Very minor updates:
The guy I sold my E30 to sold it recently. I saw it posted for sale, thought about buying it back for a hot minute. I still feel good about the decision to sell it.The car had been resprayed years prior to my purchase and it was starting to show light surface rust along the door & fender edges when I sold it. I disclosed everything to the buyer, but it looks much worse now. It's also started rusting in places it wasn't before. The guy who bought it lived at the the beach, so the salt air didn't do it any favors.
He was asking $5k (I sold it for $4k)...but it took a few months to sell. In one of his for-sale ads was the fact he replaced a timing chain guide (ouch). He also did a coil-on-plug conversion, replaced a diff bushing (which I had also done). He swapped my Bobets to another car. I am kind of regretting that I gave him both sets of taillights, I had just bought OEM red ones which he swapped back to the tinted ones. He also had another E30 which he sold at the same time (listed for $2k or $3k), which was promptly relisted at a low price by the new owner, so I'm guessing that one either had title issues or major mechanical issues.
I'm updating this thread because I'm actually shopping for a new car. Ideally something I can drive to work and that I can auto-x or rally-x w/my soon-to-be 16 year-old. I'm leaning towards a subaru or an E36/E46 BMW...but I'm not in a rush so I'll probably just watch & see if any good/interesting deals pop up. If the Kid is going to be driving the car regularly, I'd rather not have him driving RWD...so he may be driving Ol' blue, the family minivan.
I'm not looking for a project, but I did drive an hour to look at a $500 Saab yesterday. The seller's english wasn't good and was reluctant to jump on the phone to answer questions....I figured it was either the kind of deal you jump in the car and drive there w/cash... or details were scarce because the car is a basket-case. In hindsight I probably should have been more direct w/questions about the mechanical details...I'm sure she got dozens of messages about it, so I figured it was just better to see it in-person. I drove an hour up there thinking: Good body, not running = OK. Rough body, but running = OK. Bad body, not running = NOT OK. I'm glad I didn't pay to rent a trailer.
Unfortunately, it was worse than described. Ad said good engine & transmission, just needs a battery. I showed up and there was rust not shown in the two pictures. Drain holes in the front floor pans were very crusty (there's a plastic plug). The Rear fender could have been easily bondo'd and covered by a rock-guard if I had bought it. Nothing structural and I could have made it look decent.
Both fuse boxes were opened up & fuses laying around. I hooked up my jump box to the battery (which looked fairly new) & didn't get any response from the key (again, fuses lying everywhere). The kicker was in-person she said it needed a clutch The clutch pedal was on the floor and there was no hydraulic response when lifting it up...so either the slave cylinder or the pressure plate failed. I'm pretty sure the slave is inside the transmissions on these cars (i know it is on the 9-5). Electrical, mechanical & body issues is a project car trifecta I won't be trying to perfect any time soon.
