A very rare offering

[poolnoodle]

You don't see these everyday...

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BMW-333i-E30 ... 423wt_1161

I'm no expert on this model but is it legit?

[andyp]

ive never heard of one

[acme15]

There are a lot of hits online, all of which say pretty much what the eBay ad says. So I would say that it is legitimate myself

[acme15]

Here is an entry in an old magazine (photo's of the pages, the text is readable):

http://thumbsnap.com/sc/ZDgOA7hO.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/QfSJK9B7.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/2bbaRURx.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/VfnadiNN.jpg
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/Y2XgQJTr.jpg

[Grrrmachine]

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/333i

[Fal_325i]

Legit, SA market only.

[pacerpete]

All legitimate, apart from the mileage. Hardly suprising, all importers of Jap stuff are speedo specialists

[e30topless]

All legitimate, apart from the mileage. Hardly suprising, all importers of Jap stuff are speedo specialists

the Vin tag and numbers went missing while the japs had it , the aussie geezer wanted 10k Aus until he realised he may have something rare
it was found in a garage with a 2002 and a few 911's

[acme15]

I found all those links and there was a pic on here with the same images the whole time? Damn haha.

I do like it though. But it would be nigh on impossible to repair properly if one of the specialist parts which were unique to the 333i failed.

[Grrrmachine]

I don't think there are any unique parts to it; it's just cobbled together from what was available in the BMW/Alpina stores at the time. Of course, if the engine let go it would be a very expensive rebuild, but I think the only really super-rare parts on it are the diff and the digital Alpina gauges. All the metalwork is standard pre-facelift stuff IIRC.

[TPS]

Looks nice

[acme15]

I should imagine the digital Alpina dials would cost a fortune... They would be a nice addition to any E30 though.

[ I personally prefer the Alpina dials for the E36, these ones have blue guages http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8180/8067 ... 5346_b.jpg ]

[jimbom30cab]

Didn't they make some of these with aluminium panels ?

There is guy who works in my local MOT center who used to work as a mechanic for BMW in Johannesburg back in the late eighties . He's a BMW nut and has plenty of stories about these.

[Grrrmachine]

It was the South African 325iS that had the aluminium panels. Not heard about it for the 333i.

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... ican_Model

[magpie]

All legitimate, apart from the mileage. Hardly suprising, all importers of Jap stuff are speedo specialists

the Vin tag and numbers went missing while the japs had it , the aussie geezer wanted 10k Aus until he realised he may have something rare
it was found in a garage with a 2002 and a few 911's

nowt get's under the radar !

[e30topless]

I don't think there are any unique parts to it; it's just cobbled together from what was available in the BMW/Alpina stores at the time. Of course, if the engine let go it would be a very expensive rebuild, but I think the only really super-rare parts on it are the diff and the digital Alpina gauges. All the metalwork is standard pre-facelift stuff IIRC.

the engine is a standard M30 donk as used in the 633i so no drama's there,

an 84' shell was used (pre-ski-hatch) even though they were built in 86/7 that's not a bad thing as the extra fuel tank sits in there, perhaps it took 2 years for them to arrive from germany to SA and to be built ?

there's lots of one off parts that were made for the 333i ALL long since NLA, many parts were from the B6 but that was LHD, the A/C is mega complicated, Finding B6 parts is very hard ...finding 333i parts is harder they only built a few hundred 27 years ago, the majority of them left (around 20?) are still in SA even if you can find one that is being broke for spares.. the saffa's are reluctant to ship anything

[driftmaster808]

BMW SA were a very good bunch of people to talk to, and got involved with some quite quirky projects, don't know what they are like these days, but they could possibly help out with spares.

my favourite E30 is the 325is EVO 11, all of them had leather, aircon, electric sunroof, 210BHP, M3 suspension, aluminium panels, only 500 were built

[acme15]

I quite like the Luchjenbroers 3 door Touring. Apparently only 6 were ever made. An M3 variant:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/ ... MWT003.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/ ... MWT004.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/ ... MWT005.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/ ... MWT006.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v681/ ... MWT007.jpg

There were also a few regular 3 door tourings:

http://wp1016621.server-he.de/fotost/f01558/05.jpg

One was found in a boneyard: (it got saved)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/D ... ers_01.jpg

[Topblag]

there's lots of one off parts that were made for the 333i ALL long since NLA, many parts were from the B6 but that was LHD, the A/C is mega complicated, Finding B6 parts is very hard ...finding 333i parts is harder they only built a few hundred 27 years ago, the majority of them left (around 20?) are still in SA even if you can find one that is being broke for spares.. the saffa's are reluctant to ship anything

I've got family over there that can help and I'm heading out to Joburg in November on holiday.

The airlines are a bit of pain though, BA wouldn't let me take my IX transfer box as extra luggage in Houston at Xmas. Bstrds.