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One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 3:15 pm
by rizla2
http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/pri ... le&trecs=7
Well after a bit of searching this has just recently come up, going to see it on this Saturday.
From i've been told so far, it's a 2 owner, previous guy bought it off his boss, has log books and spare key, up to date service history, not sure about the fan thing he's going on about in th ad.
It look likes the driver's seat is bust, if you look in the photo from the rear it's leaning a bit at an angle and it'll need a new front bumper plus some centre caps for the BBS alloys.
The hood is electric but not working at the mo, so maybe it'd be nice to have working or a manual conversion looks likely.
Not by me though, someone who know's what they're doing, plus a slight ding inon the front off side wing.
Does anyone know about replacement parts over here, what's the liklihood of getting any?
Anyway, thoughts and opinions greatly appreciated.
Stevo
ps/ the dodgy looking rear seat is some kind of special cover the current owner put on to protect the leather from the sun and can be removed..
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 6:30 pm
by nickso
the fan is a viscous fan and he seems to have had it changed. front seat frome is buggered by the looks of it. check that bumper hasn't pushed back the front panel too.
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:44 pm
by m_jermyn
Gday Steve,
Was wondering how you got on with the others mate... Like I said before mate If you want someone to come with you to look at the car I only live 30 mins from Bondi... Replacement parts are available over here but I get them from the US as it is cheaper to purchase them over there and pay for postage then it is to simply buy them here...
The car looks good in the photos but photos can hide a million things..
Mike
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:12 pm
by psychochild187
look out for foot prints on the boot lid and wings.
them some high photos there.
may i ask whats on the dash . looks like a swede cover
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 11:29 pm
by aeberbach
Looks OK to me and the price isn't bad. I would be wary of modifications, looks like a suspiciously shiny radiator but it might just be an aftermarket thing.
Beautiful interior - if the seat has gone bad maybe it can be repaired. Finding spare sports front seats locally is kind of hard.
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 7:36 am
by poolnoodle
Pretty high mileage Steve but OK if it has been looked after.
Getting a good dash will be the biggest hassle - looking at $500-$600 at least for an uncracked one...if you can find one.
I checked out a '93 cab (black one in Launceston, still on carsales) a while back and the owner has dropped the price by $6K

A really nice car with low kms but I didn't go much on the auto box. If you can pick it up cheap then $$$ left over to convert it to manual.
BBS centre caps can be pricey too.
Good luck and keep us posted
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 8:27 am
by rizla2
m_jermyn wrote:Gday Steve,
Was wondering how you got on with the others mate... Like I said before mate If you want someone to come with you to look at the car I only live 30 mins from Bondi... Replacement parts are available over here but I get them from the US as it is cheaper to purchase them over there and pay for postage then it is to simply buy them here...
The car looks good in the photos but photos can hide a million things..
Mike
Well,
Firstly, I'd just like to say a, BIG THANKS to Mike for coming with me and giving up his valuable time on Saturday to look at this vehicle!! Cheers Mate.
The vehicle itself looked good from afar, but far from good! Mechanically it was ok(ish) it went ok but bodywork and cosmetically, NO, it would have cost me too much and would have meant me spending too much time and money on it, for the right one yes no probs, but not this one.
So, my search continues...
Steve,
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:25 am
by poolnoodle
http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/pri ... &silo=1011
I have driven this car Steve and it is pretty solid. I passed on it because he wanted $17K at the time and it was too much - as you can see he has dropped the price quite a bit

. A nice car but no room at mine

Well worth a look IMO
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:59 am
by rizla2
poolnoodle wrote:http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/pri ... &silo=1011
I have driven this car Steve and it is pretty solid. I passed on it because he wanted $17K at the time and it was too much - as you can see he has dropped the price quite a bit

. A nice car but no room at mine

Well worth a look IMO
Hey Matey!
Good to hear from you, i've seen that one advertised, i wasn't sure for some reason, it's an auto, which really doesn't bother me at all, but i'd prefer it with the switchable sport box and of course oa change of those fan-dango wheels
Other than that it all seemed good.
How come you'd driven this one?
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Sat Jul 03, 2010 11:13 am
by m_jermyn
Hey Steve.
Not a problem happy to help mate...
Re: One for the Aussie Fellas - Could this be the ONE!
Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:59 am
by poolnoodle
those fan-dango wheels
The wheels are pretty ordinary - I was plannng to put the Z1 alloys off my chromie on it and go all OE with some bottle tops. Sell those ones on
How come you'd driven this one?
Before I bought my 02, I was looking for another project and fancied a cabbie so took it for a couple of good test runs.
After I had driven it I decided that "top down" travel wasn't really practical in Tassie - better suited to the warmer climes of Sydney or further north.
Certainly a pretty solid car with only a couple of issues. The owner did admit to me that it had broken a cam belt at some stage but no damage had been done. I never had my mechanic check it but it felt good and pulled strongly with no odd noises.
Very lower kms a big plus but minuses - bad dash, bad wheels, original leather replaced in tacky vinyl, a couple of minor body scuffs, rear window split
Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:36 am
by m_jermyn
Re:
Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 1:40 am
by m_jermyn
Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:25 pm
by aeberbach
You could have mine...
See my posts for a whole lot of pictures including the new head.
I am seriously about to give up because I just need to get to work. It's got a cutting out problem that I can't trace but I now think may be related to the auto trans, so for a manual conversion...
Re:
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:56 am
by rizla2
aeberbach wrote:You could have mine...
See my posts for a whole lot of pictures including the new head.
I am seriously about to give up because I just need to get to work. It's got a cutting out problem that I can't trace but I now think may be related to the auto trans, so for a manual conversion...
All good, but no thanx buddy, cheers for the offer tho.
Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 9:53 am
by poolnoodle
Hey Steve,
How about this one for a base car to build on - looks clean and straight with low kms. Probably a bit highly priced and I'm pretty sure it isn't an M3

as the badge suggests
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1988-bmw-325i-e3 ... 2308824e93
Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:46 am
by Z3I
Why not book yourself a months holiday up here in the UK, buy yourself a nice mint E30 of your choice, theres plenty to pick from on Pistonheads, Ebay and the like, store it for a year here whilst being the registered owner, then ship it to Oz in a small container. Whilst its here, get it filled with all those bits that are hard to find in Oz and ship them with the car! Might even pay for its passage!
I know a guy in Canvey Island who has a huge barn who imports cars from Australia and stores them for clients, and vice-versa for cars going to Oz. I delivered a hardtop for an M3 convertible that was heading for Batemans Bay a couple of years ago. it was converted to RHD by another mate in Terrigal.
Easy!
Re:
Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:33 pm
by m_jermyn
When you import a car from the UK to Australia you import the rust with it

Very few of our cars are rusty... And when you import it its resale value is much lower unless its a alpina or something similar