New Member with E21 323i Euro

[Tiroler]

Hi All,

Putting my first post up here today (19 Feb '17) to introduce myself after having watched this forum for the past 6 or 7 years or so. Looking forward to reading up on everyone's E21
stories and activities, and I'll probably put some of my own up here as the months go by. I drove my 1st e21 way back in 1981, and 5 years ago finally acquired my dream Euro 323i
which I had been chasing for 30 years. The one I own now is a car I first spied near Santa Monica Pier back in 1984….somehow it found its way to me decades later in Arizona. I've had
it stashed in storage since acquiring it and will be working on getting it sorted out this year (well, driving again, at least)! It's a Zypressengrun model with loads of Alpina C1 bits on it and
it has that scarce dogleg 5-speed close ratio trans. It sat in a garage unused for about 6 years before I got it--so, full on fuel system clean out and kjet rebuild is definitely in order.

I won't be able to post any pics up here for awhile, apparently--until then, I can try and share a flickr page link with you if you're inclined to get your 323i-porn fix.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/davies...57674400995480

Looking forward to sharing with everyone here~

[2002jm]

Very nice; you are going to have a lot of fun. Please list the alpina parts. Would like to see if there
are any hidden ones
jm

[mdelosrey]

What a beaut

[m60b30530i]

I'm not gonna lie those wheels look proper on the e21.

[mjweimer]

Nice car. Looks like it is in pretty good shape. That is one of my favorite E21 colors.

Looks like it had an auxiliary fuel tank at some point to go along with the other Alpina bits. I wonder if this was a Dietel or H&B car?

Hope you keep us posted on the resurrection work.


MJ

[dups]

wow! Is that the real deal? I'm green with envy right now. Awesome!

[Tiroler]

Very nice; you are going to have a lot of fun. Please list the alpina parts. Would like to see if there
are any hidden ones
jm

Thanks! I'll get a list together when I finally (for the 1st time) crawl underneath and have a good look around to verify numbers/parts/etc.
My gut tells me that this was probably a Swiss or Austrian dealer-prepped C1 originally. All the added-on bits like the wheel, dash plaque, etc. have
clearly been in place for a very, very long time. I know when I first saw this car in 1984, it looked exactly the same inside as it does today--just
30 years more age.

For now, just the obvious from photos:
Alpina Tire sticker in Trunk
Alpina Front Air Dam (stashed in my office to keep it safe)
Alpina Momo Steering Wheel
Alpina Gearshift Knob
Alpina Dash Plaque #320-1246
Rear Kamm/Ducktail spoiler (removed to keep it safe). Don't recall if it's Alpina or Zender
Bilstein Shocks/Springs

Paperwork dating back to 1990 shows a replacement "Alpina Head" at cost of $2200….my gut tells me that the head AND the block are replacements from about that time. I haven't had the intake
manifold off yet…and I believe I saw a casting number 1264166 on the head with "85" in a circle (1985 probably)…and that makes me think this is a pre-"200" block version from either an E30 325i
or euro E30 323i….got some mysteries to unravel.

[Tiroler]

wow! Is that the real deal? I'm green with envy right now. Awesome!

Got a lot of verifying to do. I'm happy with a bog-standard 323i, to be honest. But I do have a gut feeling that the car was Austrian/Swiss dealer prepped as C1 originally.

[Tiroler]

Nice car. Looks like it is in pretty good shape. That is one of my favorite E21 colors.

Looks like it had an auxiliary fuel tank at some point to go along with the other Alpina bits. I wonder if this was a Dietel or H&B car?

Hope you keep us posted on the resurrection work.


MJ

Thanks! Zypressengrun is also my fave on e21. Back in the early 90s, I lived in Europe and owned one also in the same paint colour. According to the guy I got this current car from, it DID have the aux tank and also a set of 15" Alpina rims--which he sold off prior to offering me the car (The Centras seen on it now were a "spare" set from the original owner). I don't think this was a Dietel or H&B. It did arrive in Los Angeles in 1984, and there's very little door jamb sticker information to tell me much. There is a BAR sticker in place which references the engine as 3.2l (however I think that was a mistake on their typewriter at the time and was meant to say "2.3l".

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not gonna lie those wheels look proper on the e21.

You think?? I'm on the fence about the Centras. There are days I walk past the car and think "yeah…looks alright!" and you
really don't see many set up like that…but most times I'm wanting to put some 15" Melber on it or something similar. Been entertaining Panasports…not sure yet.
Most of my problem with Centras comes from seeing them around in the 80s and thinking they just don't look right on most cars
except maybe early VW Sciroccos.

[Tiroler]

Very nice; you are going to have a lot of fun. Please list the alpina parts. Would like to see if there
are any hidden ones
jm

Hey 2002jm~ I'm going to finally get under the car (for the very first time) and have a good look around to see exactly what's going on with the build. You can see the Usual Alpina add-ons in the photos,
Additionally it has Alpina front air dam (stored in my office to keep it safe), and either Alpina or Zender Kamm style/Ducktail rear spoiler (also removed to keep it safe). The dash plaque is #320-1246. I believe
there are Bilsteins all around and certainly modified springs--I'll just have to have a good look and photograph everything I see and share up here.