I don't think I've ever done a thread on this car, even though I've owned it for a decade... the longest I've ever owned any car. I must like it.
(photos from a few years ago when last on the road!)
The car is all standard and original, a genuine 325i Sport and has approx. 153k miles on it. It's a 5 speed manual with factory LSD. I borrowed it from my friend in 2006 when he moved to London and had nowhere to park, then bought it from him in 2007 and have owned it since. It's been garaged for the majority of my ownership.
It's had very little use over the last 5 years, and in fact was last on the road in 2013 if I remember correctly. It was my daily driver around 2007 - 2010, did a few 'Ring trips, then got used occasionally for weekend use 'til 2013. It has since been sat in my garage but started up every month or two, driven out of the garage, checked over etc. and a few bits and pieces fettled, fixed and replaced. I've always serviced it on time rather than mileage so often changed the oil and timing belt with only hundreds rather than thousands of miles since the last. As it's got older, I've not wanted to use it for daily stuff which is a shame as it means it never gets driven and should do. Best fun I ever had was daily driving this in winter years ago, my commute has been much less fun since.
My intention this year after owning it for a decade and being on the cusp of a significant birthday (40) is to treat the old girl to a mini restoration, get the car roadworthy, an MOT, make some improvements and hopefully drive it over to Germany with my brother in law who is the same age as me and also working on an E30 project (he's fitted an M20 into a 2 door 4 cyl model and intends to add a turbo).
I'm starting this thread to keep me motivated, document progress and also hopefully generate some interest from other fans of old BMWs as I'll no doubt need some help and advice tracking parts down, fixing it's foibles etc. The car is complete, original and runs well, but by no means perfect and will need some of attention to get it back to the standard it was when I first bought it.
Over the last 10 years I've occasionally toyed with replacing this car with something more powerful (and indeed, I've owned plenty of other cars at the same time that are more powerful, newer, different) but love the simplicity of the E30, the classic shape and style so it's always managed to keep it's hold on my garage space even if it's fuel economy (or lack of) put it out of daily service years ago.
I'll dig out a few old pics of the car and post them along with a list of bits and pieces of advice and parts I'll probably need.
