Shite and Turds

[Felix79]

I never warmed to the term Turd , but it's just part of the zone banter and does no harm to owner or car.

Talk to PacerPete for a period of time and there is a whole new language to describe cars and their owners lol.

When I return to e30's with my next car I will still stay on the zone regardless if it's a classic or not. It will get called a turd but so what?

[gaszman]

and finaly with regard to your 316 comment- a 316i with standard engine etc in stunning condition sold for the £3995 asking price about a month ago, search the threads on here, ok we know most wont fetch that, but very very nice e30s of all models can fetch good money here
cheers i have 1

[capri_rob]

I can see that this sort of attitude will not endear Zoners to the BMW CC.

As a Zoner Why do I need to endear myself to BMWCC ?
I pay my membership because I like the magazine and discounts etc - but I don't feel the need to try and impress anyone there - its not like they can tell anyone what to do!

Surely as a BMW owner its up to BMWCC to attract memberships and get people to join ?

BMWCC is not some exclusive club where you have to be invited to join - its a commercial organisation reliant on people who are interested in BMW's parting with £45 a Year.

Not having a go but It seems you think being a BMWCC member is some sort of privilege which has to be earned. It isnt.

[R4N_S_S]

If a car is worth more in bits than a whole, it does make sense to "frag" or "strip it", especially when you can buy E30s for less than a bag of crisps lol

The more that get broke, will eventually put the prices of decent ones up as there will be less supply to fulfil the demand ;)

[suchy]

Yeah go ahead and keep fragging cars unecessarily. One day (if you still have an E30) you will kick yourself for throwing away that uncracked dash or the bootlid that had a tiny ding in it or the door with the scratch...

[d1mkaz]

As a Zoner Why do I need to endear myself to BMWCC ?
I pay my membership because I like the magazine and discounts etc - but I don't feel the need to try and impress anyone there - its not like they can tell anyone what to do!

Surely as a BMW owner its up to BMWCC to attract memberships and get people to join ?

BMWCC is not some exclusive club where you have to be invited to join - its a commercial organisation reliant on people who are interested in BMW's parting with £45 a Year.

Not having a go but It seems you think being a BMWCC member is some sort of privilege which has to be earned. It isnt.

this exactly

[bab-91]

This probably been said, but im in work and some what busy


I think its just a matter of time before e30's a classic.

Remember my granddad telling me the bottom field used to have a few mk1 and 2 escorts just rotting there before they where turned into toasters.

And at the time they where seen as turds. Has anyone seen the price of escorts now !!!!!!!!

[capri_rob]

If a car is worth more in bits than a whole, it does make sense to "frag" or "strip it", especially when you can buy E30s for less than a bag of crisps lol

The more that get broke, will eventually put the prices of decent ones up as there will be less supply to fulfil the demand ;)

It is annoying that good cars get fragged when they could easily be kept on the road but I can understand why it happens.

The type of vermin that cheap E30's tend to attract means dealing with a lot of messers when trying to sell the car as a whole and being insulted with stupid offers.

A lot of the time its easier to turn a rusty E30 into £1000 in bits over 2-3 weeks rather than advertising the sorry turd for £500 as a project and having to deal with scummers turning up offering £200.

I had no choice when I fragged the bronzit turd - with the bodywork issues I couldn't have got more than a few hundred quid for it - if that - and it would have been a nightmare trying to shift it as a complete car, but the resulting fragfest has paid for the Touring and most of the new parts on it so far - together with the bits I sold keeping other E30's on the road.

Fragging is a necessary evil unfortunately.

Until prices for complete cars start to rise this will keep happening - and the price of complete cars wont start to rise until a lot more are fragged.

[kieran325]

I'm not a member of the BMWCC and I get good discount at the dealers, ask and most will sort you out.

I was in my local a few weeks back and a lad asked me if I had any BMW's, my mates started pissing themselves he said he worked at Williams Mcr on the parts counter and recognised me
He asked where I get my parts from and wanted to know would I be interested taking my custom there, I said I would for a 20% discount and he seemed genuinely happy to help.

I read BMWCar and that magazine is going down the pan!

[pony]

All the really concours, extremely nice BMW E30s iS/Sports/M3/M3 Sport Evolutions are already starting to increase in price if they have not risen alot already.

The really bad ones tend to be quite cheap and associated with "peasants."

Yep the language on here came as a bit of a shock to me as never heard anyone call them these terms.

I personally would not like to see any car scrapped/fragged but it is the way it is. I even gave away my first car for free even though the engine had busted just to save it from the scrap yard. There are alot of bad examples about but mainly because previous owners never cared to service/maintain them.

Anyone looking to make serious money out of anything less than CONCOURS BMW E30s will probably a very long time so i would not look at E30 ownership from the point of view as an investment just enjoy a BMW E30 for what it is and the fun handling.

However, E30s are pricey compared to newer BMWs eg. BMW E30 25i Sport v BMW E46 330Ci Coupe.

BMW Car Club i am a member of this. Yeah it prob does have a slightly uptight image and i am sure some of the owners are uptight. The forum section for E30s is rubbish. It is good the magazine and discounts. I dont think the BMWCC is particurly snotty on the whole just a image that some people have on here. But like in all walks of life you meet all types of people just because you own a BMW E30 does not mean people will necceasrily look down on you. Your basing your whole self-esteem on one car. Yes there will be people with BMW E46 M3 CSLs, E9 CSLs, M1s M5s, M6s etc and vastly more valauble cars but thats life you join the club because you either like BMWs or you do not. Simple.

[DHFiS]

and finaly with regard to your 316 comment- a 316i with standard engine etc in stunning condition sold for the £3995 asking price about a month ago, search the threads on here, ok we know most wont fetch that, but very very nice e30s of all models can fetch good money here
cheers i have 1

That is exactly my point, if it had been a 325 it would have been twice as much.

[ultralinear]

I have little interest in the 'health' of the e30 community. I enjoy discussing things and learning. I have little interest in why other people like their cars.

Thinking about it, I mostly have interest in the survival of decent E30s so I can possibly own them. I'm only interested in non-sunroof chromies (and M3s to some extent). I don't care what happens to other models. The idea of cars and parts increasing in price bothers me if I want to buy new cars/parts!

I don't care about how I appear to the public, let alone to a BMW owner's club.

I don't own a BMW because I believe it affords me status over anyone (I try to downplay the cars I have by keeping the 316 badges on the back!). Various BMWs have true prestige. E30s are not one of them. Look at Stevie. Imagine a 'classic car' with true prestige attracting Stevie!

I love E30s because they look fantastic. Them being RWD and awesome fun is a big bonus.

It is as simple as that.

My cars are not investments. I spend almost all my spare money on them. Bastardising them to my own tastes with the intention of keeping them for the rest of my life. They would sell for a fraction of what I'll be spending on them.

If I won the lottery, I would still exclusively own E30s (maybe an E9 and a Ferrari F40 too for pure love of their looks also). I'm sure many of you can't even associate with that! E30s are just fun or easy to work on; maybe they caught your eye in the 80s...

For me it is true love

[ultralinear]

When driving about, I get admiring looks from only two types of people...

1: Dub scenesters (who give me thumbs up or 'AOK' signs)

2: Blue collar gentlemen between the ages of 30-40 (who simply stare at the car and don't acknowledge me at all)

I don't know what a typical BMW car club patron looks like, but if he saluted my car from a modern BMW, I would be confused!

I expect to stay that way.

[pony]

If i had one the lottery.......there would be a concours BMW E30 325i Sport and a concours BMW E30 M3 Sport Evolution in the collection besides many different road cars.

[BEERBOY123]

E30s are lush. End of.

[MurphyE30]

E30s are Turds. End of.

[Green]

E30s are lush. End of.

[fozzymandeus]

In general, modified cars seldom appreciate in value as classics - with exceptions.

A car with an engine transplant, for example, is a bit snookered. I really don't understand why there's talk of 2.5 litre cars being "classics" while M40 engined ones not having a chance. They arent going to be sought after as classic cars for their performance. Look at values of Alfa GTV juniors compared to 2000 GTVs - sure the 2 litre car is worth a bit more but they are all valuable. The GTA is the performance choice and is worth a lump of cash, much like the M3.

The E30 won't be a classic until people stop seeing a 316i as a "potential M50 conversion". Not that there's anything wrong with someone who puts in the hard work to make one, but it just demonstrates that really it's a pretty 2dr shell for a performance motor.

So, yeah, anyone who's got an M40 engined car that's in good nick who was thinking of changing the engine, sell the car to me and spend the proceeds on an E36 325i

PS 2dr turds only, cheersthanxbye.

[MattTheHat325]

I think different generations may see things differently. Somebody of an age where they were adult/knowledgable when the e30 was still on the forecourts, may well have a different slant on the car than someone like myself who was born midway(ish) through the e30's lifespan in 1985. Many younger enthusiasts don't see the bigger picture of a car and its history etc. Getting anal with terms here, but i think there is a blurry but existent line between a 'cult' classic and a bonafide classic motor car. The e30 in my mind is a cult classic, i.e 'retro'ish car with a huge following from all different walks of life from an oap 1st owner to trampdrift deviants and everything inbetween. They will go up in value the same as everything does. Most cars from that era are increasing in value and good solid original examples are very thin on the ground.
Older guys will not see the appeal with the following but cars of this era are what i cut my teeth on as a budding performance car enthusiast as a child, seeing them on the road, in magazines etc. Sometimes i remember a car i loved and think hmmm i wouldnt mind smoking one of those around for a few months, just so i've owned one, but the resulting searches often end in the same fashion. Very few good examples, the good ones being sold for a hell of a lot more than i imagined. cases in point? Mk2 xr2? Mk1/2 astra GTE? Mk3 cavalier GSI2000 saloon? Mk1 orion ghia? Mk2 sirrocco? XR4x4? Manta of any description? CelicaSupra? Renault 21 turbo?
Now what cars from that era do you see most of on the roads today? Mk1/2 golfs, 205 gti's and e30's. Cult classics. When i think of a classic car i think of leather, wood, chrome and carbs. Think of a cult classic? mk1 golf gti, 205 gti, e30 etc. Loads of them about, most are cheap and rough. The world of old cars is a funny and fickle one but the term 'classic' is very broad and vague and i do think that it has sub sections! Its not all about the value.

Anyway i love mine and whether its worth £5 or £5000 will not affect my enjoyment of it!

[Morat]

I left school in 1990 and my peer group wanted a Golf 16V or a 205 GTI. BMW 3 series was a bit of an "old mans car" to our 18 year old minds. Having said that, they were coming to the end of their run and by the time I finished University an E36 was the place to be for most. I wanted an integrale instead
The coolest cars I remember from school were an M5, a Porsche 928S4 and one lucky bastard's father had a 959. I'll always remember THAT thing rolling up - we were all gobsmacked!

[BEERBOY123]

If you want to know the answer to this stupid OP question, read James Ruppert's book on the 80s car industry (ISBN978-0-9559529-3-7). No question that E30s were the lushingtons and still are.

[pony]

I left school in 1990 and my peer group wanted a Golf 16V or a 205 GTI. BMW 3 series was a bit of an "old mans car" to our 18 year old minds. Having said that, they were coming to the end of their run and by the time I finished University an E36 was the place to be for most. I wanted an integrale instead
The coolest cars I remember from school were an M5, a Porsche 928S4 and one lucky bastard's father had a 959. I'll always remember THAT thing rolling up - we were all gobsmacked!

McLaren F1, Porsche 959, Ferrari F40, Lamboghini Countach with the big rear wing - all proper iconic hypercars that will stand the test of time.

Surprised E30s thought of as old cars.
I remember when the E36 came out and i saw the brochure i looked at it pretty disappointing in BMW Cooper Bishopsgate when i was about 8.

[E30Gheko]

....As a member of the BMW CC and a follower of the Zone and occassional contributor I find this 'language' and attitude somewhat counter productive to the development of the E30 as a future classic and I can see that this sort of attitude will not endear Zoners to the BMW CC......

I couldn't give a toss personally. In my experience the BMW CC have done NOTHING to endear themselves to zoners. Banter aside, if you are looking for a single source for all information relating to E30's then you need look no further than this site. Instead of focusing on that you chose to dwell on the 'language' and 'attitude' of zoners. I'm sure that many of the members of the BMW CC would realise that they also owned a 'turd' (by zone definition) if they could somehow get over the missguided snobbery and pompossity associated with their club.

True many cars are fragged, but many are also lovingly restored and maintained by most on here.

From me its a for the zone, and a to the BMW CC.

[e30topless]

From me its a for the zone, and a to the BMW CC.