The One That Didn't Get Away [100K Mile E30 325is]

[SteelBlue]

Here's my YouTube click baity post of the week. Going to be picking up something for the car in Madison this weekend that I kind of fell backwards into. Something I've wanted for a long time, and, even appears to be the same color as my car. Also a great deal that I couldn't pass up.

Insert capitalized words and exclamation points where you see fit.

[HipMF]

[B C]

Please let it be this Cadillac Service Manual!!!!!

[m42b32]

patsbimmer1 said:

The M30 is one of my favorite engines and I would absolutely buy a 535i just because of that but I also take exception to that last sentence...

I was thinking 6 cylinder engines. Anything v8 isn't a fair comparison haha

[SteelBlue]

Did the LED light conversion kit on the car today. Just the interior, trunk, and number plate ones. Was able to do one number plate light as one of the screw heads was completely rusted. Was doing this at my house so didn’t have access to all my tools. Getting the license plate light on my check panel, not sure if this because there is a halogen and LED, or because the LED doesn’t register with the car. Had the same thing happen on my E46. Considering switch back because the light on the panel bothers me.

Interior dome lights are a little surgical for my liking, but do a much better job lighting the car. For the minimal amount of time they are on, it’s fine. The ash tray ones I wasn’t able to change as the LED stalk was too big for socket.

[SteelBlue]

TLDR:

I bought an E28 M5 spoiler. Believe it's the same color as my car.

Full, but quite the experience, story:

With not a lot to do during quarantine, been doing a lot of online window shopping for things for the E30. Found one of those "I have parts for *inset car here*, just ask me what you're looking for" type Craigslist ads. I figured why not just see what he might have, was just looking for unique/rare little bits to add to the car. He knew a guy who was selling an E28 M5 spoiler, but it was a little more than what I wanted to pay(reasonably priced for the part, just more than what I wanted to spend at the moment). Conversation stopped, but he ended up texting me like a week later saying that he actually did have one, just found it when he was going through some of his stuff. The insert was red, but was hard to tell from the pictures if it was the same red as my car. It had some blemishes, so he told me to make him an offer. I threw out a pretty low number in comparison to what these usually go for and to my surprise he accepted it. Told him I could come down Saturday and pick it up.

Saturday 5/16: Drive down to Middleton. I took a look at his address on Google maps before heading out. Looked like a small farm out in the country, so wasn't sure what to expect when getting there. Turns out the Google maps images were old, because at the end of his long, hilly driveway were two, large, brand new metal buildings. First one was in the shape of typical shop, probably 80x80 if I had to guess, and about 20 some feet tall. First car in the door was an E36 M3 on a lift, next to it was an Oldsmobile(not sure the model, 60s Camaro shaped), and next to that was Diamond Schwarz E30 M3.

Unfortunately, this was the only picture that I took. Never seen one on Borbet type A's, but I like it. Above the car, you can see there is a loft with a ton of parts on it(as you can, there's also a motorcycle up there lol). He had like 4 M-Tech 1 wheels, Momo wheels, new old stock S38 valve cover, euro E28 interior pieces, misc E30 pieces, etc. Just tons of stuff, all of which I took a look over. On the wall behind where I took this picture, there is another loft. Had E30 and E28 hoods, doors, trunks, windows, bumpers, etc. One caught my eye that I couldn't determine which it was. Turns out it was a euro M-Tech 1 bumper that he checked as a bag on flight from Germany...

So this building was divided in two parts(you can see the wall behind the E30). The door was open between the two and saw something through that I had never seen and had no idea what it was. We take a walk through and I felt like I was transported to the Peterson Museum. There were four 4 post lifts on one wall and two on the other wall, both had cars on top and below them. Two BMW 2000 CS's, two Auto Union badged Audi's that I had never seen before, a wood panel Willy's Wagon, a Nissan S-Cargo, Oldsmobile 88, old Germany military motorcycles, other old motorcycles from manufactures I had never heard of before, and probably 8 other cars.

The second building had 5 double wide garage doors spanning the length of building and was probably 30-40' deep. Once again, walk in the door and feel like I'm in Bruce Canepa's or Bruce Myer's garage. I'm looking over a sea of what had to be like 40 cars, most of things that I could vaguely recognize or had no idea what I was looking at. There was his E28 M5 a Messerschmitt car, the classic amphibious car, old VW looking wagons but were made by someone else, that weird electric car where the whole body folds on clam shell mechanism, and 30 other old German and other foreign cars. Both of the buildings have epoxy sealed floors, insulated walls, incredible LED lighting, and are climate controlled.

It was overwhelming(in a great way), because the last thing I was expecting to find in the hills of Middleton was this incredible car collection in these amazing buildings. The M5 spoiler was honestly an after thought in all of this. We grabbed it after 20 minutes of talking and it sat on a bench until we were done walking around the rest of the buildings.

These kind of finds are the things dreams are made of. The guy couldn't have been nicer and was really a BMW nerd. I think we were there for like an hour. I don't think I'll ever have a better Craigslist transaction experience in my life. This was completely stream of conscious typing, so it's possible I'm leaving things out.

Anyway, the spoiler. In pretty good condition, definitely is worth a lot more than what I paid for it. Has a couple of chips on the ends I should be able to fix. The paint was pretty hazy, so I started to polish it to see if I could get a better idea of the color. I had an old pad that I used on the car, so I couldn't get a good cut or polish. From what I was able to do, I think it's the same color as my car, or very close to it. Very stoked on it, think it's gonna look great on the car.

[B C]

Having a personal museum of cars always seems like a great fantasy but then I remember how tedious it is to keep just 1 car clean and maintained.

Nice find!

[patsbimmer1]

I love those finds where the story is better than the purchase.

[SteelBlue]

Polished the insert and hit the rubber part with a coat of paint. Cleaned up pretty well. Needs to fix a couple spots on the insert before it’s complete.

Drilled holes in the trunk lid for the studs. It was hard to gauge how the spoiler would fit without being able to lay it flat on the trunk lid. Came out well, still need to drill or cut a hole on the underside of the trunk lid to access the far outside screws. I think I might use a combination of some double sided tape and foam tape(not exactly foam tape, but something of that nature) to close the gap at the ends. Guess will see how much the far studs will suck it closer to the lid with nuts on them. You can see how I tried to get the gap that ran the length of the trunk tighter. As a result of this, the radius of the spoiler leaves somewhat of a gap at the ends.

[YoungCR]

Fantastic story and great results.

[SteelBlue]

I also started tinting the tail lights last night. I think it looks much better than the standard amber color, especially against the red of the car. Passenger side one will be done tonight.

 

[GunMetalGrey]

Tail light tint looks fresh
That spoiler angle does not look fresh

[straight6pwr]

i used 3M double sided tape for the ends of the e28 spoiler on my previous e30. still need to add it to my current one.

[SteelBlue]

GunMetalGrey said:

Tail light tint looks fresh
That spoiler angle does not look fresh

There's no nuts on the far outside studs, so it's going to naturally not lay flat. I'm not sure if the radiuses of the trunk lid and the spoiler match, but when I was trying to test fit it, it was either a finger sized gap between the spoiler and the length of the trunk, or this. Like I said, it was hard to tell where to place it given the studs don't allow you to lay it flat. And without turning my trunk lid into a piece of cheese, I'm fine with making some small modifications to make it flush at the ends.

I did the turn signal lenses during lunch today. Takes away from the stark contrast of the lenses, but the light still shines through very brightly.

[SteelBlue]

straight6pwr said:

i used 3M double sided tape for the ends of the e28 spoiler on my previous e30. still need to add it to my current one. 

This was my plan in addition to some slim foam type tape to close the gap.

[straight6pwr]

SteelBlue said:

 without turning my trunk lid into a piece of cheese, 

i prefer my trunk lid swiss cheese'd for weight savings.

[SteelBlue]

I got the holes drilled for the far studs. Came out better than I could have hoped far. Nuts on the far side sucked the lip down, I don’t really know if you could get it any better.

 

The far side needs some further dialing in. I was missing the washers for the bolt that holds in the insert, so it’s not sitting completely flush. Also, I’ll need to adjust my trunk brackets on this side as it’s sitting higher than the driver side. So the gap between the spoiler and the body is more than that of the driver side.

[P_Roloff]

Is it bad that I’m almost tempted to find something to buy from him to go see his stuff? I’m on the east side so it’s within 30 minutes of my house in all likelihood. 
 

Spoiler looks excellent, it really completes the look of the car. Are the pinstripes on the side of the car m colors?

[SteelBlue]

P_Roloff said:

Is it bad that I’m almost tempted to find something to buy from him to go see his stuff? I’m on the east side so it’s within 30 minutes of my house in all likelihood. 
 

Spoiler looks excellent, it really completes the look of the car. Are the pinstripes on the side of the car m colors?

They are just a light blue and darker blue, kind of close to the M colors but don't think it was inspired by it.

Finished up wrapping the other tail light. Really like how the rear end is turning out. Needs a little more dialing in on the spoiler and it''ll be good to go.

I would like to clean up the exhaust tips and give them a touch of high temp black paint, maybe this weekend, supposed to be pretty nice out.

I really need to space the rear out. I'm at +20 on an 8" wheel with a 225 tire. Could I go with a 10mm spacer? *edit; I supposed I could just take the two 5mm spacers I have off each of the front wheels and play with those to see what works.

[Jdesign]

Middleton has been growing like mad in the last few years. I have no idea who this man is, but I feel like I will run into him sooner or later being so close! 

That spoiler looks great! Compliments the car perfectly!