1985 325 S50 Swap CA Legal - $19,000
The best modified car is the one that someone else spent their money on, right? Assuming the builder used quality parts and the installation was performed with some attention and care, this 1985 e30 325 with a California BAR legal S50 engine swap may be just the ticket.
The ad was written with the same amount of care that goes into cooking a 7-Eleven hot dog, but there’s enough info to make some educated guesses, so get out your Scantron sheets! Right off the bat we notice this S50 swap Eta has been treated to an e36 5-lug swap based on the high offset Style 32 wheels and lack of camber up front. The pictures also show it has a set of BC coilovers, and a VERY red interior (likley reupholstered at some point if not a complete interior color swap). Out back there’s some sort of catback exhaust, perhaps an Active Autowerkes unit.
So why the feature despite the Scooby Doo mystery to figure out what’s on the car? First and foremost, it’s BAR legal, so no need to jump through hoops getting the car smogged. Second, the car has a California blue license plate, meaning this is a California car since new and should be rust free. Based on the way the ad is presented, someone probably purchased this car from the previous builder and doesn’t know to advertise it correctly. Not great for the seller, but possibly good for a potential buyer.
What’s the Enablers’ take? At $19k it’s reasonably priced given the market, but we assume shrewd negotiators will knock off a few bucks. If it were our car, we’d want to fix the 5-lug with a kit designed for the e30 struts, which will correct the geometry problems of the e36 setup. And it would give us a chance to reinstall the BC coilovers into a recycling bin. The interior we can live with, but we’d want to add a stereo for music and Bluetooth capabilities. With the mechanical work mostly done, any project is likely a cosmetic change. And since it’s an 85 model year, it may not have ABS, so there’s more room to fit a factory style airbox to clean up the engine bay.
Basic Info:
Year: 1985
Make: BMW
Model: 325
Miles: I don't know
Title: Clean
Engine: S50
Transmission: Manual
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