Saw this on Ebay Saturday night while i was sat at a mates having a few drinks and it was finishing within the hour so in went a half hearted bid since it was local, turned out i'd only been outbid by a tenner. Mulled it over and the next day dropped the seller a message saying i was still interested if the buyer messed him about, thought there was a good chance since he had 0 feedback and lived miles away. Suprise suprise i get a phone call Monday night just as i started work saying the winning bidder is faffing about saying he can't find a way to get the car back to Lancashire since it has no TAX, auction clearly stated collection within 48hrs as he needed it out the way so yesterday afternoon i found myself at a dodgy looking back street tyre fitters in Leicester exchanging some cash for a Diamond Swartz 325i Touring with council 5 spokes but crucially 11 months MOT.
First impressions where pretty much as i expected, tatty drivers seats, numerus crusty scabs, broken trim and general filth and tattyness. Had a new near side wishbone and the footwells had been welded up for this years MOT, nothing out the ordinary for one of these really.
Get sent on my way being told there's a massive wedge of paperwork in the glovebox, didn't really take any notice of that as looking at the general condition of the car it would be pretty meaningless.
Anyway, here's a few pics for you to get the idea;
Once i got home i had a better look round it and checked out a few things i'd noticed. Remains of the headlight wash wipes system were just that, no motors or wipers but all the rest is still there. Also had a closer look at the drivers side wing, i'd already spotted a lack of rust on the bottom when i was picking it up, looks like it has had a new wing recently fitted as there is no rust on it at all and it seems a genuine one looking at the fit/finish around the grill. Th next thing that had caught my eye (but only once i'd got home) was the fob on the key ring with the ignition key, was a BMW fob which despite the numerus E30's i've owned i have never seen, turns out it's fitted with a genuine alarm and remote central locking and to top it all off it works!! The other thing i was really pleased with was the condition of the lights, front headlights and fogs are in excellent condition and it got proper smoked indicators instead of ones that have been sprayed. Was also happy to see a new Nissens rad in fitted and also a leather handbrake handle, that will be finding it's way into the chromie to go with the leather gator from the Tech 2 Touring
Minty wing, front valance doesn't quite match though.......
Today i've given it a quick service, new oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter and spark plugs. Old plugs were nice and brown so a good sign it's running ok. However it really doesn't like ticking over when it's cold, as soon as it's warm it's sweat as a nut. Any ideas what this could be? Wass suspecting the AFM since it was missing it's cover, consequently all the contacts were a bit dirty to got some degreaser in there and wiped it clean but that's made no difference.
Also upgraded to a cassette player......
At least i know that works, destined for the chromie. Only downside is that the right hand side of the screen doesn't seem to light up very well.
Now last night i grabbed the paperwork from the glovebox to flick through, he wasn't wrong, there's stacks of it. Well stamped service book, pair of handbook, service books, alarm instructions, dealer leaflets etc. Then i dug a little deeper, lots of sorn notices, ECP reciepts, BMW parts reciepts. First thing that caught my eye was a reciept from ECP for a wood effect trim for £122, made me chuckle and no signs of that anymore. Then there was a HPi report from 2003, all clear until i got to the last page when it said the was a mileage discrepancy, 12000 miles had disappeared, still didn't stop that person buying it looking at the fact there's SORN notices in their name and address for a few years after that. Then that's what really grabbed my eye's, the address of the previous owner from 2003 on. Was in a village very local to me, Googled the address and turns out this is a car i had my eyes on about 3 years ago. Had seen it parked up on someones front garden for a while without moving, i went along one day to leave a note to see if they were interested in selling but it had gone and never returned.
Just done an MOT history check as both me and the chap thought it had been stood a fair while, on the DVLA website the only MOT history is last years MOT and the one it's just got. Looks like it's been stood a long long time, when did the new MOT system come in, 5 or 6 years ago?
Anyway, turned out there is some reminants of the wood effect trim,
Plans are now to give it a camebelt and water pump change (seem's a good oppurtunity to attempt this for the first time) and then maybe get hold of a decent front valance an front lip spoiler. Might also make some effort to touch some of the paintwork up now i have an air compresser and spray gun but it's going to have to fit in around work on the chromie. Might have to reove the towbar as well as it's causing my Leon to stick right out onto the pavement, or i suppose i could learn to tow
