Dan Crouch Blog

I'm sure the car is very nice, but this is absurd. If it had 5k miles, or had been once owned by a celebrity, I might understand the asking, but this is stupid:

1988 e30 M3 on Roadfly for $30k

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1995 BMW e34 540i Sport w/ Only 30k Miles(!) at Car Locators for $28k

The e34 540i Sport features the big BMW V8 coupled to a six speed transmission. Viewed as an intermediate model in the e34 5 series range, it actually shares most of the important bits with the M5 except the drivetrain. And it was produced in fewer numbers and few markets. Considering it's mileage and condition, I'd say $28k is probably a pretty good price for the right buyer who can appreciate what this car really is.

1995 BMW e34 540i Sport w/ Stage 3 Dinan Supercharger and More at Car Locators for $33k.

Now this car sounds very special indeed with many upgrades for a total of 475hp! And in sexy European trim with the slimmer bumpers that have been vented for the supercharger, simply look incredible!

This one is an 88 with 62k miles: Ebay auction for 1988 e30 M3

And this one is an 89 with 73k miles: Roadfly classified ad for 1989 e30 M3

Looks like there's a new e30 M3 rule: If it's under 100k miles, start by asking nearly $20k it and see what happens! Frankly, there are so few left in this category, that I'm sure they're not off the mark by more than a thousand or so.

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1988 BMW M3 Ebay Auction

Yep, the euro e36 M3 motor and transmission dropped into this little e30 M3. The car doesn't look like a show queen, but it shouldn't either. It's a track warrior because that's the only place you could unload with this kind of weapon of mass destruction. $22k seems like a fair price too considering it's difficult hardware to source and install. Hell, you could probably part the car nearly that much or more. My concern would be how would you find someone compentent enough to understand it and work on it, AND afford to keep it running??

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TruSpeed Motorsports has an unbelievable 10k mile 1988 M6 up for sale. The car is in showroom condition (obviously) and the current bid on the car is over $42k!

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Didn't see this coming: Montoya to leave F1 for NASCAR on F1Racing.net

Is there any hope of NASCAR mania slowing down... No. And this has to be one of the more shocking for fans of traditional road racing, especially those admiring it's highest level, F1. For a driver as talented as Montoya to dumb down his ability and completely change his style for NASCAR is as sure as sign as ever that there's plenty of money in their sport, and plenty for everyone. I've read that NASCAR rookies typically start in the $800k range. I can't find an exact number on how much Montoya was paid in 2006, but I saw on GranPrix.com that his 2001 Champ Car salary was over $10 million. I can't wait to hear what they gave Montoya!

And in related news, Danica Patrick is apparently considering a move to NASCAR as well, as reported in Sports Illustrated.

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After a great evening in the 'Couv with Ed and Jessica, we headed out to the historics bright and early. The morning weather was beautiful with plenty of sunshine and a cool breeze.

The Portland Historics feature some great historic racing, and the local clubs also show up in force and have the infield for themselves with individual display areas. These kinds of corrals are always packed with cars for sale and I was eager to do some fantasy shopping as I'm strongly considering selling the M3 soon.

Unfortunately, the club corrals weren't as full as I expected, probably better attended on Saturday than Sunday. But here are some cars we saw for sale:

Cobra's For Sale

The blue one is accepting offers over $55k, and the red one is listed at $46k. Not really of interest to me (though they were both really well turned out!), but there were so few cars for sale, I figured I'd post what was there.

BMW's For Sale

1988 BMW M6 - No price listed, but the car was in great shape. And the dark blue metallic really showed well, as did the BBS alloys.

Porsche's For Sale

1996 993 Cabriolet - $37500 obo. I'm not a fan of 911 cabrio's of any flavor, and I've always been of the mind that the cabrio's are typically the cheapest of 911 range for a given year (in the used market) as most enthusiasts want the classic coupe styling and rigidity -- and 993 coupes hover in this range. Just food for thought.

1960 Porsche Drauz Roadster - RARE! Only 1200 356D (D stands for Drauz, the coachbuilder) were built worldwide, and of all the 356 drop tops, it is considered highly desirable due to the lack of examples. This one, which was in 'original' condition showed plenty of use and blemishes, not to mention it's currently running a super 90 motor. And despite all those issues was still showing $63.5k asking price. This 2001 report from Sport Car Market on the 1960 Porsche 356 uses a perfect 356D example for the article, which went for $60k then. Have the values increased so much in 5 years that this well used one can ask that much??

1974 Porsche 914 2.0 - If the last car had your eyes watering, check out the easy to approach price of this classic: $4500! Now I don't want to mislead anyone here, but that's a pretty good deal for a 2.0, which are becoming harder and harder to find. The condition of the car was well used, but certainly not that bad. The pictures speak for themselves; this is a great project pickup for someone.

UPDATE: I found an ad for the 914 with more pictures and complete detail on 914club.com

Thanks again to Ed and Jessica for the great accomodations and the loaner camera!

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It's in German, but who cares. The driver flogs the hell out of it, and despite the lack of a limited slip differential, puts on a great display!

BMW 335i Video on YouTube

As if it needs it, but can you imagine this inline 6 twin-turbo with a chip upgrade...

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I remember reading about this car in European Car magazine a long time ago, and now it's up for sale. This has to be one of the nicest 2002's in the country, and at $30k, it should be!

1975 BMW 2002 tii "Bronze Sculpture" For Sale at Pelican Parts

And while you're over at Pelican Parts, check out the monster 350+ page thread of random pics. I was bored the other night and made it to page 164 before I quit LOL!

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How about a little two-wheeled goodness for the Online Classifieds Car Show?! These bikes were never officially imported to the US (at least not for street use) and as such, are termed 'Gray Market'.

1994 Honda NSR250 on Honda-tech.com

I've always had a soft spot for gray market two strokes and always wanted a Aprilia RS250, but an NSR 250 would be a close second. And at $6300, with a title, not a bad deal!

NSR 250 details:

• 249cc Liquid Cooled V-twin
• Single-sided Swingarm
• Kick Started (probably to save weight)
• Homologated for 250 GP racing

NSR 250 Web Resources:

NSR-World - All things NSR!
Jamie's NSR Page - Loaded with NSR details, pictures, specs and more.
NSR 250 Pics at bikepics.com

1990 Honda RC30 at Red Label Moto in Seattle.

Honda RC30 details:

• Homologated for superbike racing, winning back to back World Superbike titles in 88 and 89
• 750cc V-4
• Single-sided Swingarm

A stunning motorcycle and a rare opportunity to snag one in this country. Original asking price was over $20k new, and this one is up for $21k! Pretty steep, but according to this article from 2003 at Motorcycleusa.com on the RC30, a pretty typical price.

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