The first (no photos at present) was a red 323i which I had to scrap and the second one was, well, a red 323i (not by design, just happened to come up in Auto reader)
which had all the rare bits (Recaros, LSD, BBS wheels, Ansa exhaust).
A lovely car.
Until some muppet in a Micra rear-ended me:
...and the, to add insult to injury, legged it. The car drove onto the lowloader with it's head held high while the Micra had to effectively be picked up with a dustpan & brush.
But my heartbreak was short-lived when this beauty turned up on eBay:
It's actually a 320 with (knackered) 323i running gear; the body is virtually rust-free, a boon on an E21, as they can rot like a fruit in a plastic bag if you let them. It had been in dry storage for two years and while it starts, runs and drives, will need full recommissioning to be roadworthy again. The car was up in Lancaster, a 520-mile round trip from London, and as I didn't have a road-legal car to my name, decided to hire the cheapest car possible for the trip. Which happened to be a Smart City Coupe...
Now before you wonder how many weeks rehabilitation I had to have after that journey in that car, I was pleasantly surprised. In brief, it was a great drive, with a driving position modeled after the Merc S-class (Smart was created by M-B) and an engine that handles motorway speeds with ease, with the only drawback with it being at the mercy of crosswinds. So after covering that distance feeling relaxed and spending 2 hours checking over the car, I paid £1200 and booked a lowloader to bring it home
Got the car home and tried one of my BBS wheels on. Sexxxxy :
Future plans include a built 2.5 lump, totally refreshing the running gear and fitting all the goodies I've accumulated over the years.
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