So, does anybody around here have a clean E30 shell? I can see Katie eyeing mine in the garage, so I need to get her car back together ASAP!
Also, which direction would you guys go with this car if you were in our situation:
It's a ratty convertible E30 with a decent-ish interior. It doesn't need paint, but the paint isn't very good, either. It runs well enough, but needs little things like sensors here and there and a new muffler/cat. The radio is broken, the cluster is broken, the seats are torn badly. Everything has 150,000 miles on it, except the top and transmission, which came from a junkyard, so they might have less (or more). It's an automatic. The only new parts on the car are the tires and the window switches.
I worked at a body shop for two years, and I'd estimate $2000 in damage at full price with factory parts. It needs a hood. The core support is back a good 6-8 inches, with the radiator against the engine (though it isn't leaking coolant). The condenser is toast. The driver's fender is beyond repair, and the driver's door won't open because the fender has moved out 2-3 inches and back an inch, into the driver's door.
Normally, with a teenage girl this would mean buying the closest $500-$1,000 Civic/Camry/whatever, and selling what remains of the E30. However, she absolutely loves this car. At one point she rejected the offer of a new MINI instead of her E30. She's on a tight budget, though, so she can't really afford to take it down to the Body Werks and get it fixed right.
I'd pick up a clean shell with a blown motor for $500-$1000 and swap parts over, if it were me. Then again, I'm a little weird about repaired cars; I've seen what goes on in body shops.... I would never intentionally own a car that had ever had unibody damage, it just isn't possible to put it back the way it was.
The other option, that's within her budget, is spending some quality time with a slide hammer (and probably my truck in low range with some chain) and getting the car roughly straight again, then making it look okay with an aftermarket hood and fender. The gaps wouldn't be perfect, but I could get it to where it wasn't noticeable (unless you looked directly at the core support with the hood open).
It isn't a track car or a show car, and she couldn't care less whether it is held together with chewing gum or brand new underneath, as long as it is shiny and the top goes down.
What would you do?