BMW E30

My car had been a little bit banged up after it got stolen but it was still driveable (the theft happened back in the spring of 2013). It was missing the front lip, front shocks where worn out and the front bumper was missing a piece, but it was still driveable.

The following summer (2013) I was driving to a friend of mine for some barbeque. I was cruising down the road with music blasting in the evening sun with my smile reaching all the way to my ears because even if my car was a bit banged up it has a special place in my heart as I have gone through a lot in life together with the car.

Was happily cruising in my BMW E30 in the evening sun feeling like James Bond.

Back to the situation, picture in your head, happy with a smile reaching to my ears and cruising down the road in the evening sun and I see a speedbump, an easy mellow speedbump, I slow down and go up on to the bump easily and just let the car roll and then I hear a bang… the oil sump had hit the road when I came down over the speedbump as the shocks didn’t, well absorb as much as when they where new. I looked behind me through the mirror and saw a thick black line being painted onto the road. Luckily I only had a couple of hundred meters to go so I decided to continue.

About 200-300 meters later I arrived at my friends place and turned the car around and parked the car. My friend was laughing so hard as I had made an entry, not a regular entry but an entry with a hugh bang accompanied with oil tire slick and smoke screen that James Bond had in the Aston Martin DB5 in Goldfinger. What can I say, arriving like James Bond.

The famous speedbump. As you can see it is not to sharp and not high. The shocks of the BMW E30 were just so worn that it was to much for it, even at a really low speed, just couldn’t handle it.

The E30 James Bond style oil slick after the speedbump.

My BMW E30 nicely parked after I made an entrance to the scene like James Bond.

The cracked BMW E30 oil sump.

A closer look where you can clearly tell where the BMW E30 oil sump hit the road coming down the speedbump.

I got a message with a lot of picks from Pro Hooldus today. Taking a part the BMW E30 has started and at the same time checking what is broken and what needs to be replaced for the first part of the restoration project.

The first part is getting the E30 driveable. When the first part is finnished it will probably still look pretty bad, but it will be driveable and from the will measure and check if the body, well the front, need straightening.

Here are some update pics from the E30 restoration project.

Battery removed from the E30

Finding new details, the headlight washer.

The bent front strut removed from the BMW E30.

Everything was set, Pro Hooldus was waiting for us, tickets to the ship booked and now I was waiting for my friend to pick me up and then off to get a rented trailer for the car and head to get the E30.

The alarm clock was set at 6:00 am… snooze 1…. snooze 2… ok ok I’m up. quickly threw my clothes on and out the door and my friend picked me up and we drove off to go get the trailer.

We arrived at the gas station and did the paperwork for the trailer and checked the trailer in everything looked to be ok and we departed towards the E30.

We arrived around 7:00 am and there she was, sitting and waiting. First thing to see can we get it started, well we got it started with some extra started stuff, but it didn’t get fuel from the tank, reasons could be fuel pump busted or just stuck, injection system stuck, bad fuel as it had been sitting for 4 years with just a drop of fuel in the tank. We had no time to waste as the check in for the ship was closing at 9:45 so we pulled it out with the X6 so that we could load it on the trailer.

We turned around the trailer and realized one wheel was totally busted, about 20 centimeter hole in the tire (later we found out that the reason was that the brakes on the trailer got stuck), luckily it was a double axle trailer so we put the car on the trailer which was another work of art…We got the car loaded on the trailer and started limping back to the rental place at around 30 km/h. Well we finally got to the rental place and did all the paperwork, again, and unloaded the E30 from the trailer and loaded it up to the second trailer. We checked it, tires rolling, lights… well kinda working and off we go towards the harbor and the check in.

We literally had no time to spare as the clock turned 9:45 the same time as we turned into the check in area, so it got close but we made it.

We got loaded into the ship and finally we could take a deep breath and rest for 2 hours and 45 minutes untill the ship would arrive in Tallinn.

Had some breakfast and chilled on the ship and finally the ship arrives in Tallinn.

We got to the car and waited for the ship to dock so we could drive out. We got out and while driving out from the harbor at the customs where also police are, they pulled us out of the line. I was thinking what now after all the problems with the trailer. Well the police just wanted to check all the paperwork of the BMW E30 on the trailer, to see that it is ours and it is not stolen, showed the paperwork and we were good to go. I have to say, good police work, just a quick and easy check to see everything is in order.

We called Pro Hooldus and said we were on our way and we would arrive at the garage in about 15 minutes.

Finally arrived at Pro Hooldus repair shop and unloaded the E30.

I’m really happy with Pro Hooldus, everytime I go there I feel like they really want to take care of my cars and I can’t wait for the first part of the project to get done, fixing the car so that it can be drive again. And then after that we will start planning together with Pro Hooldus how to restore it.

Of course on our way back we had to stop and eat at One Sixty!

Life went on and 4 years later I moved to Asia and sold my 330Ci Clubsport and as a side note I know the person who owns it today which is really cool.

So I lived in Asia for a year and returned to Finland and bought an estoril blau BMW Z3 MCoupe and continued my roadtripping between Finland and the French Riviera with it, had it for around a year. After that I had just a basic little Volkswagen Polo as I need a cheaper car. And a little after that I was forced to sell the Polo and pretty much had to sell everything else I had as I as an entreprenuer I tried to survive the great financial crisis that was hitting the world.

At that time my life without a car started, using the bus and the subway for about two and a half years. During that 2 and a half years I was building my business back up with some success. Finally after being without a car for about 2 and a half years I was able to get a car. I couldn’t get anything expensive, but still I wanted something cool and started to look for older cars and after trying a few I found the 1989 BMW E30 coupe that I bought.

We have been through a lot with the E30, it has been stolen and found, it sat for awhile after the oilsump hit a huge bump and got cracked and at that time didn’t have money to fix it, then a little while after I finally was able to fix the oil sump and fron shocks (that where the reason it hit so low in a bump I was cruising one day 4 years ago when another car hit me. I got a bang on my arm and wrist but otherwhise I was ok but the car was not ok. But I was forced to put it in storage, well sitting outside as even if I would have had the money to fix it up, every garage that I called in Finland said that they don’t want the work, different explanations why, in too bad shape, to much work, etc.

Sometimes you feel like things are ment to be and ment to happen as I by many different good things that happened to my life during the last year and just found a repair and service garage for cars in Tallinn, Estonia. I told them about my old car and he just old me, bring the car here and I will fix it. Well I will tell more about the repair shop Pro Hooldus later, but for now I’ll just say, what an amazing place.

Finally, now after it has been sitting for 4 years the repairs and restorations have begun.

This is the restoration story of a 1989 BMW E30 that I have had for many years that got hammered when another car hit it. It has been sitting and waiting for a repair and restoration and finally the E30 repair and restoration has started.

A photo of the BMW E30 before the accident.

Evening photo of the BMW E30 from 2016 just before the accident.