Dan Crouch Blog

24k Original Miles, $31.9k buy-it-now, current bid 25k w/ 8 days left. Beautiful red over black. Very few left with this kind of mileage. I featured an e30 M3 w/ 10k miles a year ago that was in the same category and price range.

1988 BMW M3 For Sale on eBay

There are a couple of things that bother me about this particular example though: Spotty leather treatment/wear, the tacky pin striping, and the floor mats. I mean really, for a car of this price range, couldn't you have sprung for a full detail and a $200 set of mats? A real inspection is required for this kind of cash, but that goes without saying for a premium price like this.

But what really bothers me is how high these premiums have become for low mileage, but not show quality, e30 M3 examples. It's a legendary car with fantastic pedigree and an icon of it's time. But I'd have to say that $32k buys a wealth of options that would be of better value. Yep, I said it -- and I love e30 M3's.

So for the next week, I'm going to fill the page with sports cars for sale I would rather have for $32k. I'll include a few variations on the theme, but all will really be cars I'd rather have for the money. I'm going to loosen the mileage allowance a bit to 50k miles, but I think that's reasonable considering the condition of this particular e30 m3 -- many 50k mileage cars show better in my opinion.

Do you have a car in mind that you'd rather have? Post a comment up (or 2 or 3) with a link!

dc

Here's a post I started late one night this summer and never finished. The long story short is you can get very impressive performance from an BMW e30 by stuffing a 3.5L 'big six' under the hood! Here's some links:

Jared Squires BMW e30 M30 Conversion Details. Considered the best source for M30 swap information.
Step by Step 335i e30 M30 Construction Details at e30.de
Step by Step e30 M30 335i Build Up Post at R3vlimited.com

dc

Yeah I'm a week overdue. But with the start of a new school year, several new consulting clients, and little time left, I'm behind on my blogging. Seems like a trend!

I'll start with some updates on the Ducati. Paul spent some serious quality time with the machine and rebuilt the carbs. While the leaky carb problem was fixed, and the low rpm drivability of the bike has been improved, it still runs very rich. Seems the bike is jetted very aggressively. I'll be working to get this fixed soon. Many thanks to Paul at the Sports Car Shop for the work on the Ducati!

While the bike was in Paul's care, he discovered an issue with the steering that was causing the total steering radius to be greatly diminished. Yep, that little mishap I had was due to mechanical issue. The steering is now so... useable!!

Now that I had a machine that was maneuvering more like it should, it was time for a real ride. We planned a great ride from Eugene to Sunriver to catch the annual Sunriver Exotic Car show. A late season ride, but incredible weather. Mid 70's the entire day!

Here are some highlights from the show:

Getting the bikes ready for the journey

Stopped for a break to get some coffee and gas

Sunriver Exotic Car Show 2007 Pictures

A killer Porsche 356 Speedster Outlaw

A Porsche Carrera GT, natch

A very low mileage and well maintained e30 M3 that I was drooling on

The cleanest BMW 2002tii I think I've ever seen

A beautiful Mercedes SL

When we arrived in Sunriver, Steph called and invited us over for the Beaver game against Cincinatti at their place in Albany. How could we refuse?! After all, it led us straight through the Santiam Pass and some fantastic corners for 30 or more miles on Highway 20. While I was remembering how to negotiate medium speed corners and how the Ducati likes to be handled, Freddie Spencer (aka Paul) was setting the world on fire with his cornering prowess on the VFR. He made 10 minutes on me in 10 miles. So much time in fact, he had time to pull over and set up for pictures:

And yes, that's the historical marker for the first Transcontinental Automobile Race in 1909. How ironic that Paul had so much time on me that he could take a break at this marker for me to catch up lol!

Here's some of the late afternoon shots from Paul's bike. Not bad for one-handed-while-riding(!):

As you can tell, a fantastic day covering 300 miles. Picture credits go to Paul with his handy P&S HP camera.

The entire 2007 Sunriver Exotic Car Show pics on my Flickr.

dc

Built by Alex Ortner, this is only the second bike he has decided to sell according to the ad. I haven't done any research yet on his work, but in the meantime, lets skip to the pictures and specs:

eBay listing for 2006 Ducati built by Alex Ortner

Some of the more obvious notables include:
- a hand built carbon fiber frame that exposes/highlights the twin cam belts to the Ducati superbike motor.
- carbon everything else, including the rims.
- magnesium goodies include the swingarm and triple clamp.

Some of the less obvious notables:
- race-built motor with 13:1 compression.
- custom software mapping (natch)
- the Showa forks up front are AMA Superbike spec from Matt Mladin's factory ride!

There is an insane amount of work and irreplaceable parts on this fine machine. Bidding starts at $30k and no one has bid... yet.

Update 1.8.2008:Alex Ortner Website.

dc

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for gray market bikes, but none more so than the Aprilia RS250. Here's one on eBay for $7k:

1996 Aprilia RS250 For Sale on eBay

A few years back when these would pop up from time to time, they were trading hands for more like $8-10k. This is the second example I've seen for sale in this price range this year. It'd be a pain to get serviced, but something tells me it would be worth it!

Update 9.12.07

Another RS250 on eBay for $8500 in CT (update 3: was listed with buy-it-now for $8500, but has since been removed). Very sexy in black:

dc