Taking a step back in time, I had the pleasure of shooting Ryan Hopper's Stunning BMW E30 Convertible.
E30's are now considered by many to be a classic car and prices are certainly on the up for the iconic rear wheel drive German car, and what a beautiful example of a car this is!
Ryan purchased the car in December 2019 and is now the 12th owner. It was originally sold by Hexagon BMW in London and has since moved up the country through various owners in Cambridge, Worcester, Walsall, Blackpool before ending up in Stafford. It comes as no surprise that the car has come with enough service history to fill the boot, having had a full BMW main dealer history up until 2008 and lots more receipts and invoices from independent garages, you can tell it's been a well cared for car.
1992 brought this particular E30 to life. It's painted in Calypso Red which certainly does pop in the sunlight and although it doesn't look it, it is still the original paint work on which Ryan has worked his magic! Running a detailing company (RH Detailing co) certainly has its benefits. A full paint correction and detail to the swirl marked paint has given this 318i a new lease of life. Correcting the paint was just the start as Ryan has also replaced at great cost the fog lights, indicators, headlights, grille, bumpers, roof seal, bonnet liner and all the chrome trim.
The car was originally fitted with 14" bottle top wheels, but now Ryan has manged to source a set of the optional extra 15" BBS wheels, which are shod in Goodyear tyres. Ryan has also overhauled the running gear with all genuine BMW parts making sure it will happily run along nicely for years to come. The 1.8 M40 111 Bhp engine is still running sweet with just 113,000 miles on it. This is also due to be overhauled when Ryan removes the engine to tackle the engine bay, to bring it back to factory fresh.
The interior is the original trim which is Silber Uberkaro 0380 check fabric, which with the hugging bolsters and extending leg support on the seats all add up to make this machine a breeze to drive on long journeys, sitting back cruising along, roof down listening to some tunes from the original Blaupunkt headunit. To add to the massive list of parts already replaced on this car Ryan has also replaced the dashboard and speedometer to make it as perfect as possible.
Work in progress as Ryan tackles the paintwork and replaces parts to bring it back to the condition you now see.
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