E30 BMW 325i Sport Sells For £51k Because The World Has Lost Its Mind
Remember how we grimaced as an increasing number of E30 M3s started to break the £50,000 threshold? We hadn’t, it turns out, seen anything yet.
What you’re looking at here is another >£50k E30, only this one isn’t an M-car. Yep, this 325i Sport went under the hammer for a patently absurd £51,187 at a Silverstone Auctions sale in Birmingham last weekend. The result eclipsed Silverstone Auctions’ upper estimate of £35,000, following a bidding war between two rival punters. For those of you on the other side of the pond, £51k is about $65,000. More than a base C8 Corvette.
It’s the latest in a long line of normal-ish cars that have gone for silly amounts at auction. Who can forget the $121,000 A80 Toyota Supra, or that barely used Honda Integra Type R that sold for $64,000?
The E30 that bagged the ridiculous figure at the NEC Classic Motor Show is, at least, a beautiful example. First registered in 1991, it’s among the very last of the 325i Sports to leave the factory, and has covered a “fully verifiable” 6794 miles. The current owner bought it in 2007 with 5200 miles on the clock and has ensured it’s been well stored, regularly run and serviced as necessary.
Plus, if you’re going to buy a non-M3 E30, a facelifted ‘M-Tech 2’ 325i Sport is - specific market oddities like the 320iS aside - the car to go for. Each example has a purposeful-looking body kit, 15mm lower suspension and a close-ration five-speed manual gearbox. Nothing was changed under the bonnet, but with a 171bhp 2.5-litre M20 straight-six sitting under the front-hinged hood, that area didn’t exactly need any attention.
Does any of this make the NEC auction result any more understandable? Nope - not really.
The classic car market has been showing signs of cooling, but it seems shock auction results like this one are still very much possible. We shudder to think what we’ll see next…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Imagine a low mileage E46 M3 in 20 years
Probably going to be like a low mileage E36 today, so reasonably affordable but still more than any sane person would pay for one. The E46 is great, but it doesn’t have anywhere near the legendary status that the E30 has. The E30 is universally loved for its timeless styling, the E46 is a generic Chris Bangle BMW.
Who else thinks that alex should buy a wrecked or burnt E30 and rebuild it?
i saw E30 in the title and automatically thought alex posted it
Good
There are M3 E30 going for about 50-60k. Why would i get this and not the M3?? People are insane
Wow. What’s this make the Alpina e30’s worth?
ffs… 2 rich men went on a competition who had more money to buy this car, and now EVERY E30 OWNER be LIKE “ThIS E30 sOLd FoR 50K, MiNE iS WoRTh 60k ThEn… “
why do you care?
Well, it is a logical development, since they just don’t make them like that anymore. And the value of such old cars will only increase in future. Nobody’s heart and soul is moved by electric cars, after all.
because of how much was paid for it, you cant really enjoy it without worrying about hurting it a little
So its got a ‘’close ration gearbox’’,hmm,when even basic readers like me spot mistakes,it makes you wonder how many beers the editors had before sending to web-print. . .