This car was the subject of much discussion on a thread on Jeroen's E21 forum; basically everyone thought the car was dodgy as the price started out at £2500, then was chipped down over the course of a week or so to £1700. So that, coupled with some of the odd answers the seller was giving to people
Well, I had a hunch it was a decent car despite all of the bullshittery given off by the seller, so I drove down to Worthing. Story goes the guy is an Alfasud nut (he has a tii with a 1.7 lump I'd love to own), he bought the E21 on a whim, unfortunately didn't like it and needed funds fast to buy another 'Sud, hence the rapid slashing of the price. After two-and-a-bit hours of poking, prodding and looking for the usual E21 issues, I bought it. In fairness to the guy, he made all of the classic mistakes when listing it which contrived to make the car more moody looking than a Moody Blues reunion tour.
Problems? theres - well not much actually. It's done just over 128,000 miles so a few things are a little 'baggy', but it has a sheaf of BMW dealer receipts and nearly all of the MOTs, including head gasket work and new discs about ten years ago. The cars only done about 2000 miles in the last 7 years, so a bit of fettling is required, y'know, servcing, timing belt etc. This car will be kept completely standard as the Luger will be the 'mad' car when it's finished and I did primarily buy this to get my E21 'fix' in the meantime.
Leather interior (with Recaros) and genuine Alpina steering wheel & gear knob, bought in the late 90's according to the dealer receipt. Niiiice.
What look like MKII Astra GTE Recaro seats re-covered in tan leather, with the rear bench done to match.
Now it all goes a bit shonky...
An Alpina fusebox - for those high-performance B8, B10 and B16 amp fuses!
An Alpina ashtray - no doubt to stub out your Alpina cigarettes, of course lit by an Alpina lighter. Mind you, when I cleaned out the ashtrays I found half a zoot. Y'know, a joint, spliff, wacky baccy etc. Wondered why the car smelt a bit funky. And why I couldn't stop smiling afterwards. I wonder what are the hazards of secondary ganja inhalation?
The joys of Morroccan Old Holborn.
Now we're just getting silly.
Schnitzer on one side:
And Alpina on the other. It's a good job cars don't have identity crises.
Then there's the audio install, I reckon it dates back to the early 90's. Old-school or what? (and not all in a good way either). Note the subtle use of household flex for the power cable, and the small colony of scotchlocks round the back of the centre console; 27 at last count! And the non-working rev counter. And a decent Bosch radiator fan (from an E23 7er) that stays on when you put the fuse in. Needless to say it's all getting re-done. Along with a couple of the MOTs being done in Streatham (and the other 'stuff'...), I've got this image of Denzil from Only Fools & Horses cruising round in it back in the day, with Bob Marley & The Wailer's finest blaring out.
And yes your eyes don't deceive you, that is a carpeted boot. Proper job too, with the backing and vinyl edging. This car must have been garaged most of it's life, as the boot and boot lip are rust-free behind the panels.
It's gonna be fun.
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