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Thread: Looking at an 840 with a shabby interior

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Brisbane, Australia
    Posts
    7
    My Cars
    1994 840ci

    Looking at an 840 with a shabby interior

    Hi, I must have pushed a wrong button as my post disappeard! Fingers crossed this works.
    I have been a lurker for a few years as I love these cars but still have quite a few projects to finish off. I live in Australia and have been keeping an eye on prices. You used to get a nice driver in the high-teens to low 20's (oz dollars), but over the last 2 years or so these have crept up to 40's and 50's! (see carsales.com.au). Though not ready to get another car, I am thinking of jumping aboard the bandwagon before the prices go out of reach.
    I am a bit different to most, in that I love the exterior look of the car, but am not overly inspired by the interior. A (relatively) cheap car has popped up for sale and I was tempted by it as it looked reasonable but had a rough interior. I was wondering if I could get it for a low price by talking down the seller due to the interior condition, and then customise the inside to my desires. So I was hoping for some info on the costs to fix up an interior to standard, and what bits are NLA. (I want a black interior anyway, this cars is grey).
    Armed with the info from the buyers guide on this forum, my mate went and inspected the car. Here is some info on it.
    This seat belt part is toast! Are these parts available, and at what cost?
    cid_874.jpeg
    And the centre console is terrible, and the trans selector surround is broken (and I understand to be NLA). Do these ever come up in used condition for a RHD car? Cost?
    cid_395.jpeg
    You can see all the plastics are tired, and several buttons/knobs are missing.
    P_20180703_115155_vHDR_Auto.jpg
    The headliner is sagging, and A-pillar covers are all damaged. The carpets are all damaged with grease stains.

    I see rotomoto712 has done a great job on a new custom interior and carpet, hopefully he can give me some indication of what he has spent (although prices in oz are always higher as our labour costs are so high).

    The main dash panel pixels work, but the centre console one is playing up, despite him saying that he had replaced it. There were quite a few receipts for electrical work in recent years.
    The front grille is broken, and the nosecone has damage. Are they fiberglass or plastic? Can they be fixed?
    P_20180703_114442_vHDR_Auto.jpg

    How much are rear tail lights, as one is cracked?

    The sunroof does not work, and is rusty. That seems to be a bit common. How much can I knock off his price to fix all this?
    cid_871.jpeg

    Overall, mechanically the car seemed to go pretty well, and had a stack of service records. So it is pretty much the opposite of what the buying guide says.
    The guy has $15k on it, and the car has 202,000 km. Is it due for expensive timing belt replacement or something? H
    e has spent about $110k on it in his 15 years of ownership. And yet it is still ragged.

    Ok, sorry for so many questions, I hope you good people can help me. I suspect though that the advice may be to run away!!
    Cheers, Drew

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Shoreview MN
    Posts
    977
    My Cars
    Had a 1991 BMW 850
    Check for leaks in Upper Oil Pan Gasket

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Montgomery, AL
    Posts
    212
    My Cars
    '92 850i 6-speed (SOLD)
    A member here who goes by "Wuffer" has a lot of spare parts. He's in Canada (British Columbia I believe), so shipping costs might be high to Australia. I can tell you a lot of the interior bits are NLA, so getting them secondhand might be your only option.

    My concern with the car you showed is the rust. That stuff is like cancer . . . once it's there it will always be lurking. Plus when I see an interior such as this, I really have a hard time believing the rest of the car was taken care of. You said there are a lot of maintenance receipts. How old are they? Service performed 15-20 years ago doesn't do a whole lot for me.

    Realize there is no such thing as a cheap e31. Sure you might get one with a lot of issues and pay virtually nothing for it, but in the end it will cost you. It's the "pay me now or pay me later" scenario. My fear for a first time e31 owner buying a car like this is they'll be fixing one issue after another and then get turned off to the car. That would be a real shame. Understand my comments are based only on what you presented. You might get a really good car. Whatever you do, just go into it with eyes wide open.

    Sean

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