E30 buying advice

[shane.a.kleinpeter@xxxxxx]

Looking for a little advice on the purchase of an E30.

I have been looking for an E30 to use for driver's schools to preserve my
daily driver 5 series.  Today I noticed a '91 on a local used car lot and
decided to take a look.  It is a 325is, white, 5 speed with 129K on the
clock.  The interior is cloth, with electric windows and a manual sunroof.
The interior is a little ratty, although I am terrible picky and keep my
cars interior very clean, so I did not mind that it was not in perfect
shape.

On the road, the clutch was very heavy.  Leads me to think that it may need
at least a throw out bearing.  Brakes felt very good, although there was a
slight shimmy (Felt like ball joints in need of replacing).  Otherwise, the
engine pulled nicely and it handled well.

On inspection back on the lot, I found that the rear end had been hit
enough to require replacing, or at least repainting the trunk lid.   I
pulled out all of the trunk lining and looked at the sheet metal on the
rear fenders.  From what I could tell the shop that did the repair did a
good job.  It was difficult to tell that work had been done.  I asked the
sales guy what he knew about the car and he told me he got it from the
local Volvo dealer where it was traded in.  There was a recent receipt for
a timing belt tnesioner, but it did not mention the belt itself.  Is it
likely that you would change the tensioner without the belt?

So.  I'm looking toward the collective wisdom of the digest on whether or
not this car sounds worth pursuing.  If you all think that it is not worth
it I won't bother having my mechanic give it a full inspection.  The asking
price is $4800.  Also, is there a different engine in the '91 vs the '88
models.  From the look of the cam cover, it appeared to have DOHC.  Much
different than a friends '88 325is.  Thanks in advance for the help.

Shane Kleinpeter
'88 535is <----  Just sharked it last night.

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