1992 BMW 325ic Convertible Blue E30 Chassis

If you're looking for a late model E30, then you're clearly someone with excellent taste.

Here's an example of the last year the convertible was in production and gives you an opportunity to buy a classic car that is now an appreciating asset. The fabled E30 M3 is apparently increasing in value by 12% a year and some of that enthusiasm is rolling over to the base model as the late 80's, early 90's cars become increasingly desirable.

This car is the 325i M20 6 cylinder engine and looks great.

A very normal issue to have over time and tobe on the look-out foris a crack in the cylinder head. Well with this car, I dealt with all of that 2 years ago and had the cyclinder head remanufactured along with a new head gasket.

You can see from the pictures that the interior of the car has been shown a great deal of love too. All the seats were reupholstered and had new foam inlays in November of 2014. The center console of the car has a new gear selector handle, gear selector housing and window buttons. The steering wheel is from Renown.com and is a massive upgrade to the 80's oversized version and the pedal pads are from BMW. The goal was to really improve the tactile, driving experience. Those parts of the car that you continually are in contact with need to be just right. If however, you're a purist, I do still have the original steering wheel. It's in perfect working order with the airbag still inside it. The car is as comfortable and fun to drive as it looks in the pictures.

Under the hood is really where the magic happens and some work that I've had done over the last 3 years includes a new fuel pump and relay, crank position sensor, mass air flow meter sensor, ignition wire set replacement, central ignition coil replacement, distributor rotor and cap replacement, new alternator, oxygen sensor, fuel injectors, oil pan and oil pan gasket. The transmission mount and engine mount were replaced, as was the rack and pinion and power steering pump.

To make the car stop, I had theparking brake shoe set and calipers replaced, brake light switchrewired and since the life of theinstrument cluster light bulbsare 20 years, I had those replaced too along with the lens that covers the instruments.

Now a convertible is loads of fun in the winter here in Florida butwithout reliable air conditioning, the car would be little more than a paper weight in the summer. After several attempts to maintain the original system, I caved in and had the entire sytem retrofitted to modern specs. That means as of this year, it got anew compressor, compressor mount, receiver drier and hoses. A/C pressure switch, fan clutch, fan shroud, fan and fan resistor.

All of the above sounds expensive and it was but I've had the car for 10 years and didn't actually have to spend anything on it for the first 7. Prior to that, all I did was have a Kenwood head unit with built in blue toothinstalled, along with Zapco 5.25" i-Force Component Speakers, 12 inch Kicker sub-woofer and Sound Ordinance power amp and a completely new set of cables. You can see the set up in the picture of the trunk. It wasn't a case of being obnoxiously loud, I'm a litle past all that, it was more the need for clarity of sound when you're driving around with the roof off.

An important point I should make is that this car has been lovingly looked after but the actual miles driven is surprisingly low. I live 2.5 miles from work now and used to live 6 miles from work. That's it. Realistically I do about 2,000 miles a year in it. When I bought it, it had 124,000 miles on the clock. The clock stopped working at 131,000 butit does not havemore than 144,000 in total. Now it's customary to reset the clock if you get a new cylinder head andsince that was replaced in 2014, the engine hasonly done about 4,000 miles. Should I end up keeping the car, then on my list of things to get done, is a complete refurbishment of the instrument cluster and modernize the colors and lights. Take a look at Bavarian Restorationfor ideas (www.bavrest.com).At that point, I would have the clock reset to the appropriate milage but since the car is over 10 years old, the mileage is not even applicable to be shown on the title and since the engine is in such good shape, it's kind of irrelevant.

What else would I look to fix on the car if I kept it? Well I've always liked the idea of improving the stance by using lower springs. Just an inch and a half at the front and an inch at the back. I had the shocks replaced but not the springs and they could do with some attention, either just a straight swap for the original spec or maybe I get to live out my teenage fantasy and lower it. Andrew Everett, who wrote the"BMW E30-3 Series Restoration Bible" says to definitely not do it. He says to use Eibach springs with Koni orBilstein dampers. If you're in the market for an E30, you will also want to pick yourself up a copy of his book. It is essential reading. There is some rust around the back left under the trunk that could do with being repaired. It's not on the visible body of the car so doesn't impact the look but for full disclosure, it is there but I already did the research on that and it's a relatively simple fix. The original motors that control the electric roof on the car were notoriously weak and could not really handle the job of lifting the roof and wouldquickly fail. This is a very common scenario however, putting the roof up and down is so incredibly simple when done manually, it doesn't even seem like an issue. I gather there is a company in Germany that makes a kit that can be used to refurbish the motors and reinforce them making them suitable for the job but since it's never really been a problem, it's always been the last thing on my list of things to fix.

I'm clearly an enthusiast so open to all questions. If you want to text me or call me, my name is Paul and I can be reached at 786-371-5668.

I live in Mid-Town Miami and the car is garaged.

This is your opportunity to get yourself a classic car and cruise around Florida in the winter with the roof off, feeling pleased withyourself.