Help me figure out what this thing's worth.

[StrictlyEuros]

I spotted this gem in my neighborhood... 1986 325e. I can't pass it up without at least seeing what you guys think it's worth. Car has 71k original miles, beautiful body besides a minor bend in the rear bumper cover from a rear end collision. Has sport seats. And what look to be euro spec bumpers? Not your typical ETA... Any input is appreciated.

[M_3_X]

That's some strange stripes. I'd say that drives the price down.

[StrictlyEuros]

Shoot, I was thinking that's one of its higher selling points man

[1SGDHORN]

I agree that the stripe is too much and I would use it to negotiate a lower price but, a much lower price as getting the car repainted would not be inexpensive. If you like the stripe then you can still use it's presence as a bargaining tool. Otherwise the car looks very clean. Nice wheels, nice chrome on the bumpers, it's an E, low miles, California car, etc...

Is this at a BMW shop? I ask as I see another E30 parked next to it and what looks like an E24 6 series parked down the street.

What is the asking price?

[e30oe21]

Appears to be a real gray market car due to the added side markers. Any chance the ///M stripes are vinyl and can be removed?

[hotdish]

Definitely looks like a gray market car. Sounds like it had either the 11:1 or 10.2:1 high compression euro m20b27.

Those look like the m4 safety car stripes:

[StrictlyEuros]

I was thinking it was gray market... And the stripes are vinyl, and are definitely too much. The dude is asking 4800. And is there any way of knowing if it is the high compression b27?

[cmac2012]

Good catch. I'd say that has to be where they got the idea. They are weird but if the 71K miles checks out, and I'm guessing one could suss that out, I'd overlook the stripes for that action. I have no experiece with the 'e' engine but I gather they can be tweaked for more hp/speed.

I'd buy it and paint it brontzilber, inside edges of doors as well, the works. If those sripes are painted on, who knows, some king of paint remover might work. Be careful towards the end and you could leave the original paint under it in pretty good shape. I think. Never applied paint remover to a car.

[M_3_X]

What is the asking price?

Yeah, it would be good to know so there is a base line.

[Kershaw]

They probably want $8,000-10,000. They'd get it to, without the crazy stripes.

I'd consider it a worthwhile buy at $4k, but then I'm cheap when it comes to buying cars. It's probably worth at least 6k, without the stripes.

The issue with the stripes is paint damage. If that's not oem original paint, it'll pull up the paint when they're removed. If it is oem paint, it'll still more than likely damage at least a quarter of the surface area. I used to work as the designer for a sign shop and did plenty of vehicle graphics. New vehicles with less than 2 year old vinyl usually were ok. 30 year old paint? I would tell the customer that we will make absolutely no guarantees working with that and if they don't like it, they can remove it somewhere else.

Now, if you're super lucky, they used expensive quick release vinyl. It has dimples on the back that hold to the surface. That stuff releases very easily without paint damage. But it doesn't look like it.

[cmac2012]

It is a weird question mark. No accounting for taste. Why anyone would think that is cool is beyond me, any previous history of it being used by BMW notwithstanding.


I suspect anyone who would do that would be something of a Bimmerhead , so the maintenance is probably okay. I say that because I discovered an '87 325i at a boneyard once with 76K on the odometer. My parts guy and I figured that the first timing belt finally broke, that the owner had no clue. There were no signs of an accident or anything. I wish I could have bought that car ahead of the boneyard.

[estoguy]

The stripes are... unique. I kinda dig them but don't. They almost make the car stand out a little too much.

With 71k miles, that's pretty awesome. I think 4800 is definitely reasonable. You could probably haggle it down a bit... those look like wheel covers, so probably steels underneath those. Not a selling point... LOL.

And you can definitely do some stuff to the stock engine, or go into something like a stroker for more go... but to be really honest, an Eta can, despite what some might say, be a fun car to drive.

[82eye]

The issue with the stripes is paint damage. If that's not oem original paint, it'll pull up the paint when they're removed. If it is oem paint, it'll still more than likely damage at least a quarter of the surface area. I used to work as the designer for a sign shop and did plenty of vehicle graphics. New vehicles with less than 2 year old vinyl usually were ok. 30 year old paint? I would tell the customer that we will make absolutely no guarantees working with that and if they don't like it, they can remove it somewhere else.

i was the someone else

did vehicle graphics for yrs including freelance for several autobody and collision repair businesses and can mostly concur. we did the harder remove / repair stuff like that as we were independent. most graphics places were chains even then, and there's no way they'd do that stuff, it couldn't pay. we did charge loads for it but most of those jobs didn't even make shop rate for the time.

removing old stuff was never a problem even if the graphic was cracked and broken, the paint under it would never match tho, it was usually better lol. loads of times the graphic would appear "ghosted" on the paint as result, and even uglier than the crappy graphic. a lot of the time we'd get the vinyl off but the glue would remain, removing the glue was more dangerous usually than removing the graphic

if any graphic had been applied within 24hrs of a fresh paint job, then no chance in frozen hades. i did some autobody jobs where you only got one shot to lay a whole entire pinstripe cause the paint was so wet there was no hope for any sort of lift or correction. they would actually sink into the surface. shops work on time so a lot of the jobs i did were just coming out of the bake room, and if that is the case then that graphic is with the car until sanding lol.

[e30oe21]

. And is there any way of knowing if it is the high compression b27?

Right behind the alternator on the block is a flat pad with a bunch of numbers stamped in it. Don't recall exactly what they are but if it has a "k" in the 1st few digits, it's a 9:1 version vs. a high compression version.