One want’s to strip it and the other wants to buy it as he wrote off his previous E30. £50 has been offered.
Now, I know that the parts on the car that I added are worth considerably more that £50 but I also realise that a non-running, SORN’d, no-MOT car ain’t gonna be worth a lot. I also realise that, even if I threw £500 (guessing a price. It needs a battery, possible an alternator, a damned good service, Tax and MOT) at it to get it running again probably isn’t worth it as I wouldn’t be able to get much more for it.
So, what do I do? I offered it to my cousin but he can’t afford the insurance (stupid dick got caught pissed behind the wheel). My other thought was to maybe put it on these forums to see if any of you guys could give it a good home.
Yes, it’s stupid to get so attached to a car. After all, it’s just a piece of metal, but she was my first car too.
http://s663.photobucket.com/albums/uu35 ... poiler.jpg
My apologies the the long and rambling post.
The good news is, I'm probably getting my job back this week (been out of work for 3 months) and there's loads of E30's for sale over here. It'll take me a while, but I'm determined to get another one!
