My 1983 320iA Coupe Chromie Rightness *Updated 26/04/11*

[RustyRuss]

As you know id been looking for a special E30 to keep as my occasional use classic for a wee while now. Thank you to all who replied offering me cars, but I have now found my perfect lifetime keeper courtesy of Rob on here, many of you wll know the car. As you know im a 100% standard fetishist and this will be how the car will be staying. It had to be a 6Cyl and it had to be an Auto for my likes, so Robs car was perfect. Heres the story from our epic 420 mile drive home yesterday, and from our jaunts in the car today So pleased as always wanted a car from the same year as i was born, well here it is!!

We got picked up by Taxi at 8am and arrived at Edinburgh Airport





It was the first time we had flown on a small propeller job! The plane on the right was ou charriot to Birmingham Airport.



Nice view of the prop from our seat:



Airbourne:





My Iphone seemed to slow things down airbourne creating a mad effect of the propeller lol





Landed at Birmingham



Rob was brilliant throughout and even collected us at the airport in his legendary 432,000 miles E36 Coupe



At Rob's - there she is, the first glimpse of my pride and joy!!



Deal done, we set off on our 420 mile drive home to sunny Dalgety Bay. Our first stop for a fuel and belly fill up!



A wee bit further up the road at the next stop:





Last stop of the day at Purdy Lodge on the A1 for a Fry up:



Said fry up:



Fry Up finished with the key poised ready to go lol



Ready to go the last 90 miles home



Only hold up of the day 85 miles froim home at roadworks, we sat here for 15 minutes while not a lot happened lol



Home. Tucked up in her garage, 420 miles without missing a beat.



Dad and I took her out for a run today with many pictures being taken:

























This afternoon i met up with Scott from the Zone who it turns out lives in the same town as me so we had a meet up and a couple of snaps with his lovely 325i touring:

























And just for all you doubters, lol, the custard test!!!! lol



So there we go folks, my pride and joy, my keeper, that will be getting kept 100% standard and original that will be used sparingly on nice days!!

I genuinely cant say enough praise and thanks to Rob who was brilliant throught, he under described the car if anything and im blown away by how nice it is. He is a top bloke who went well out of his way for us collecting us at the airport etc and he cut me a great deal with the car, cant thank him enough Cant wait for some Scottish Meets now!!! Oh look the suns out....might have to hear that 6cyl burble again and go for a run!!! SOOOO good to be back into E30 ownership and i had forgotten how good they are. Im in love with the car, it has a great history and all handbooks are present etc, its so well specked as well with elec wndows and sunroof, loving the check control, the auto box is a delight (3 speed being a very early car) and im just over the moon with her So nice to have found such an early example without side repeaters etc. The car is so original as well with all original etched glass and dealer tax disc holder etc. Now to sort the little things to make perfect, fit an original mat set when i trace one, i need a passenger side front mudflap, find a BMW glovebox torch, retrofit the original radio that came with the car etc etc. Our first weekend together has been GREAT!!!

Kind Regards, Russell.

[E30BeemerLad]

Cracking looking car and nice write up

[RustyRuss]

Cracking looking car and nice write up

Cheers mate, very much so appreciated

[capri_rob]

Brilliant thread !!

Glad to see this car has found a home with someone who will appreciate it

[Duke137]

Cracking looking car and nice write up

Cheers mate, very much so appreciated

+1 nice one!

[RustyRuss]

Cheers Rob, much appreciated mate Had such a good weekend I will pamper the car and look after her to within an inch of her life!! Cant beat some chromie rightness - yours is a stunner!!!

[RustyRuss]

Cracking looking car and nice write up

Cheers mate, very much so appreciated

+1 nice one!

Cheers Duke mate, appreciated

[gooner1]

As stated, great write up and pics, the 15 minutes of standing still in traffic would
of been a good test of the cars cooling system, not that any was needed.
Lovely looking Chromie.

[RustyRuss]

As stated, great write up and pics, the 15 minutes of standing still in traffic would
of been a good test of the cars cooling system, not that any was needed.
Lovely looking Chromie.

Cheers mate very much appreciated Absolutely - this snap was taken just prior to moving off and the cars temp hardly budged....the car seems very very well sorted!! 420 miles without missing a beat...who could asl for more!!

[lance1a]

Hey Russ......great pictoral thread bud. I'm really happy you bought the car and are happy with it (PS....I didn't leave any junk in the glove box did I?) and it was a pity that you guys were pushed for time a bit and had such a long trip ahead of you as it would have been great to show you around the barns and nattered a while. Always next time though.

Thanks for your kind words.

[RustyRuss]

Hey Russ......great pictoral thread bud. I'm really happy you bought the car and are happy with it (PS....I didn't leave any junk in the glove box did I?) and it was a pity that you guys were pushed for time a bit and had such a long trip ahead of you as it would have been great to show you around the barns and nattered a while. Always next time though.

Thanks for your kind words.

Hey mate, very much appreciated Could not be happier with the car and with the way yesterday went, best weekend ever! No junk in the glovebox bud, just a biro pen which came in handy as i was in the garage needing to write something down when i found it lol. I know about being pushed for time it was a pity not being able to look around and chat otherwise id still of been there blethering as i could blether to you and look at the cars for days!! Absolutely and as i said if your ever up this way be sure to pop in Kind words are more than justified, your a true gent mate.

[suhinaffy]

Nice write up! I quite like this photo.

[RustyRuss]

Chers very much mate it was great to meet you today...feel free to use that one of yours in urban E30's this month mate!! Just getting my dinner then will email you the pics Look forward to another meet up!

[kieran325]

Nice one Russ

That's a good E30 to keep straight and original, all the best with the ownership

And an enjoyable write up too.

[RustyRuss]

Nice one Russ

That's a good E30 to keep straight and original, all the best with the ownership

And an enjoyable write up too.

Cheers very much mate, appreciated Would have driven right past you in Manchester yesterday

The car will be with me forever and thoroughly cherished Cant wait to get stuck in with all my car cleaning gear!!

[magpie]

i think this car is in for some serious pampering.

[RustyRuss]

i think this car is in for some serious pampering.

Hehe cheers mate - never a truer word spoken, ill be living in the garage soon enough smelling of Meguiars!!!

[Finto_316]

sweet car man

[RustyRuss]

sweet car man

Cheers mate, appreciated

[beemerbird]

That's a great write up, lovely looking car, and it's obviously going to be cherished by you. Win win win

[RustyRuss]

That's a great write up, lovely looking car, and it's obviously going to be cherished by you. Win win win

Cherers mate, very much appreciated! Ill look after the car more than myself lol.

[RM2186]

Nice one Russ, great write up too. Car looks great.

Nice touch with the flight pics, we have flown a few times to buy an E30 but never thought to take pics of the flight, or any food consumed for that matter

[RustyRuss]

Cheers mate very much appreciated Flying is the only way to go, £200 for two train tickets or £83 for two flights all in....and about 3 hours a journey shorter!!! This is the age of the plane!!!

Im always taking utterly random photos much to the amusement of people, I must get it from Dad as photography is his hobby and hes always snapping away at random stuff lol. Making a story of the day was fun and passed the time.

[RM2186]

Talking of random photo's, here's one my good lady took today whilst trying to switch the camera off!

[RustyRuss]

Haha i love this!!!! Quite arty in a sort of unplanned way!!! A simple accidental shot tells us so much...it was a nice day, your E30 has an OBC and you were doing about 2000rpm lol

[shedrool83]

Nice car very clean and original.

[spook]

Good work all round, fair play for making the worth while effort of coming South

[RustyRuss]

Nice car very clean and original.

Cheers mate, much appreciated, no doubt meet up at a meet soon

[RustyRuss]

Good work all round, fair play for making the worth while effort of coming South

Cheers mate, appreciated! Its where all the best cars certainly are, if i had waited for one up here id be waiting years lol

[Karlos1981]

Fantastic looking car mate, great colour, looks so right Real nice write also

[RustyRuss]

Fantastic looking car mate, great colour, looks so right Real nice write also

Cheers mate very much appreciated!! Im a happy camper!!!

[darkchild]

Great thread. I'm really glad this has found a caring owner as it looks a cracking little car. I can't believe it was up for sale for so long as there can't be many better examples.

[RustyRuss]

Thanks mate very much appreciated! I can't believe it was for sale for so long either as this came up for sale just as I was thinking about selling my previous classic and thought dam that is perfect, couldn't believe it was still here when I finally got the cash together! I will pamper it within an inch if it's life! Certainly a fairweather machine now, who else but a caring owner would be in the garage pre 7am this morning polishing and detailing lol

[capri_rob]

Any more pics Russ ? Engine bay /Interior ? what you been doing to it this morning ?

[bmwsport]

When i saw the for sale thread i was really, really tempted as it was clearly a genuine low mileage, unmolested car in excellent condition but I promised myself that one E30 is enough for me, it gets so little use as it is. Plus there is only one garage bay (the other side is full of work junk) so i couldn't justify having another just sat one the drive rotting away...

I also could not believe it hung around for sooo long too as it was obvious the car had so much potential at a very attractive price but i think in general nothing is shifting these days from houses to cars and in terms of cars the older and 'less economical' due to the extortionate price of fuel.

Anyway good buy, i'm glad its still here on the zone.

Chromie FTW