1987 BMW 3 Series E30 325i, 86k miles

Selling my BMW e30 325i 2 door saloon, automatic, with fairly low mileage (86k miles). The car has 5 previous owners and it is an original, pre-facelifit (chromie) model.

Car has been off the road for the vast majority of the last 15 years. It was SORN in 2011 to 2019, and again since 2020 to present. I have acquired the car in 2018 and as all e30's out there (especially for one being stored outside for the best part of the previous 8 years), it had some rust issues (the rear inner arches, battery tray and minor rust in the footwell, which is not as much as I was expecting. I had the car shipped directly to a bodyshop where all rust was cut and new metal welded in.

Being stored outside, the paint was quite faded and could not be saved. There were also some areas that were dinged or bent, that were repaired at the same time, and the car was sprayed (not complete restoration level type of job, but a good mid level job- about 2k in 2019). Then I started to look into the mechanical condition of the car and started to replace brakes, do the maintenance items and put the car through it's first MOT since 2010. At the same time, I moved house and I had a garage so I stored it inside. Covid came, and the car was just sat for the next 2-3 years, gathering dust in my garage. Then in 2023, I was diagnosed with brain cancer and lost my right to drive (still not legally able to drive due to the treatments I had gone through). I have therefore decided to sell the car once the main treatment was done, and I was able to coordinate the car sale. I have decided to put some more money into it, to make sure that I am selling a good car, that can be enjoyed by its next owner.

So last summer I commissioned a local garage to go through the engine and change the timing belt and all the front of the engine seals, as well as all the filters, oils and belts. They also discovered that the distributor and leads were perished, so those were changed as well, and also I had to buy a brand new radiator with the integrated oil cooler for the gearbox, as the original one was done for. That proved to be quite challenging as it is a pre-facelift model and none of the aftermarket options I bought were a good fit, and I did not want to adapt them, so I ended buying a New Old Stock original BMW radiator and had that fitted. After all this work was completed, the car went through its MOT and passed (still valid through June 2025), but I had some personal health issues and the car was sat at the local garage till this month, and now it is back home and ready for sale.

Since then, I had noticed that the hose for the fuel rail has perished (I will track one down and either have it installed before the sale, or include it in the sale) and the rev counter stopped working. The brakes are a bit spongy (either brake fluid is now old and needs a good flush, or brakes need an overhall - I have done less than 50 miles since changing the brake pads and disks but I wanted to be honest about things I noticed).

The car has not got much service history, as I bought it on an ebay auction, and the seller was selling the car from an estate, and did not have any paperwork other than the old V5 which I still have and 2 tax disks. I have got however all the paperwork for the parts and work I have done since 2018 when I acquired the vehicle. I have changed the original "bottle cap" wheels with 14" BBS "basket weaves" style wheels with new Toyo tyres and badges on the centre caps. The original bottle cap wheels are still present (all 5 of them, as I have bought 5 BBS whells, so even the spare matches). I have also upgraded the steering wheel from the 4 spoke standard wheel to the 3 spoke Sport Wheel, which is much nicer in my opinion.

The interior is a bit faded, the driver seat has a minor tear, which was repaired at some point, but it needs re-doing (or covers can be used - I have a new set of seat covers never installed, that I was planing to use when eventually driving the car).

The dashboard is showing some cracking, but it is not the worst out there. I have bought a spare dash (much more cracked) that I tried to repair myself back in 2019, but did not get too far with it. It can be included in the sale, as well as some other spare parts I have gathered from trying to get the car back to it's original form, as the car was and is a very good base for a full restoration (I had planned to enjoy it for a while with the minor interventions I had done, and once the time and funds were in line with the full restoration plan, I would have done that), but life got in the way, and I got severely ill, and not being allowed to drive, I am being forced to sell the car as it is no good for it just not being used as more and more things will perish in with the passing of time, and also I now need to release some of the funds invested over the years in this project, which is more than the asking price considering the buying price from 2018, but such is life that sometimes you win and sometimes you loose. I only wish I would have sold it during the COVID pandemic when prices were so much higher, but I could not let it go back then, as it was always my dream car, and I have dreamed of keeping it forever.

Car runs and drives, but I would advise for it to be trailered away, even if I fix the fuel hose leak, as the car has been mostly sat for the past 15 years, even with me doing all this work in maintaining and refreshing mechanical stuff, but there might be something I or the garage that tackled most of the work have missed (like this fuel hose).