When I lived in the UK, I had a particularly tatty 325i (1991) as a second car that I must admit I loved. At some point it must have been quite well looked after, but it was in that critical phase where the rust had begun to nibble.. It was quite fast, good fun, but ultimately not worth much - nor was it worth tidying up the details unless I was prepared to properly tackle the rust. If I'd have kept it, it would only have had at most another couple of years fun in it, keeping the expenditure to patching it up at most..
When we moved to the US, it obviously had to go (it went to Ireland - so I can't do a DVLA check to make sure it's okay...) and I moved on. I sampled what the US car industry had to offer (I'm a cheapskate though, so I was sampling what they were offering 10 years ago, and even then, only what had survived 180,000 miles of someone else's ownership..
That is over 17.5 feet of Mercury Grand Marquis, equipped with almost 200bhp of Ford 4.6l V8. Photographed, believe it or not, on the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That car served it's purpose (of getting me from A to B pretty cheaply and allowing me technically tick the box of "owning a V8" and "owning an American car") but was enough to convince me I needed to change my own gears and experience the sensation of 'involvement' in my choice of direction of travel.. So it was replaced after a year or so with a BMW E39, a 530i:
Which has proved to be a great car, and even quite fun. Though, I should admit that in fairness to the Mercury it replaced, the BMW has required quite a bit more tinkering.. But despite being technically only 1 year apart in manufacture, the BMW is obviously a way more complex machine, the Mercury being an unstressed robustly engineered tank that probably hadn't changed much since the late 80's...
Anyhow, the E39 is very nice - but I missed the relative simplicity nimbleness (and actually the noise - since I think my 325 was missing most of its intake system and some, probably important, sections of the exhaust) of my old E30. I don't normally 'go back' to previously sampled automotive products, preferring to try something new (as long as it's cheap..) and check something else off the list.
(Note: I did at one point about 10 years ago actually write a list of things to aim to own/try. There was even a scoring mechanism so I could compare my tally with colleagues. I don't refer to the list, but in some form or other it does still exist in the back of my mind, and so buying the same thing again is clearly on some level a waste of time / garage space..)
Anyhow, my wife "hinted" that she would only support the purchase of a third car in our household if it were to be a convertible, since she'd probably enjoy driving that occasionally. She did own a convertible once back in the UK, and even in Lancashire she made the most of the limited opportunities to razz about with the top down. Now that we are living in the midwest, with the increased probability of precipitation avoidance, it might be not a bad idea..
So the search was on for a cheap (did I mention I was a cheapskate?) manual E30 convertible that hopefully could have benefited from avoiding the rain and roadsalt that a UK car would have seen, and hence be rust free. That way, if I did decide over time to spend money on it tidying up the details, at least I wouldn't be bolting shiny new parts (who am I kidding, 'slightly better used parts') onto a rotting shell..
Ideally I only wanted to sink $2000 (about 1200 quid) into the initial purchase, since I've found buying used cars in the US a bit hit and miss. In the state where I live (and most surrounding states) there is no MOT equivalent or even emissions test, and at the cheap end of the market cars seem to be lucky to get an oil change (that seems to count in Indiana as 'full maintenance'). I've yet to meet anyone who keeps any service history.. And, I'll be honest, I'm not a mechanic. I get carried away in the car buying process and only see the things I want to see, so if I was going to buy a pup, I wanted to not waste too much of my cash. At $2000, if the thing blew up on the way home, at least I could part it out on Craigslist and get half my money back..
Anyhow - after seeing a few listings, on Craigslist and eBay, I decided the following:
- It seemed about a 50/50 split between Manuals and Autos in the surviving convertible E30 world, which surprised me. A higher proportion of the surviving US hardtops are seemingly Autos, and so the manual 2 door coupes seem to be worth a bit of a premium. But then, people like to track-day a 325i here just as much as back in the UK!
- Rust is just as prevelent in the US, certainly in Indiana and any state to the north.. And when there is no MOT, there's no need to scrap the car, or weld a patch on..
- Few cars that had AC when new still have functioning AC (and they all used R12..)
- All the listings seemed to mention, (or show in the really small photos) cracked dashboards and split trim
- All 325s in the US seemed to get leather as standard.
- I hated the airbag equipped steering wheels
- And the US spec bumpers..
So, I figured the probable non-functioning AC in a $2k car further pointed towards a convertible ('cos you'd have the top down right?) and I needed to look south. I was also by now well aware that if I wanted rust free, I was probably going to have to accept some other compromises..
This eBay listing caught my eye:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121432358511?ss ... 1423.l2649
Text reproduced (as the eBay listing won't last I guess)
"I have a 1990 bmw 325i convertible for sale. 150k miles. 5 speed manual transmission. Runs and drives amazing. Bilstein shocks, besides that completely stock. Every item on this car works as it should, except a/c is not blowing cold and odometer isnt working. Has been very well maintained over the years. I'm the third owner and know the previous two very well. All windows, gauges, trip computers work perfectly. It's always been a third car/weekend car and all of us have thoroughly enjoyed it. Runs tip top. Been driving back and forth to Florida in it the last couple months. 5-6 round trips. Average 25-26 mpg. Never a hiccup. Wouldn't hesitate a second to take off to California right now. It just doesn't work well for two dogs and my surfboards, That is the only reason that I'm selling it. I love this car. It is a blast to drive. The top works but has a rip in the back window, Will keep you dry idea stuck out in the rain storm without any problem, But may leak if you just leave it out in the rain for extended period of time. A couple small dents that I pointed out in the pictures and interior seats are shot. I have the custom fitted seat covers for both front and back seats but they are also a little faded. Great stereo, aftermarket speakers and CD player. If you know e30 BMWs, You know that the value is only going up on these cars. This car is in phenomenal shape for its age it just means the next person to continue to love her. Overall a great car at a fair price. Very low reserve. If you want an incredible driving car this is it. No rust whatsoever. Shifts great, clutch is strong, motor is strong. All glass very good. "
I liked* the listing and had basically decided that this was the new shed for me before I'd even been to look at it. Or spoken to the seller. Or established what his reserve was..
[*discuss: I liked the listing because, even though there was some clear BS, it seemed literately written, pointed out some faults, there were plenty of photos and the photos were taken outside a nice house. He also had 2 BMW 2002s. Which for some reason made him a 'good person'. I will find out in time if I need to revise my way of judging eBay listings..]
I arranged to go and look at it, but as it was a near 5 hour drive away, I took cash, and went in a rental car that i could ditch down there. So basically I was pretty much assuming I was driving it back. (I am now getting used to the idea that in the midwest USA, a 5 hour drive is not so far..) And it was south, where they don't have snow** so the 'rust free' claim was potentially believable.
[**Actually they do have snow occasionally. But they don't expect it, so they don't have salt. According to the seller, when they do get some snow, the roads get very interesting very quickly]
Anyhow, the drive down went well (in a Chevy Captiva - I assume a car that has not made it to Europe with a Vauxhall / Opel badge on, and if it has I assume it's had it's name changed to something that doesn't remind me of a hostage situation..) and it looked okay in the flesh from 10 feet away, which is about as good a distance as any car I've previously owned achieved. We went for a spin, all the controls felt shockingly heavy after the insipid experience of the Captiva.
The hole in the rear plastic window was bigger than it looked in the pictures. The seat covers were ill-fitting and covered really badly split seats. The gearshift felt even sloppier than my last E30 did (and I thought that was bad). I think the seat adjuster was a bit iffy (but many seemed to suffer that problem..) and the paint was a bit, well, odd. There were areas where it simply seemed to have rubbed off.. The exhaust was blowing a bit (at the back box I think) but it actually sounded better for it and it was all a bit grubby.
I bought it for a tad over my $2000 budget, and embarked on a ~300 mile journey home.
Mid route burger stop, no problems to report, other than the fact that I noticed one of my tyres was bald and a different size to the others..:
Like I say, looks ok from 10 feet. The bits above the rear bumper that have faded to white are plastic. Obviously they don't seem to last 25 years of bright southern sunshine well..
Welcomed back to Indiana like heroes:
(That's probably in bad taste - I think there was some kind of funeral parade on the southbound side..)
Anyhow - the journey went well. The radio was loud enough to be heard over the leaking exhaust and wind noise at 75mph, the cruise control worked (which is good, because the throttle pedal made my ankle ache like mad after about an hour - it just seemed so much stiffer than a modern..) and the OBC told me I was getting 25mpg (and that may even be US gallons..) making it the most economical car in our household..
Once tucked up in the garage (check out how a normal US double garage is actually big enough for real cars..) I compiled a little list (whilst worrying about the smell of hot oil..)
Number one is to get a new tyre (sorry tire..) from Walmart. I will go pretty cheap here as I'm tempted to swap out the wheels for something nicer. (Gotta make use of the fact that my American car insurance company doesn't penalize for this..)
Number two has to be to sort out finding some new / replacement seats. The "custom fitted seat covers" very quickly lost their 'fitted integrity' and resembled a half arsed Halloween costume - picture a lanky kid dressed as a ghost, old white bedsheet billowing around them as they run down the street. I knew I would need to get the seats swapped out (as in fact I had to on the E30 I had in the UK. 150 quid got me some "houndstooth sports seats " off eBay.co.uk) but I had hoped the seatcovers would disguise the need for a while. The southern sun may be kind on the metalwork, but the leather has suffered:
The rear is even worse.. I just hope that I've not been a bit stupid in assuming that some reasonable replacement seats are going to be easy to come by. It seems that everyone with an E30 'vert may be looking for the same thing..
Number three may be to replace some of the rubber seals and apply judicious stickytape to make it all a bit more watertight. Again the sun doesn't appear to be too kind to the rubber seals:
Number four might yet be to swap the steering wheel. I hate that airbag wheel, and the leather on that has all decayed away and is now covered by a market stall quality cover..
|http://thumbsnap.com/nogs1YD4[/img]It would be good to investigate that AC system - and see if it can be made to work.. (currently it just does strange things to the idle speed) and I think the ICV could do with a bit of a clean-out.. And I never noticed that the driver's side tweeter is missing. And I think it's worth getting the suspension checked over..
Anyhow - enough rambling. I'll keep you posted.
