I bought this car last year having 66,000 miles. A nice original example, but needing work. I'm a young man and every car game I played as a teenager I checked to see if it had an e30. If it didn't I wasn't buying it. Now I own a real one, and intend to bring it back to its former glory, add some OEM+ stuff where applicable and most importantly preserve and protect the car for years to come - as I do not intend to part with it.
The previous owner had it fully resprayed to a good standard - glass out, doors off etc but the engine remained.
The car has an interesting history. Supplied by Holland Park in 1988 it was sold to a family member of a billionaire (who was also his accountant) and spent its life in London, essentially just being driven between Kensington and Curzon Street, Mayfair.
This is my first project car, in fact, working on this has been the first time I've ever held a spanner or worked on any car at all. And somehow I am where I am at now, rebuilding every component, fully rebuilding the engine, taking the underside and engine bay to bare metal, fixing rust, redoing the electrical system, retrofitting OE air conditioning, cruise control... etc It's a bit of a blur but somehow I'm getting there.
In this first post, I will aim to get readers up to date with the project, and in future I will submit posts of progress updates. There is still a lot to go...
A shot in all its glory, before starting work.
Some bedtime reading.
Trying to get it used to its home for the next year.
Switched the seats out for some new old stock recaros from 1988, the same year of the car. The seats in the car before were not low enough for me, being tall. I have two of course, just not shown in either of these photos.
Arrival of the lift. I decided if I was gonna do this, I wasn't gonna do it on jackstands.
Taking it all in
Admiring the interior one last time after a final spirited drive.
And the parts start coming off!
The previous owner had it fully resprayed to a good standard - glass out, doors off etc but the engine remained.
The car has an interesting history. Supplied by Holland Park in 1988 it was sold to a family member of a billionaire (who was also his accountant) and spent its life in London, essentially just being driven between Kensington and Curzon Street, Mayfair.
This is my first project car, in fact, working on this has been the first time I've ever held a spanner or worked on any car at all. And somehow I am where I am at now, rebuilding every component, fully rebuilding the engine, taking the underside and engine bay to bare metal, fixing rust, redoing the electrical system, retrofitting OE air conditioning, cruise control... etc It's a bit of a blur but somehow I'm getting there.
In this first post, I will aim to get readers up to date with the project, and in future I will submit posts of progress updates. There is still a lot to go...
A shot in all its glory, before starting work.
Some bedtime reading.
Trying to get it used to its home for the next year.
Switched the seats out for some new old stock recaros from 1988, the same year of the car. The seats in the car before were not low enough for me, being tall. I have two of course, just not shown in either of these photos.
Arrival of the lift. I decided if I was gonna do this, I wasn't gonna do it on jackstands.
Taking it all in
And the parts start coming off!