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FAQ1987 BMW E30 325is 325 is Coupe - Verified 119K Miles, Rust Free, 3 Owner Car
| Make: | BMW |
| Model: | 3-Series |
| Type: | Coupe |
| Trim: | E30 325IS 325 IS Manual 119k miles - Rust Free |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Mileage: | 119,442 |
| VIN: | WBAAA130XH2325156 |
| Color: | Bronzit Beige |
| Transmission: | Manual |
| Interior color: | Tan |
| Vehicle Title: | Clear |
| Item location: | Canon City, Colorado, United States |
| Extras |
| Listed by | Private seller |
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Description of 1987 BMW 3-Series |
| cshepherd1990 store The Story: I can deliver the car within a reasonable area (300 miles or so). and have dealt with a couple of different shipping services. so I can handle that too. if you are some distance from me. The car is for sale locally as well. so please. if you want to make an offer. just shoot me a message What you're looking at here is a 1987 BMW 325is with 119422 miles on the clock. a manual transmission. and. with the exception of the exhaust resonator and stereo head unit. entirely OEM. or original parts. As a side note. this is a 3 owner car with no recorded accidents in it's history. It also has many of the optional features. such as the upmarket stereo. and of course the 'is' sport package. It's not completely perfect. but it makes for an amazing daily driver. and it's one of the best restoration candidates I've run into. It's not too often that something like this pokes its head up. or at least not in my local market. For that reason. I'll open this listing with a story of the cars history. how it came to be in my possession. and what I've done with it since. This e30 has. too my knowlege. been a southern Colorado car for most of it's life. I can't trace it back to it's original sale. but it's obvious that the car has either spent most of it's life somewhere where the roads were not salted. or it hasn't been driven in the winter months. Outside of small amounts of surface rust starting to show on a small assotment of nuts and bolts. I was unable to find and identify any rust issues. That's pretty huge for these cars. and it's what makes the next portion of the story so interesting. My sister in law. who is by no means a car person. purchased the car from a gentlement in Colorado Springs. who was by her description. and enthusiast that was sad to let his baby go. She. on the other hand. bought the car because she enjoys the body style. and the interior was in good condition. Once she had purchased the car. she began to have trouble with the typical bouncy M20 idle. and she began to realize that she didn't really need the car anyway. living in the heart of Denver. This is where I come into the story. My sister in law gave me a ring. knowing that I deal with these cars for a living. and suggested that I repair and resell the car for her. She drove it down to my place. in Canon City. where it ended up taking the back burner for a little while. At that time I had an '89 325ix that I was parting out. and a '88 325is I was preparing for sale. Only recently (a little over a month ago) was I able to really dig into the car. Here's what I found. The Car: The car itself is Bronzit-Beige with a tan interior. and 119422 miles on the odometer. The odometer itself is still working. and there is no record of guage cluster replacement in the cars history. and no discrepancy in the records that would suggest the odometer has been swapped. I'm as sure as I can be. without access to every record dating back to the sale of the car. that the mileage is accurate. and no tampering has occured. I only spend the time to clarify this since I know there is a decent size secondary market for low mileage E30 odometers. and I assume that at least some of those are being used for deceptive purposes. Now that we're past one of the bigger selling points. I will discuss the interior and exterior. First. all window motors are functional. along with the 16 button obc. check panel. gauge cluster. and stereo. Power mirrors are also still fully functional. and all of the interior lighting works as intended. The interior is actually in pretty great shape. in comparison to a typical E30. The drivers sport seat is in nearly mint condition with no tears and cracking. I assume it has been rehupolstered or replaced at some point in the cars life. The passenger seat is also devoid of tears and major cracking. but does not show to the same standard as the driver's seat. I does display some wear and tear. The seams of the piping on the right side of the seat are loose. and have caused minor distortion of the piping over time. The back seat shows very well. and is also devoid or tears and cracking. but displays the same piping issue on the right side. near the top. This could be repaired with a little bit of time and skill. without buying much more than some sturydy thread. but that was beyond the scope of the repairs I made to the car. The dash shows to moderate crack. one in the center. and one on the right side. They haven't split the dash. and could still be repaired. but they also do not detract greatly from the appearance of the interior. The carpet could use a bit of a deap clean. but also shows no permanent damage. UPDATE: AC system is functional and blows lukewarm air (cooler than outdoor air). It's done this since my sister in law purchased it. which indicates to me that the system likely just needs a refill. and does not have any major leaks or malfunctioning parts. Unfortunately. these older BMWs (and most older car in general) use a type of refrigerant which is no longer readily available. due to environmental concerns (although you can find it on the secondary market with a bit of hunting). What I'm getting at is that the AC system all works mechanically. but needs a refill. You will either have to source the older refrigerant. or convert the system to R-134a (no record of this being already done. although I can't say with 100% certainty that it hasn't been). Conversion basically involves replacing some o-rings in the tubing and connections. the major mechanical parts such as the compressor and condenser can be reused if you did decide to go this route. The exterior of the car is kind of a quandary. In many aspects it is nearly perfect. First. there is essentailly zero rust. I check common areas (battery box. sunroof drains. anyone?) and there was litteraly none to be found. outside of a couple of nuts and bolts with surface rust. The paint is undamaged by both sun. and wear. there is zero rust and there is not any major body damage. That said. there is about 15-20 spots where hail has dented the car. Most are located on the hood and trunk. which can be easily replaced. but there are some on the roof which would need to be removed using paintless dent repair. I got a quote from a local shop that stated it would be under $1k to completely repair the damage on the hood. trunk. and roof. I haven't used the shop myself. but they were suggested to me from another local shop I sell parts to. and their reputation is that of quality work. and accurate pricing. I don't think it would too hard to find a similar shop wherever you are. potential buyer. Of course. there is also the easy way. which hold it's own appeal. In that case. all you would need to do is source a bronzit hood and trunk from a local parts guy or salvage yard. This should cost less than $300. and so long as you insure that the paint fade is close to matching. it would be nearly as good as the paintless dent repair. The front valance of the car has been removed. due to bracket damage. but everything needed to reinstall it. and all of the associated lights. is included with the purchase. except for another set of brackets. These can usually be picked up here on ebay. with a bit of searching. for less than $100. The front left bumper shock has also been slightly compressed. and could stand to be replaced. The Mechanics: The car runs phenomenally right now. It has more pep than my '90 325i with a Turner chip. and the valves are quieter to boot. Everything is stock. minus the addition of an aftermarket resonator. which. to my ear really improves the sound of the car without making it any louder. The suspension has been recently redone (bilstien I believe). and there are no issues with the 5 speed manual trans. or the limited slip differential in the rear. This all suggests that maintenance has been frequent and prioritzed. When the car came to me. it did have the bouncy idle issue. and seemed to be running a bit rich. Since then I've installed a new cap and rotor. idle control valve. valve cover gasket. valve cover vent hose. and intake boot (the boot from throttle body to air box. These are typically cracked to pieces. although this one was only beggining to show wear). I also cleaned out the air flow meter. put a fresh adjustment on the valves (. 25mm I believe. as suggested by the bentley manual). and swapped out the oil to factory product. just to be safe. I used OEM parts for all maintenance. The car also has nearly new tires. and the factory rims are in phenomenal condition. All of that said. It isn't 100% perfect. The steering rack needs to boots. It's not leaking and worn yet. but it won't be long if left unchecked. These are cheap rubber pieces. and the labor isn't too bad. but my backs been kind of wonky. so I have been avoiding spending too much time underneath the car. One of the brake wear sensor has also been damaged. which makes the car show the brake lining light on the check panel. I pulled the wheels off. checked the pads and rotors. and there doesn't appear to be too much wear. so I almost certain it's just the damaged sensor. These sensors come free with a set of brake pads. so I figured it's best to just change it out then. The check engine light is also on. due to what is supposed to be a fault in the MAF sensor. The car is running nearly perfectly. if something is off. it's only very minutely off. I chose not to replace the MAF. and just clean it instead. since it wasn't causing any running issues. Finally. if we're being very picky. there is a very occasional squeek emited from the rear left corner of the car when driving over rough roads. It's only really audible inside the car. and kind of sounds similar to the squeal of polyurethane bushings. but this car hasn't had those installed. I can't pinpoint the noise. and while it doesn't seem to affect the performance of the car. it does exist. and I though best to inform you. prospective buyer. The End: Sorry to be a bit wordy about the car. but buying a car through ebay can be kind of scary. I just wanted you all to know everything I know. so you could make an informed decision. I'm in the business of dealing with 80s and 90s BMWs both for parts. and occasionally sale. so I believe I've given an accurate assesment. but if you need any photo. video. or even just questions answered. I would be happy to help. I've only sold one other vehicle on here. and the buyer seemed to be very happy with his purchase. I'm hoping this car will go to someone who will enjoy it an treat it well. so I am open to anything that will help facilitate that. As a a final note. since I deal in parts. I'd like to make the offer than whoever buys that car will be given a permanent 25% discount on anything I have in stock. I know it's not a huge boon. but in the event anything goes wrong with the car. or you begin a restoration. 25% can add up pretty quickly. I will accept cash payment. money order. escrow service. or paypal (if you cover the fees)/ Please contact me if you wish to make an offer. and end the auction early. I am very open to this. so long as the offer is fair. Here's a youtube link that shows the interior functionality. the restored even idle. and a bit of driving: https://youtu. be/11johNks3Kw |
