So a little back story, I’m from Uruguay in South America and I’m 26 years old. My first car was a 316i E30 and over the years I had 3 more E30s (2 325i and another 316i). This one was the last E30.
I’ve always loved the E30 platform in general and the last one was fully restored and a S54 was the next step for that car. As you could imagine South American cities are not the safest cities in the world and it was getting harder and harder to find time to use the E30, because it basically couldn’t be street parked anywhere. E30s are specially sought after in Uruguay because long story short, a lot of them were assembled over here in the 80s and 90s and the cars that were assembled here don’t have VINs stamped in the body or in the documentation and the only identification in the documentation is the engine number , so it’s insanely easy to have one stolen and to swap in another engine. I’ve always loved the E46 M3 and if had to sell the E30 and get something else it had to be for an E46 M3 but that would be easier said than done.
In Uruguay we only received 5 E46 M3s coupe and 1 cabrio, for a grand total of 6 units in the entire country. Some didn’t fair well and have had big crashes in the past but luckily this one, the only Carbon Black one, didn’t. So when this one got posted for sale I had to check it out and after a couple months we settled on a price and I brought it home.
The car is a 10/2001 SMG M3 with M texture interior, electric seats, halogen headlights and 220k KM. RACP and vanos were not bulletproofed and the bearings were done at 100k KM so they are almost due to being done again.
This is how it looked the they I received it.
Then it got its first wash.
Then a neighbor bumped into the rear bumper but luckily she reckoned her mistake and had my rear bumper painted and I decided to have the front one done too. Decided to install new fog lights too.
The next day we took off to Buenos Aires (Argentina) because my girlfriend got us tickets for Autoclasica, which is a massive car show which gathers a lot of classics and new sport cars.
The yaw rate sensor decided it didn’t want to live anymore but that got swapped once I arrived back in Montevideo.
Random pic in Buenos Aires, we had rain all weekend and Autoclasica was almost completely called off.
The rear tires weren’t in the greatest of shapes so I took the chance and bought new ones in Buenos Aires which were much cheaper than in Uruguay. Got some Michelin Pilot Sport 4, no 4s in OEM sized available. Also once I got back to Uruguay I had the wheels painted as close as I could to the OEM Chrome Shadow color.
Before.
After, also added new emblems.
Got some new repeaters too.
A friend gave it a very light polish to make it more presentable.
Before the refinished wheels and repeaters.
After.
Soon after the cats were removed because we don’t have emissions controls and they were insanely clogged and rattling. Also decided to have the car baselined so I could have a baseline for the future maintenances and mods.
An impulsive buy… Scorza section 3 with Ti tips.
Next in line was getting the steering wheel refinished. Overall I’m happy with the result but I reckon the person who did the job could have been tidier.
Before.
After.
Since I got the car home it bugged me how the headlights and taillights were so deteriorated so I got Bosch lenses, turn signals and ULO taillights.
Front before.
Front after.
Rear before.
Rear after.
That brings us to the present, next in line are the big 3. Already have the parts for the RACP reinforcement (Reddish plates and epoxy Vince bar kit), Beisan vanos refresh parts (luckily the hub is still in one piece) and all new suspension parts minus the springs (Std Koni Yellows for the front, TCKline rear Koni and stock bushings everywhere) and ACL bearings.
I’ve always loved the E30 platform in general and the last one was fully restored and a S54 was the next step for that car. As you could imagine South American cities are not the safest cities in the world and it was getting harder and harder to find time to use the E30, because it basically couldn’t be street parked anywhere. E30s are specially sought after in Uruguay because long story short, a lot of them were assembled over here in the 80s and 90s and the cars that were assembled here don’t have VINs stamped in the body or in the documentation and the only identification in the documentation is the engine number , so it’s insanely easy to have one stolen and to swap in another engine. I’ve always loved the E46 M3 and if had to sell the E30 and get something else it had to be for an E46 M3 but that would be easier said than done.
In Uruguay we only received 5 E46 M3s coupe and 1 cabrio, for a grand total of 6 units in the entire country. Some didn’t fair well and have had big crashes in the past but luckily this one, the only Carbon Black one, didn’t. So when this one got posted for sale I had to check it out and after a couple months we settled on a price and I brought it home.
The car is a 10/2001 SMG M3 with M texture interior, electric seats, halogen headlights and 220k KM. RACP and vanos were not bulletproofed and the bearings were done at 100k KM so they are almost due to being done again.
This is how it looked the they I received it.
Then it got its first wash.
Then a neighbor bumped into the rear bumper but luckily she reckoned her mistake and had my rear bumper painted and I decided to have the front one done too. Decided to install new fog lights too.
The next day we took off to Buenos Aires (Argentina) because my girlfriend got us tickets for Autoclasica, which is a massive car show which gathers a lot of classics and new sport cars.
The yaw rate sensor decided it didn’t want to live anymore but that got swapped once I arrived back in Montevideo.
Random pic in Buenos Aires, we had rain all weekend and Autoclasica was almost completely called off.
The rear tires weren’t in the greatest of shapes so I took the chance and bought new ones in Buenos Aires which were much cheaper than in Uruguay. Got some Michelin Pilot Sport 4, no 4s in OEM sized available. Also once I got back to Uruguay I had the wheels painted as close as I could to the OEM Chrome Shadow color.
Before.
After, also added new emblems.
Got some new repeaters too.
A friend gave it a very light polish to make it more presentable.
Before the refinished wheels and repeaters.
After.
Soon after the cats were removed because we don’t have emissions controls and they were insanely clogged and rattling. Also decided to have the car baselined so I could have a baseline for the future maintenances and mods.
An impulsive buy… Scorza section 3 with Ti tips.
Next in line was getting the steering wheel refinished. Overall I’m happy with the result but I reckon the person who did the job could have been tidier.
Before.
After.
Since I got the car home it bugged me how the headlights and taillights were so deteriorated so I got Bosch lenses, turn signals and ULO taillights.
Front before.
Front after.
Rear before.
Rear after.
That brings us to the present, next in line are the big 3. Already have the parts for the RACP reinforcement (Reddish plates and epoxy Vince bar kit), Beisan vanos refresh parts (luckily the hub is still in one piece) and all new suspension parts minus the springs (Std Koni Yellows for the front, TCKline rear Koni and stock bushings everywhere) and ACL bearings.
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