Anybody who has read my articles will have noticed the photos are better than anything I could take myself. That’s because Christian takes them for me! I met Christian through our college car club three years ago. He had an ‘86 Trans Am that he had just rebuilt an engine for, and I still had my E36. Over time I introduced him to the German cars, and eventually the BMW bug bit him in the form of an E30 BMW 325e!
All of us enjoy cars and driving in different forms. Christian is one of those people who just enjoys “the drive.” He loves the feeling, the sounds, and the mechanical aspects of a car, and enjoys these things at a much more reasonable pace than the rest of us. That’s why almost exactly three years after driving my E36 for the first time (now with a new caring owner), Christian is now the owner of an Alpine White BMW E30.
Christian’s E30 is a 1987 325e model. The “e” stands for eta – Greek for efficiency. The 2.7L eta engine runs smooth, although a little noisy as it’s probably overdue for a valve adjustment. Putting out only 121 horsepower and 171 ft-lbs of torque it’s certainly not fast, but speed is not what the E30 platform is all about. It’s more about the motoring experience.
At one point this E30 suffered some body damage to the passenger rear quarter panel. The along with the less desirabale eta engine means it’s a driver, not a show piece. One of the previous owners installed Bilstein shocks, H&R springs and H&R sway bars making it much more lively in the corners.
The “comfort seats”, although not bolstered for high speed cornering, are as comfortable as their name implies. Christian plans on swapping those out for the OEM sport seats in the future.
There are many projects to come on this little E30. We’re going to cover all that it takes to buy a 32-year-old car and make it a capable, reliable, well rounded enthusiast car.
I want to hear more about this car!