Hello everyone,
For the past 6 years I was restoring a garage-find M3, that was left for 10 years. It has been a bit of a long run, as my ultimate goal was to not just the restoration, but also keeping it as original as possible.
Currently, I am about to finish this project and I have started researching the market, looking for potential buyers and estimating the price. But the more I study the market, the more questions I have regarding what could be the price of the car. It is relatively volatile and I want to know what are the real price indicators, hence I am writing this post.
A little bit about the car.
01.1995 Euro E36 M3 Coup
S50B30 engine 286 ps
118k KM (73k miles)
Manual
Cosmic Black, 70-80% of paint is original
Almost no rust
Style 24 wheels
Full black leather interior. Very good condition, leather is original. A good indicator of the mileage.
A lot of service history is missing
Work in progress:
Vanos rebuild
Full engine diagnostics
Throttle body adjustment
Work planned:
A/C fix
Minor interior/exterior restoration
On board computer display fix
Bottom clean up/restoration
Brake system rebuild
Expected to be finished within 3-4 months
Work done:
Chain replacement
Engine timing
Camshaft cleanup
Oil pump fix
Water pump, rollers, belts replacement.
Exhaust system diagnostics, fix
Ignition system diagnostics, fix
Fuel system clean up
Air leak fix (this took quite a while...)
Countless gasket replacement (never gone below engine head, no necessity)
Headlight restoration
ICV cleanup
Countless replacement of parts such as sensors, plastics, hoses, spark plugs, cables and so on..
All parts replaced are OEM, either new or in perfect condition.
Considering that everything that I am currently working on and everything that is planned is finished, what the price of the car could be? Trying to bring a bit of objectivity to this question.
Thank you!
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UP
Good looking car. I asked the same question about my car here.
Different countries, too many differences to really base the value of your car on the suggestions in that thread.
Don't let it go for a low price!
04M3 TiAg 69k slick-top 3 pedal
99M3 Cosmos 61k S50B32 euro 6Spd
88M3 AW 43k miles Project FS
WTB: 3.5" Eurosport/Conforti CAI
Fixing broken things doesn't add value - it just gets you back to the baseline.
Wear items would "count" - but only if the date is somewhat recent relative to the item replaced. A new timing chain does not "count" - especially in a car with mileage a low as yours.
Most of your work listed is something I'd expect is working properly on a car with your mileage.
And you do NOT list the maintenance items that I WOULD expect / are commonly known: no suspension / bushings, no new radiator, etc.
You're fixing things that shouldn't be broken and you're not refreshing things that do need to be refreshed.
Find similar cars with similar mileage in your location (which might take some time to get a good sample), and when you're finished with the work you're planning that's about what yours should be worth.
As it stands, it should be worth less than the average car with similar mileage.
Having said that, it doesn't mean it's not worth anything. It's just worth less compared to similar cars without the problems. Once fixed, it should be worth about the average of the other cars you find with similar mileage.
Even though the value of these, especially the M cars, is going up, don't expect that you can fix one up and actually make money on it. People fix these as drivers for the most part, not flipping them. The only way you can normally make anything at all is if you decide your time is worthless, and you just need to make a little more than the parts cost.
But if you're having fun doing it, go for it. It's just not going to give you a monetary return.
1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio Alpinweiί III on Schwarz German spec 1 of 12
SMG SRA PDC AUC OBC GSM HK UURS IHKA FGR MFL
IG: https://www.instagram.com/iflok/
I just paid mid 20's for one, that was REALLY nice, then I did a bunch of deferred maintenance. To me , my car is worth 35-40K all day. It does have a brand new spectacular paint job though, all leather, no rust, no real flaws, just needed a bunch of maintenance to be done.
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Last edited by footnfan; 03-04-2023 at 04:51 PM.
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