Took some pictures of my friend's E30

"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
07/04/2017 at 17:55 • Filed to: Bmw, Photography

My friend has had this car since 2011. It’s a 1991 BMW 318is that he bought for $2500 from the original owner. It now has H&R Sport springs, Bilstein HDs, an actual cold air intake that I can’t remember the brand of, a high flow cat and magnaflow muffler, and a chip that raises the redline to 7300rpm as well as maybe a mild power bump. It also has nearly 400k kms on it.

He loves this car dearly, but has only ever had phone pictures of it. We’ve been meaning to rectify that for years, so we finally did yesterday.

All of these are unedited, I’ll be working on my favourites this week and I’ll post them again once I’m happy with the results.

We got a few photos at this location, until a security guard informed us that no photography was allowed on the property. Something about all mental hospitals having the same rule in BC, even though 90% of the buildings are inactive. Really disappointing, it’s a 260 acre property just covered with old buildings in various states of disrepair, including some old gas pumps I really wanted to photo the car with.

After that we drove around, looking for a cool spot to catch the last of the light in.

We’ll be going out again sometime to do more shots with better light, getting told we couldn’t photo more at the hospital screwed our timing.

DISCUSSION (15)

OKcarburetor > gmctavish needs more space
07/04/2017 at 18:35

A circular polarizer would do wonders for those shots as well.

Overall, nice job, and beautiful car!

DasWauto > gmctavish needs more space
07/04/2017 at 18:46

I may have said this before but if your friend ever needs a buyer for that car, I may have some money I want to give him. Especially as I just got rid of my (much crustier) old e30.

gmctavish needs more space > DasWauto
07/04/2017 at 19:26

I mean I can mention it, but as far as I know this is his forever car. He’s been offered 7 grand on the spot by people on the street, and had offers from our local BMW forum, and turned them all down. That was even a couple years ago when they weren’t worth as much as they are now. How far from Vancouver, BC are you?

gmctavish needs more space > OKcarburetor
07/04/2017 at 19:37

Thanks! Yeah a polarizer is on my ever growing list of things to buy for this camera

DasWauto > gmctavish needs more space
07/04/2017 at 19:40

I’m certainly not the kind of person to make an ‘everything is for sale at the right price’ offer. By all means, if it’s a forever car, I wouldn’t want to be the one to try to take it away from someone. That only results in regret.

If he ever chooses to sell of his own free will though, I’d be happy to have the opportunity to buy a clean, well cared for e30.

I’m in southern Ontario, but I’d fly out and drive back for the right car.

diplodicus > gmctavish needs more space
07/05/2017 at 11:33

How is the ride with the springs? What shocks is he running?

gmctavish needs more space > diplodicus
07/05/2017 at 12:02

Its not bad at all, like not much worse than my stock Legacy wagon, but I think the main reason for that is the shocks, Bilstein HDs. I’ve been in an E30 with the same springs and stock shocks, and it didn’t ride nearly as well. A skid plate is a must though, M42s have a very low oil pan, so even with an moderately low car like this, scraping the skid plate is pretty common in everyday driving. He also used to run 16" wheels, and the ride was worse then. These 15"s are much better.

diplodicus > gmctavish needs more space
07/05/2017 at 12:37

Bilstein B6 or B8? I’ve been considering doing shocks and springs. Didn’t think about a skid plate.

gmctavish needs more space > diplodicus
07/05/2017 at 13:38

Having seen the scrapes on his, and also having cracked an oil pan on my old E30, it’s totally worth it.

As for B6 or B8, I have no idea, I’ll ask. I thought they were just called HD

diplodicus > gmctavish needs more space
07/05/2017 at 13:47

Oh it looks like the only HD ones are B6, I thought they called the B8 HD too for some reason.

How do you feel about the price of this euro e30 I found

https://toledo.craigslist.org/cto/6197114711.html

seems a little steep to me even with the low miles. I emailed the guy cause it looks like there might be some big dents in the front fender.

gmctavish needs more space > diplodicus
07/05/2017 at 13:52

Seems a bit steep considering it looks to have been in an accident. Still, euro cars will always carry a premium. I wouldn’t pay that much for it though. If it’s not rusty, and that accident wasn’t bad enough to cause frame damage, it could be a really cool car.

Also my friend’s car has either one or one half coil cut out of the front springs, I forgot about that.

Man I want a euro e30

diplodicus > gmctavish needs more space
07/05/2017 at 13:59

Ya rust is the issue with mine. I haven’t gotten a quite on repairing all the rust it but considering there is a hole in the frame rail I think I’m better off finding a solid one and using my car as a parts car. hopefully my email made it and I get more pics.

gmctavish needs more space > diplodicus
07/05/2017 at 14:13

That’s what made me sell my E21, among other things. One of the frame rails was toast, and the shock towers had lots of bubbling. It could be worth importing one, especially with how pricey they’ve gotten. I’m hoping to import a euro e28 one of these days. Though that’s looking farther and farther away, I need to prioritize a better place to live, and already have two non-daily drivers to worry about

diplodicus > gmctavish needs more space
07/05/2017 at 14:27

Ya I’ve been thinking about importing also. But I’m not exactly sure where to go to find them, and buying it sight unseen is a little scary. This one is within reasonable driving distance.

diplodicus > gmctavish needs more space
07/07/2017 at 09:33

There is damage to that fender and some surface rust.

He won’t go lower than 5k. I want it just because its euro and the interior is insanely clean but at the same time for 5k could find one without body damage eventually.