What's a 320i worth?

1976 320i

Southern car- rust free.

The car is complete, but somebody reversed the cables jump starting it, and short circuited everything. BMW electrical did not respond happy. I'm good with electrical.

Car has been sitting for at least 5 years.

Prices for very nice cars are starting to inch up. If it's an extremely clean car besides the fried electrical system I may go $1000. I'd give a little more for a later car though, just cause I like them better. Sitting five years I guarantee the fuel tanks are rusty.

If everything else is not perfect $500-$600

77 was the first year for the E21 in the US, so I'm assuming that's what it is. If that's the case, it will likely have a few 77-only goodies, notably big 4-piston front calipers and vented discs. There's ins't a whole lot of electrical in there - it's a K-jet mechanical injection setup - so if you're comfortable working with wires you should be able to get it back without too much trouble.

Price would depend a lot on the condition of everything else, but for complete car with a truly rust-free body I'd say somewhere in the $500 range, a little more if the paint, trim, and interior are decent. E21s remain pretty low on the BMW desirability list, though they can be quite good drivers.

In reply to 02Pilot:

That's what I was going to say.......my '77 was a pretty good condition reliably running car that already had a 5sp swapped in for sub-1500. There was some rust, but nothing major.

Fried electronics would be a great start to a race chassis though.

Forgot to mention its a manual.

Yeah, the 77 only brakes are almost a bolt on upgrade for Opels, and worth something there, but people who reuse used brake parts don't pay a lot.

Just how much electrical is there to fry on that? Diodes in the alternator and maybe the injector driver portion of the ecu?

Still in the 500-1000 range with a manual. Auto would have put it in the 250-500 range.

Box flares and a big turbo would make a good challenge car I think

Early cars were 4spd, later cars were 5spd.

In reply to nicksta43:

All '77s are originally 4sp cars. Bonus points for a non sunroof shell, console, both side mirrors and the 13" aluminum multispokes......that would equal the car having a LSD rear end.