Is my E30 rare?

[Dozman]

Hi Guys! First time poster here, not sure where this belongs, but I hope you can help me!

While pulling apart the driver seat on my E30 and looking for a replacement/parts online, I found something interesting.

I have a 1987 325is, alpineweiss II over anthracite CLOTH. As far as I can tell, this is a rare combo, as the 325is from that year came standard with leather.

Here's a link I found for the available interiors for that year: (scroll down to 1987)

http://www.rtsauto.com/e30-seat-upho...tions-by-year/

Note the comments in the bottom corner for 1987: "Leather upholstery standard, on 325i, 325is, and 325i cabriolet."

Also, the car has the matching anthracite cloth door cards, and the full factory trim pack, mud flaps, pin stripes, sunroof deflector, etc. not sure if this helps, but maybe points to the rarity of the car. Fully loaded from the factory, but cloth instead of the standard leather. I was planning on redoing the interior with leather, but if it's rare, I'd rather keep it stock. Hoping you guys can help me out here!

Thanks,
Dozman

[richardodn]

I doubt it's really that rare overall; just here in NA. Other markets used cloth much more. First though, you should run your VIN and see how it was manufactured. (https://www.bmwvin.com/) Also see if the upholstery tag is still under the rear seat. Finally, many of the accessories you mentioned were likely dealer installed.

[323i E30]

Welcome!
So far I've bought 4 E30s, and they all had that cloth interior. Not rare at all here in Euroland.
Probably a strange combo though as we didn't get the 325is here, but I doubt it will add any value.

[Kershaw]

My rallyx ix has that interior. An actual rare cloth interior would be this:

[DRVN2WN]

It is a rare combo in North America, but not in the rest of the world.

[Dozman]

Thanks for the help, guys! It is a North American car, so from what I can figure out, alpine over anthracite cloth is not rare for an E30, but it IS rare on this model, being a NA 325is. I ran the VIN (thanks richardodn) and the interior came back as code 0203, which is black leather. It seems that the original owner (the car has been in my family since 1994) had it changed out (by the dealer?) for the anthracite cloth when the car was originally purchased, because even the door cards have the anthracite cloth on the middle section which should have been black leather.

So, I guess the bottom line is: It IS rare, but not worth any more because of the rarity, and I can go ahead and have it swapped out for leather? The seat bolsters on both front seats are worn and torn so the original cloth has to be replaced anyways. Thanks again for all your help!

[M_3_X]

Interior swapped car. Not uncommon that someone would swap the entire interior to make it "more Euro" or more "rare" if you will.

[ELVA164]

One of the first things I did to my E30 was swap out the ugly Pearlbeige interior for a Natur one. I doubt the dealer did it, probably just one of the previous owners.

[Dozman]

So now that we've established what the story is with my interior, has anyone ever ordered refurbished seats from E30Love? They look pretty good and considering what people want for used ones in crap condition (then adding shipping, of course) I'm thinking of biting the bullet and just getting some of these:

http://www.e30love.com/custom-rebuilt-seats.html

[82eye]

.

[Kershaw]

Looks like Walter knows what he's doing.

[ELVA164]

.

Cold feet?

[82eye]

lol. may have referred to different shop so deleted the post