Over the past couple of years, auction sites like Bring-A-Trailer and Cars & Bids have been the source of some wild transactions. The COVID-era boom has cooled off quite a bit over the past year or so, but these sites’ reputations still persist: If you want to overpay on seemingly anything, look no further.
Not everything, though. In fact, there are real deals to be had if you keep an eye out, which is exactly what SoCal track enthusiast Gianni Ferrara found out half a year ago when he picked up a four-door 1990 BMW 325i for a song at around $17,000.
Wait, a song? you might be thinking, as this sounds like just another brutally inflated BaT transaction at first glance. Rest assured, it ain’t. Thanks to possessing an engine from an E46 BMW M3 under the hood, plus a laundry list of other top-notch (and expensive) modifications, it’s actually the deal of the century in BMW track cars. Here’s why.
Keeping an Eye Out
“I didn’t know the owner beforehand, but I knew a local who would occasionally drive and represent the car,” the Long Beach-based enthusiast explained to me via email. Ferrara’s a Service Manager at EF1 Motorsports in Signal Hill, California, and has had a had a few cool BMWs over the years, including a blue E36 M3 sedan that he’s tracked regularly for some time now. He competes in Speed Ventures’ CSF Bimmer Challenge, by the way, a SoCal-based time attack series that yours truly competes in as well.
“About a year and half ago, he posted it for the owner listing it for $28,000, then $25,000. It interested me, but was way out of my budget.” Then, six months ago it dropped down to $22,000 which definitely piqued his interest, but was ultimately still a little too rich for his blood. Especially considering he had his E36 that he was having plenty of fun with.
Not long after that price drop, while perusing BaT on Monday morning, “lo and behold: The S54 E30 had three hours left and was floating around $15,000. Those two hours of bidding were definitely quite exhilarating.” $15K was over 10 grand less than its original listing, and put the E30 squarely in the middle of Deal Territory due to the sum of its parts.
Ferrara won it, and after settling a few issues with the seller, he ended up paying closer to $16,500 after fees. Not bad at all.
The Build
“It’s the perfect homologation of all the great drivers-era BMWs I love, and fills the void of not having a S54 in the stable,” Ferrara explains of why he digs his well-bought old 3er so much. “I love the raw nature of this E30, and it’s now become the super light track car, while the E36 is becoming a more comfortable street car for canyons and cruising.”
For those who aren’t familiar or get downright confused by BMW engine codes, the S54 is a legendary monster of an inline-six. Independent throttle bodies, a high compression ratio, and 3.2 liters of displacement combine to give it 333 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque. There are plenty of ways to bump those figures a bit, too.
Considering the four-door E30 325i weighed around 2,800 pounds when new, this thing’s got a very appealing power-to-weight ratio as well. Though, it definitely isn’t at stock weight. It sports a carbon fiber hood, aftermarket two-way adjustable AST/Moton coilovers with remote reservoirs, fixed back racing seats up front, less of an interior elsewhere (though he threw factory rear seats back in to look a little more sleeper sitting in the paddock), a racing exhaust system, and lightweight 17 inch wheels. For added tire clearance, the fenders have been cut and flares fitted.
The engine is largely stock besides the exhaust system and Fabspeed Motorsports headers, but that just ensures better longterm track reliability.
“I definitely learned with my E36 that the best way to save money with race cars is buying one already built. While it is a gamble, this one definitely ended up in my favor with the chassis being solid and previously completely gone through by JMP Autowerks.”
“Most shops are charging $20,000+ to transplant an S54 into an E30, which is just to get it in and running,” Ferrara explained. “Not accounting for front and rear subframe reinforcements being welded in, which is almost a requirement with a swap of this nature.” The damper package is over $5,000 retail, it’s got a high-end OS Giken limited-slip differential out back, and every bushing’s been upgraded to stiffer fare from AKG Motorsports. All of that means big money in parts and additional labor. “Someone is easily going to spend $40-50,000, not including the price of the chassis, to build something similar to this.”
Future Plans
Since picking up the sprightlier-than-stock E30, Ferrara’s been putting in hours getting the setup down and making it into a proper weapon. I’ve actually had a front seat to this, as him and I often run the same sessions on track. Let me tell you, it’s been quite entertaining following behind and watching him fight off some pretty gnarly corner-entry and -exit oversteer—a testament to his solid driving skills.
“I’m definitely excited, and look forward to doing more fine-tuning of all the aftermarket suspension. I am sure adjusting dampers and sway bars could greatly change the handling characteristics, as well as having the differential tuned for larger tracks.”
He’d also like to integrate more technology from the E46 M3: “The big modification I’d like to do is adding MK60 ABS from the E46 M3. It’s a motorsports-quality ABS system that can be finely tuned, but involves adding a ABS computer, wiring harness, speed sensors to all four corners, and a steering angle sensor.” This would be a tremendous undertaking and quite expensive—to the tune of several-thousand dollars in parts and labor, even for his employee pricing.
But in the meantime, the car’s run flawlessly over the course of four track days. Besides mounting up fresh 255/40/17 Falken RT660 tires and a comprehensive fluids service, it’s proving to be cheap to stay on top of maintenance.
It was really cool hearing more about this thing, and I look forward to seeing his lap times continue drop as he does more fine-tuning. I’d love to sit shotgun the next time we’re at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, too.