There are a lot of people out there with a lot of hours with E30 M3s. I need your help. With a great amount of sadness I have reached the point where I must accept that I will not be able to restore my 1991 E30 M3, and I am now trying to figure out the market value. I found it with a little over 63k miles sitting in a dealership lot in 1997, and it became my daily driver. I put over 100,000 miles on it up here in Massachusetts. In Nov 2005 at 134,757 miles I invested over $8,800 to have the engine rebuilt. The years took their toll on the body, and in 2010 I put it under a cover in my garage. The engine was serviced last December and is running strong. The interior is in good shape. VIN: WBSAK0319MAE34254 165,182 Miles ALPINWEISS 2 Silver Leather Interior Racing Dynamics Strut Brace Suspension Techniques 22mm Front and 19mm Adj. Rear Sway Rear Sway bar mount has failed on right side. Borla Exhaust TMS Short Shift Kit TMS Performance Chip TMS H&R Sport Springs Bilstein Sport Shocks 15x7 BMW E20 Wheels – Style 10 Bridgestone Potenza S03 225/50ZR15 The body is fair to poor There are a few minor dents / scrapes. There is rust in various places: the sunroof panel, right rear quarter panel and rocker panel, bottom of left door, bottom rear corner of the door frames on left and right side, area of the left and right lower corner of the windshield, around rear license plate lights.
There are 5 on https://classics.autotrader.com & two on autotrader.com the least at $77.9k which looks a lot cleaner than yours sounds, particularly with the unibody integrity/rust? However, that red one sounds less original - dumb Recaro 1-piece race seats with no sliders and (maybe) no seat belt fastening? Huh? Not original wheels either. In any case, if it's just time or time to cash out, ok. Having had it so long, sounds to me like you really like your classic & iconic bimmer; before jumping into selling, consider the balance of wherever you've hoped to take it maintenance/restoration-wise, vs. more limited use to still own it and enjoy it but arrest further deterioration from bad weather exposure/usage. Summer car? In any case, consider your potential for post-sale seller's remorse - and if it's fixing the rust & the cost is the issue - piecemeal it maybe.. a little here, a little there, as you can and have some $$ & time to throw at it. Me, if I had a lightly rusted E30 M3... I'd keep it as long as I reasonably could too, just want to encourage you on all fronts. What don't you get with some kinda newer bimmer, for instance? The engaging and direct driving experience - they're heavier, no limited slip for a long time now unless M-car, drive-by wire (electronic) as opposed to literal throttle-body wire, and.. well, you know. Newer ones.. power galore, a/c that works and you have freon for... but a much different kinda driving experience though... ya gotta love the era of E30's!
