What did you do to your Volvo today? Topic is solved

[j-dawg]

220,000 tasteless and taste free miles.

Ha ha! It was a fine car, I just had a hard time figuring out what it was good for. Comfortable, well-built, supercar styling, T-tops. But it was kind of heavy for its size and kind of twitchy near the limit.

A Turbo makes a solid case for itself, and if you just want to look good and not worry the NA does fine. Camry engine, Camry reliability, Camry speeds, but with baby-Ferrari looks. Mine was red.

[bmdubya1198]

That’s my brother’s E34. I would looooove an E30, I’ve been on the hunt for one recently.

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How did I miss this post? Very nice!

For me, The One That Got Away was a gray 84 318i coupe. Not the most desirable E30, but a fun little car that looked good and drove great. I bought an MR2 instead, fearing the quirks of an old European car as an inexperienced mechanic, and lost interest in the Toyota within a year. To its credit it was completely trouble-free with 220,000 miles.

It would have been a smart buy. Hard to imagine a $1200 E30 in any condition these days.

Ideally I’ll find a 325is, but I’d settle for a 318. They’re getting too hard to find to be too picky! I checked out a 318i sedan last month, but it was a complete pile. Lots of rocker rust, but surprisingly solid underneath. Couldn’t even get it running while I was there since he had garbage jumper cables and I didn’t feel like standing in the rain in a dollar general parking lot to mess with it (yeah, he actually managed to drive it there, but he couldn’t get it running...). The only upside is that it was manual. He wanted $1k for it in that condition, and somehow got that a few days later... allegedly.

[abscate]

Isn’t everything at the dollar store , a dollar?

Good luck on your quest. I’ve got some awesome seats for it when you find it, if needed



I’m British, but married Italian. Food , wine , conversation, and other great things, but just remember , if you play around, they never find your body.

[bmdubya1198]

I would have been glad to pay a dollar for that car... it's about all it was worth

[BlackBart]

Ours is a 325es. We swapped in an manual trans, which woke up this slowish car. It has a ton of torque. He's driven college teammates with 8 bikes on it all over the NW. He graduated and drove it to Illinois, so now I can't (or don't have to) do anything to it. We've rebuilt nearly every system except the engine and seats. H&R Sport springs. E36 steering rack. Adjustable rear trailing arm attachment points to eliminate excessive negative rear camber. Found some vintage Alpina replicas and painted them.

The prices are getting silly. Maybe similar to the curve on 2002 prices? Those are almost out of range unless it's a rust bucket and then what's the point? We paid a thousand for a non-running car with worn out bushings.


I have no loyalty to the Bobcats even as an Alum. Go Griz!
I didn't know you were Brit-tish! Pip Pip! Cheerio!

[bmdubya1198]

Honestly I’d take an E30 over a 2002, and I guess other people share that opinion! I need one before prices get truly insane.

[j-dawg]

02s are not too pricey in CA, given how popular they are. Running beaters under 10k. I saw a very clean Touring listed for 14k recently, but it disappeared almost immediately.

I think I'd rather pay 15k for a clean 02, which is around the going rate, than 10k for a clean E30. Not that I want to do either.

[Cookeh]

At 10k you could import two from the UK, plus a couple of spares cars.

[volvolugnut]

Anyone know how much shipping a car from UK to US would cost? I assume they are old enough that emission compliance is not required.
volvolugnut

[abscate]

Anyone know how much shipping a car from UK to US would cost? I assume they are old enough that emission compliance is not required.
volvolugnut

They look back 25 years. You have to meet all US regs at time of manufacture. So mph dash, etc.