This clean 1980 BMW 320i is a car near and dear to my heart, as I have a Euro-spec E21 in the garage. Now, this car and mine share very little in the way of personality, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that this U.S.-spec model remains in excellent condition. The seller claims he is the second owner since new and this safaribeige example here on eBay is listed with an opening bid of $6K.
The U.S. cars were unfortunately saddled with the huge safety bumpers. While these did no BMWs any favors, it seemed to be particularly unfortunate on the E21s. The bodies were just too small to carry these bumpers with any grace, and it makes me grateful I have a car equipped with the slimmer European bumpers. Nice to see a rust-free example no matter the bumpers, and one that hasn’t been modified.
The interior shows none of the typical “old BMW” defects, avoiding the cracked dash, tired vinyl seats, and non-functioning air conditioning. Even the OEM BMW radio remains, which is a rare sight anymore in the E21-chassis cars. Carpets also look original and quite clean, and thankfully, this is a manual transmission car that recently received a new clutch.
The stock four-cylinder is somewhat wheezy but effective. It will never offer any sort of visceral thrills, and acceleration will be leisurely at best. The best part about an E21, in my opinion, is the improved sound deadening and higher quality feel of the cabin compared to the 2002, while still feeling a bit lighter on its feet than the E30 that came after it. I do think the opening bid is a touch ambitious, but who knows – good E21s are getting hard to find.
Never really felt the love for this. I suppose we were spoiled by the 2002 and then the 325 made us remember what we had and wanted again.
I really like the E21s, but have surprisingly never owned one. They’re certainly not fast, but are huge fun to toss around. And this one’s beige– I love the understated colors. I’d toss on a set of aftermarket wheels or steelies (never been a fan of the Alpine-style rims) and drive it hard!
Almost identical to the car Donald Plesance drove in the 1978 version of Halloween.
I’ll take the small crossover SUV. There. Somebody had to say it.
And you frequent this website because…. ????
To irritate folks like you….!!!!! It’s a target-rich environment.
My brother had one of these. This was a lot of fun to drive around and far better than the 2.0 chevy I had at the time.
I remember all the Yuppies driving these things who were annoying and the reason I didn’t buy one at the time. I think this is still a good price of the car is as clean and mechnically strong as the seller states.
I had a 76 320I in germany. It cruised the autobahns pretty well and it was an automatic. This would slightly more fun with good fuel economy.
I’m impressed with how clean and honest the car is. It’s obviously been well cared for. I like it.
While I owned Harley’s, Mustangs and an occasional VW, a buddy of mine owned a 1980 320i, a later model 73oil and a bunch of BMW motorcycles..
One day at Happy Hour he asks me if I wanted to drive his new to him 320i around the reservoir on the twisties..
I gladly obliged and drove the snot outta that thing and was probably giggling the whole way until a sign flew by the passenger window that said “ROAD ENDS IN WATER”
I found out it had really great brakes too.
The front bumper was dry but Bill had beer coming out of his nose.
I know this a very old post, but man I enjoyed your writing style on this post. Cheers from South Africa!
I had a 320i a long time ago and to be honest all I remember about it was it wasn’t anything like fast I think it was a pretty under whelming car!
Had an 82, it loved to corner!! My wife has not forgiven me for selling it yet…