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, Detachable tow bar HELP!!
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:17 pm
by magpie
i've just acquired another e30 that has a detachable tow bar fitted
how much is it worth ?
i did read on here that these are rare and quite expensive when new
so who has sold one and how much

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 4:17 pm
by stew72
worth about £30 mate, but I'm in a generous mood so I'll go to £35

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 4:38 pm
by magpie
i'm leaning more towards £45

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 4:53 pm
by Sanchez
Tony has one that as far as I know is unsold at 180. I paid 120 delivered for mine from Chris-W a few years ago.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 4:56 pm
by magpie
cheers,i knew they were not cheap.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 5:16 pm
by Sanchez
Chris gave me a discount on advertised price as well.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:21 am
by B7
Should be worth good money this. They were fortunes when new and if the keys are all there and it all still works, worth a premium even now. Lovely bit of kit, you'd never know the car was wearing a bar unles A) the swan neck is fitted and B) you looked underneath.
Mate had one new in 1988 on his new 325i. To tow his windsurf trailer. How retro would that be now in your Hot Tuna shorts and tee!
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:02 am
by adit
Don't give him ideas Trev

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:13 am
by magpie
how do i copy a pic off ebay and paste it on here?the car has been taken down as i have done a deal and paid a deposit so it's no good searching for it lol.
or how do i save the screen i'm looking at ??
i have a pic of it but it's not copy-paste.....able from the add.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:28 am
by BMWE30325
magpie wrote:how do i copy a pic off ebay and paste it on here?the car has been taken down as i have done a deal and paid a deposit so it's no good searching for it lol.
or how do i save the screen i'm looking at ??
i have a pic of it but it's not copy-paste.....able from the add.
hold Ctrl and press print screen button on the keybaord then open up paint and press paste then save image. And you will have the picture of what you have on the screen, something like this
look for this button on the keyboard
and hold down Ctrl button and press the one shown on the picture

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:20 am
by magpie
done it, OH YES i'm so fooking good ....

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:25 am
by BMWE30325
magpie wrote:done it, OH YES i'm so fooking good ....

at killing campers on mw3?

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:34 am
by magpie
prestiged 9 times now

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:46 am
by magpie
i want to show the pic i have but i'm terrified it will be zoomed in on and the blurry pixels ripped apart in public

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:51 am
by BMWE30325
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:31 pm
by magpie
here's a piccy i prepared earlier
there is a key with it ,apparently it's a little red one lol.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:39 pm
by Sanchez
the key locks the ball in place so no one can nick the ball bit making it worthless.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:55 pm
by magpie
does your one look the same ?
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:33 pm
by jonny323i
i messaged the original guy when he was selling the car and said it sold weeks ago did it fall through green tourer wasnt it
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 8:43 pm
by magpie
jonny323i wrote:i messaged the original guy when he was selling the car and said it sold weeks ago did it fall through green tourer wasnt it
it's a silver one Jon.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:05 pm
by Sanchez
magpie wrote:does your one look the same ?
Nope, mines a westfalia ones from BMW. Has a 19mm bolt through some bracketry and the wiring socket doesnt move.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E30-Westf ... _500wt_997
Little like the above but the ball/hook is removeable and wiring socket fixed.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:05 pm
by jonny323i
Shows how crap my memory is lol
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:06 pm
by jonny323i
Shows how crap my memory is lol
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:29 pm
by B7
magpie wrote:here's a piccy i prepared earlier
there is a key with it ,apparently it's a little red one lol.
That needs to go on the back of a Renault 25 and driven into the woods. Pete knows the score!!!

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:47 pm
by magpie
so ot's not a bmw one then ?
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:21 pm
by Jones
I paid £100 for one off of maggspower and he even dropped it off too

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:40 am
by magpie
Jones wrote:I paid £100 for one off of maggspower and he even dropped it off too

sounds like yours was a bargain reading what others have paid .
any pics of it ?
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 6:54 am
by B7
magpie wrote:so ot's not a bmw one then ?
Sorry confused you. I was referring to Petes fave video of some french pikey in the woods.
No looks the real deal to me.

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:55 am
by clipper
My car's option list shows a "detachable towbar" as a factory fitted option, but the towbar fitted, while it is detachable, doesn't look anything like the ones in this thread....
It's Westfalia branded but the bracket is visible below the rear valance, the ball is not on a swan-neck, just a detachable angled bar which slots into a hole in the bracket and secured with a cotter pin and R clip.
Reckon it's been swapped over at some point and no longer sporting the factory fitted version ?
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:01 am
by B7
I'm sure the originals had the keys with the round red plasic tops.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:13 am
by jmc330i
clipper wrote:My car's option list shows a "detachable towbar" as a factory fitted option, but the towbar fitted, while it is detachable, doesn't look anything like the ones in this thread....
It's Westfalia branded but the bracket is visible below the rear valance, the ball is not on a swan-neck, just a detachable angled bar which slots into a hole in the bracket and secured with a cotter pin and R clip.
Reckon it's been swapped over at some point and no longer sporting the factory fitted version ?
Could've been swapped over the years, or its quite possible there was more than one version available over the years of production. BMW would use the towbar that westfalia were producing at the time.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:21 am
by e301988325i
regards trawling up finished ebay listings, they still come up if you search on ebay for the item number, or just do a normal search and tick the completed listings box.
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:27 am
by clipper
jmc330i wrote:clipper wrote:My car's option list shows a "detachable towbar" as a factory fitted option, but the towbar fitted, while it is detachable, doesn't look anything like the ones in this thread....
It's Westfalia branded but the bracket is visible below the rear valance, the ball is not on a swan-neck, just a detachable angled bar which slots into a hole in the bracket and secured with a cotter pin and R clip.
Reckon it's been swapped over at some point and no longer sporting the factory fitted version ?
Could've been swapped over the years, or its quite possible there was more than one version available over the years of production. BMW would use the towbar that westfalia were producing at the time.
So all BMW "factory" towbars are Westfalia then ?
Good enough for me ! Pitty it's not one of the completely hidden ones though....

Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:31 am
by maggspower
magpie wrote:Jones wrote:I paid £100 for one off of maggspower and he even dropped it off too

sounds like yours was a bargain reading what others have paid .
any pics of it ?
Hi there, the one you have Magpie is an OEM Westfalia as fitted when new. I'm not in to pulling stuff behind my e30 but I know good engineering when I see it, and theses are really well made. The beauty is in the fact you can take it off and you would never know you had a tow bar fitted, and that they are plug and play, no wires to cut, you do have to drill a 20mm (from memory) hole behind the bumper for the electrics to go through.
If you want to actually sell it I think £100 is fair, theres not many who want to tow behind an e30 now, and there are others at higher prices that have not sold.
I have never used one , but I will be on wednesday, not for a caravan I hasten to add
HTH
Re: what's the crack, Detachable tow bar ?
Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:51 am
by jmc330i
clipper wrote:
So all BMW "factory" towbars are Westfalia then ?
Good enough for me ! Pitty it's not one of the completely hidden ones though....

No idea if all were westfalia ones, I was just saying that a westfalia towbar fitted at new in 1988, could differ from those fitted in 1990. Thinking about it, there could of also been 2 versions available anyway - 1 detachable, 1 completely hidden??
Think I'd rather have a normal non-detachable one fitted, the one on my old touring saved the backend after being rear ended - only a small knock, but there was no damage to mine other than the rubber ball cover and a small scratch on the bumper insert, the car that hit me needed a new bumper and number plate!