E30 Zone

Hi, I have been offered an early Macau Blue Motorsport edition convertible by a friend of mine. I have not seen the car since he purchased it some 5 or 6 years ago.

I do know however, that its a Genuine early, Manual, metal bumper, manual roof car, with the 'FULL' leather Motorsport interior, in Macau Blue with a blue hood.

The car has 110k with a full service history and mechanicaly is in tip top condition. It is fitted with a genuine Tech 1 bodykit, although this was fitted by a bodyshop when my friend bought the car, and not by the factory.

There are a few bad points:

Drivers seat bolster possibly needs a re-trim, although from the description my friend has given me, it sounds like it could just need a smart repairer to come and do a fill and re-colour on the panel.

The roof needs replacing, its not ripped, but the rear screen is tired and its very faded.

There is a rust scab on a rear wing, where a phone aerial was fitted many years ago.

But realy those are the only negatives.

My question is..... At a thousand (what i have been offered the car for) would i likely see a big loss if i had to sell the car come the end of summer, if i rectified all the bad bits and gave the car a new lease of life?

You'd make money on it.. For sure! (I might even buy it!)

Snap it up at that price.

Thanks chaps..... I kinda figured it was a good price. But knowing how particular i can be, I just needed to know there was still a demand for these.... I know the later bubble/lotus leather Motorsports command a premium, but wasnt to sure about these early manual roof cars.

Might just buy it, and store it until i have purchased our bigger house, and then see what kind of situation i am in finacialy as i would like the car to be a keeper but have a couple of other cars.

In that situation i would most likely be taking away from the cars origionality a little further as i'd like chromework instead of the de-chromed trims, rear headrests and some staggered Lenso BSX's

I figure.....

£850 for the roof

£300 for the rust spot

£700 for the wheels

£400 for the bolster and rear head restraints

£300 sourcing the chrome trims

£500 on other little bits and pieces

Thats a cheap Motorsport Cab., snap it up!

2nd hand roofs go for £300-350, so minus £500 from your estimate
chrome trim would not cost £300

so you have already saved quite a bit from your estimate

There's a product around for restoring faded rear windows, I've no experience of it or remember what it's called, just saw it in total bmw. will look it up tonight.

It would also be possible to do a swap with somebody for Chrome/shadow trims, a lot of folks prefer the shadowline look.

HTH

Personally i would leave the shadow line trim as its part of the motorsport package so would detract from its originality but the rear head rests would have been an option so that's fine.

I would also keep the standard 15" BBS on it rather than the lenso's but they are easily reversible unlike the chrome trims.

For the faded rear window you can use a product called Renovo which polishes the plastic screen back to almost new. If you want a new hood, I can recommend these guys, I had an E36 M3 vert and had a new power hood fitted by them, they did a top job.

http://www.carhood.com/bmw/

Hope this helps.

If the bodywork is reasonable/good, I would have thought the cars worth twice what you're being offered it for. I've read on other threads there were only 40 metal bumper Macau motorsports sold in uk in 1988, so regardless of desirability it's a rare car worth saving.

Tech 1 kit has a more classic, less council look than later body kits. I've spent a few £k restoring mine and love the look and colour. I've no intention of selling so don't give a toss about the "investment".

being a motorsport it should have a hydro power hood,personally i'd rather spend my money getting that working again before the bling wheels and chrome.

Sounds like an early '88 with manual roof and seat pins rather than the leather tricolour flashes?

Early '88 Motorsports definitely did come with chrome rather than shadowline, though shadowline may also have been available, I've certainly had one with chrome, but if it's shadowline, leave it. It looks far better, is far more saleable and it's correct for the car. Originality is everything with these rare cars. Keep it as it left the factory.

The '88s also had manual as opposed to hydraulic roofs which appeared in the '89 models.

The '88 ones really only had the interior and paint - and that will be "sonderlack" on the paint code sticker rather than Macau.

Thanks for the feedback chaps.....

With regards the roof. It is a manual roof from the factory. Apparently the problem doesnt lay so much with the rear window or any rips as such, but with all the stitching slowly disapearing. The rear aerial is scabbing as opposed to hole of rust and it is the only rust that the owner is aware of on the whole car. I could be wrong but i am sure the seats have the leather M-Sport colours and not the seat pin colours.

I dont have chance to go and see the car for another week or so, but think i may have some pics of the car on my PC back at home (i'll check tonight and post if i do). TBH i'm probably going to buy it, With MOT and Tax its worth using as is, there isnt anything fundamentaly wrong with the car, its just that my friend has bought a new work van, has no need for the car and cant be bothered advertisisng it, just that i know i will never be satisfied driving the car with imperfections.

Also, the car sadly doesnt have the origional wheels, it sits on a set of aftermarket 17" alloys.

blingsta wrote:chrome trim would not cost £300

I'd be very surprised if it didn't...

here are some pics.....

My memory was wrong, it does have the pin badges on the seats and not the leather stripes.

Looks good, get it bought!

thats a good buy for £1000. change the wheels and it would be spot on

Really like that - Tech I for the win!!

looks very nice...for a grand ...ide have it !!

That for a grand?! Nice.

New roof - £500 fitted.

88 Motorsport. Very rare. Only 40 made.

Ditch the wheels and the ghetto drop.

Well worth £1000.

Apart from the wheels,that looks great! Of those 40 cars,25 were manual btw.

I have one sat on my drive!

Gert_8 wrote:New roof - £500 fitted.

Who supplies and fits for £500 ? Any links please ?

Hi mate this one is a new roof on ebay Item number: 120839501739 BMW 3 Series E30 & E36 Hood Hoods Top Soft Tops Roof Superior Design & Precise Fit £349.20 +£14.40

lukescott wrote:

Gert_8 wrote:New roof - £500 fitted.

Who supplies and fits for £500 ? Any links please ?

Google carhops warehouse. They are in Surrey and that's what I paid, but it was a couple of years ago. I'll have a look again later to see if prices have moved.

I have one of these early Motorsports. Looks a nice car and a bargain at that price.

I've fairly recently had my drivers seat back bolster repaired to a good standard for £60.

Get some BBS's on, ditch the m-badge and you have a nice looking car.

Gert_8 wrote:

lukescott wrote:

Gert_8 wrote:New roof - £500 fitted.

Who supplies and fits for £500 ? Any links please ?

Google carhops warehouse. They are in Surrey and that's what I paid, but it was a couple of years ago. I'll have a look again later to see if prices have moved.

http://www.carhood.com/bmw/

Mattyc wrote:I have one of these early Motorsports. Looks a nice car and a bargain at that price.

I've fairly recently had my drivers seat back bolster repaired to a good standard for £60.

Get some BBS's on, ditch the m-badge and you have a nice looking car.

Replacing the wheels is one of the first things i will do for sure!
The 'M' Badges are gonna come off to (will keep the 325i badge though) My friend told me that he was quoted £100 to have the bolster look like new again.
I have a mate who can hopefully sort the rust scab around the aerial for mates rates and that just leaves the roof to be sorted.

There are small things like changing the indicators back to ambers, popping in some new fog lamps and trying to source some headrests for the rear and a fitting kit for them. but thats minor stuff.

I think i am probably going to have the car as a keeper as, of all the cars i have ever owned the car i miss the most is my old E30 Convertible that i bought myself as a 21st Birthday prezzy 15 years ago.

Should look good after the work you list.

Theres a guy on here - Z3I - selling an excellent blue roof on a manual frame for £350 which would sort you out nicely, have a look in parts for sale.

It'll be a nice car to keep for sunny days and more fun than money in the bank!

Well, Hopefully i should be able to collect this today, unless my friend who ive bought it off, will store her for me ( i have issues with lack of space at the moment).....

Anyway, was poncing around on paint.net last night trying to visualise how the car will look if i do the planned mods.....



I dont plan on using BBS, but couldnt find a decent Lenso BSX image to use.

Now i know it takes away from the cars origionality but if i am going to keep her, then i dont care about that....

fingers crossed then Rich, keep us posted

Well, he can hold onto the car for me, he needs to get his plate transferred anyway.
Had the bonus of finding out the car has had a scorpion exhaust system fitted since I last saw the car (thankfully with normal twin 3" pipes and not DTM ones)
Bodywork is completely solid (well, everywhere I could check) little bits of tidying but nothing more than a weekends worth of time, and the roof needs attention but is still perfectly useable and watertight, it had a new green tint rear window fitted and new front seals just before the stitching started its disappearing act.
Amongst all the service history there are receipts for new tyres, bushes, dampers and springs and front/rear brakes 10 months ago and he's even gonna stick a fresh MOT and six months Tax as it all runs out this month.

Downside..... It's a bit 'Tappety' top end but pulls well, and the drive train and steering is completely tight.

Deals done though, so it's all irrelevant