At $43,500, Is This 82 BMW 323i A Forbidden Fruit That’s A Sweet Deal? (2024)

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice 323i is offered in California, where it could never be registered without serious emissions system changes and a requisite BAR sticker validating those revisions. Let’s see if it’s priced to make an out-of-state move worthwhile.

Speaking of moving, have you ever heard that “you can’t take it with you” regarding the final move to the great beyond? With a tiny camper like the 1974 Volkswagen Super Bugger we looked at yesterday, maybe you could take a few things with you. That might not be so advantageous, though, as it would take fully $17,500 in cash to do so. That was way too much, as both the comments and the 94 percent No Dice loss more than proved.

Hey, do you love small BMWs? If so, where is the sweet spot for your ardor? Is it with the E30 series or something a little more modern? Or maybe you like to go old school and dig the classic 02 Series of the Sixties and Seventies. Oddly, few are likely to claim the middle child E21 series of the mid to late Seventies as their jam. That’s weird, right?

That’s also too bad because, as this 1982 323i proves, the E21 is a handsome car, looking all the world like a shrunken-head E28 5 Series. And like the pumped-up 2002 Tii that came before it and the succeeding E30 M3 that hit the market a few years afterward, this 323i is the top-of-the-pile performance model.

Here in the U.S., we only received milquetoast four-cylinder versions of the E21. That’s probably why few here found the model singularly remarkable or even memorable. In Europe, however, BMW imbued its small two-door saloon with six-cylinder engines, including a 2315 cc fuel-injected M20 edition for the flagship model. That made 140 horsepower and 140 lb-ft of torque, giving the 323i decent, if not scintillating, performance.

This privately imported but as yet un-registered car is claimed to be a survivor, and despite some evidence of age and use under its hood, it appears to be museum quality. Painted appropriately enough in silver and dressed in blue cloth and vinyl upholstery inside, it looks elegant and purposeful. Alpina-style Turbines underpin and appear to be in excellent condition as well. Most amazingly, the metallic tape trim surrounding the windscreen and the rear window hasn’t succumbed to water intrusion and, hence, hasn’t turned a nasty brown.

This being a small German car from the Seventies, everything in the cabin is manually operated, which is a plus since there’s less to go wrong. The gearbox, a four-speed Getrag 242, is also manual. The only jarring element in the cabin is a stereo head unit from the wrong decade, but that could be easily exchanged for a more appropriate Becker or Grundig.

According to the ad, the car has 86,928 kilometers on the clock. That’s just a little over 54,000 miles to us ’Muricans. It’s also touted as having been “meticulously maintained” and to be a “Great collector car.”

As noted, it’s offered in Santa Barbara, California, but can’t be registered in the Golden State even though it falls under the Federal Government’s 25-Year Rule. That’s because California requires all cars built after 1975 to meet its emissions standards, which this never-certified interloper certainly does not.

However, for anyone living outside of the state, this could actually be the decent collectible the seller contends. It would take a bit of driving since Santa Barbara is a hike from any of California’s borders except the one with the sea, and that one doesn’t help. It will additionally take $43,500 since that’s what the seller wants to turn the car over.

Now, before you collectively get your panties in a bunch and injure yourselves reflexively clutching your pearls over that eye-watering asking price, consider that earlier 2002Tii models are going for around this amount, and later E30 M3s are typically getting two to three times as much. Yeah, I know that won’t sway many opinions, but I just thought I’d throw it out there.

Okay, with that all out of the way, do you think this imported 323i is worth $43,500, as obviously does the seller? Or, nice as the car is, is that just crazy talk?

You decide!

Santa Monica, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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