BMW E30 Convertible

Nigel and Bethan Casado, Cardiff

Thanks for a fantastic day in Cardiff… I really enjoyed it and it’s inspired me to start showing my car again for the first time in three years. My daughter Bethan nagged me to go along, which resulted in a solid week getting the car to the standard you saw on the day.

I’ve owned this 3-Series for 13 years. My wife saw it, fell in love with it and bought it without me seeing it. I was after a facelift model with skirts and spoilers, but when I went to collect it I loved it, too. It had 64k on the clock and just needed love and attention. The car has the most documented history I’ve seen in any car and didn’t need anything major doing to it. I wanted to keep it as original as the day it was born, but I have replaced the interior as all the leather was worn and torn. I found replacements on ebay and sold my old interior for the same money! The roof I also bought on ebay complete with frame, and again I sold my old tatty roof with stitching coming undone and got just £5 less than the price of the new roof! Besides normal wear and tear running costs the only other purchases were the genuine BMW wind deflector and recently the hardtop, again a genuine BMW top that we sourced via the E30 zone. I have also added the aftermarket split rim copy wheels that do make a difference to the look of the car. I’ve kept the original BBS wheels, the original gearknob, wing mirrors sun visors and the original number plates. I’ve shown the car along with my son who has a 318i lux E30 at many classic car shows over the years also appearing on the E30 zone stand at the BMW Festival at Gaydon. I even used the car at my son’s wedding to take him to the church. It is really part of the family.

Once again thanks for a fantastic day. I know it was about the cafes, but there were some awesome cars out, too.