I saw this car yesterday. Didn't drive it.
DEALER: great guy. Honest. Not an E9 specialist so he may say some things which are incorrect, but he's not trying to mislead anyone.
DOCUMENTATION: I'd say very modestly documented. Plenty of documentation from the most recent owner, but little going further back. No original bill of sale, window sticker, dealer correspondence, old registrations, history of maintenance, photos, etc. On the plus side, the big stuff is documented (recent engine rebuilt, lots of parts from CN). I've never known any BMW person to care about this sort of stuff anyway...
RUST: the only thing I found was minor rust around the floor pan plugs. The undercoating is loose had has been trapping water against the floors. Minor issue, easily fixed. The rest of the car checked out clean. Clean above both glove boxes.No filler in infamous rust areas on the front fenders (other than 1 thing mentioned below). I don't think this car has ever been rusty before!
BODY: No signs of accidents. I only found one area where there was body filler worth mentioning. This is the driver side front fender, all the way at the back and about 1/2 way up. The area was roughly 4" in diameter. It could be an old dent or an old rust repair (this is one of those rust prone areas). Probably an easy fix with a metal patch and paint work. I didn't take the cover off the inside area around the tail lights, but the spare well suggests it's all nice down there.
PAINT: It's shiny/glossy, but .... it has tiger stripes on the hood/top/trunk. This is where the metallic flake isn't evenly distributed because the gun was not adjusted right or the painter didn't overlap correctly for how the gun was shooting. Stripes are about 8" apart and readily visible under the right lighting conditions. Too bad as otherwise I'd rate the paint as decent but not great. Why not great? Because it looks like a quick respray where they shot right over things like the dome light switches in the doors and trunk. The tape lines were not put under weather stripping so when you open the hood/trunk you'll see the edge between new/old paint right away ... and it's peeling slightly. We're talking about 3/4" of difference between a hidden and visible tape line ... what were they thinking!!
INTERIOR: love it or hate it. The leather color is sort of silver blue. I personally didn't like it. Carpet set is a repro in cheap material. Should be replaced with a good set from World ($700). Wood is starting to delaminate in 2-3 places. It's not going to last much longer if the car is used. Budget for repair or a set from Bela.
MECHANICALS: didn't drive it. Receipts show recent rebuilt (everything other than new pistons/rings). Started up fine. Idle was sort of lumpy (is it the cam or the injection calibration). I thought the underhood work was very sloppy (hoses, wiring, etc.). It really looked hacked together ... but this is something readily fixed with some time and $. Suspension looked like it was all gone through (CN springs, Bilsteins, big bars, etc.). Nice wheels and nearly new Michelin Pilot XGT's.
Overall: nice clean honestly rust free car. Fabulous starting point for a restoration because it's just paint, interior (if you don't like the color) and misc fettling. Worth $23k all day long, IMHO, because of the lack of rust, no need for body work, and drivetrain/suspension.
Someone buy this car!
