General Forum : M 320 & M323i

kpeters

Posted Friday, Jul 29th 9:57pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 493

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

Check this out I found this picture of Motorsport E21 models on an italian website. They were supposed to be sold only in France and in red,white,blu or silver color schemes if im not wrong....

I was sure there wasn't any M models on that time but looks like I was wrong.

JJG323

Posted Friday, Jul 29th 11:27pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 834

Reading MA USA
1979 BMW 323i

Hmm. I was not aware of this option until the guy who races his car at limerock said that his car was a special edition model.

Bmwclubracer claimed that his car had some motorsport options, and a motorsport car.

I was sceptical of this, and I would like to see the picture that you just posted a little more clearly.

I have heard the BBS spoiler that I have refered to as a "BBS Motorsports spoiler" but other than this I have never heard of //M e21s.

Question: Did they get the //M badge and full desingation or where they just e21s with Motorsport options like Bmwclubracers car?

thanks
J

RDAvena

Posted Friday, Jul 29th 11:48pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Staff
Post nr. 1421

SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
1981 323i, 1988 545is, 1997 528i

yep, someone also posted fuzzy film of a guy in an apesuit and said it was Bigfoot...

EricDeeJay

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 12:00am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 338

LA, CA
82 320i

I had a pair of Motorsport Bilsteins that I resold. I got them on ebay originally. Bilstein said they were in between the sport and regular yellows, they were still yellow. But they didn't seem to know too much for sure. I was about to install shocks and since I couldn't find a mate, I resold them and bought all 4 sports. I sort of wish I had taken the time to research them more.

kpeters

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 1:21am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 494

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

Sadly I have no more pictures I got this one from an italian website.

Check out the page:
http://www.bmwe21fansclub.it/test/articles.asp?id=2&page=8

Ray, no Bigfoot like stuff in here

. I just wish the picture was bigger and of better quality.

Konrad.

M42powered

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 2:50am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Staff
Post nr. 536

Arizona, USA
1981 BMW 320i

I've heard rumors of such cars. No motor enahancements of any kind. Simply the "motorsport" front end and suspension goodes, plus that odd looking rear spoiler. I am not aware that these were a factory option, but it is possible.

myersport

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 3:35am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 160

east tennessee
'82 320iS. '91 327iC

BMW offered many M-Technic parts for the e21-
-Springs
-Wheels
-Front Spoiler
-Shocks/Struts
-Steering Rack
-Steering Wheel
-Stickers
I've never seen a complete car, however, only the parts availability on the ETK.
--Dennis
BTW, Except for the wheels and the rack they are all NLA. I've checked.

kpeters

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 4:16am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 495

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

Yup they were supposedly enhanced for the French market. don't ask me why.

JJG323

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 7:09am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 836

Reading MA USA
1979 BMW 323i

M42powered wrote:

I have exactly the same rear deck spoiler:
mine is the BBS one:

RDAvena wrote:

yep, someone also posted fuzzy film of a guy in an apesuit and said it was Bigfoot...

Yeah - agreed Ray - I looked on the French website, I dont get it at all.

Can it be that Motorsport divison evolved after the e21, and that some cars had some protype M- parts? Other than that it really does not make sense: simply slapping an M badge on our cars does not make it a Motorsport edition e21.

later,
J

imaradiostar

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 7:32am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 451

Nashville, TN
81 323i, 82 525i, 85 524td, 90 535i

EricDeeJay wrote:

Um...was the ebay user you sold them to "imaradiostar" perchance?

If so these very shocks are sitting next to my toolbox at work.

jamie

Robert

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 12:06pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 66

The Netherlands
1979 320/6, 1980 323i Baur

Here's a scanned page in Dutch about the Motorsport kit. It says the kit was available at dealers.

http://img179.echo.cx/img179/7956/m320323i2sn.jpg

MayanArch

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 6:12pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 695

Florida, USA
Baur E21 2.7 1982, Baur E30 318i 1985, 323i 1978

RDAvena wrote:

yep, someone also posted fuzzy film of a guy in an apesuit and said it was Bigfoot...

Uhhh.....actually that was me on a nude sunbathing vacation....

I have been meaning to clear this one up with the international media.

kpeters

Posted Saturday, Jul 30th 10:02pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 496

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

HEY! Do I have the motorsport rims!?

Moggul

Posted Sunday, Jul 31st 12:19am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Junior Member
Post nr. 1

Madrid, Spain
BMW 320/6 '79

This is the original text in Italian and my best translation of it:

"Alla fine del 1981, sul mercato francese comparvero due nuove versioni della serie 3: la M320 e la M323i. Disponibili in una gamma limitata di colori (i più gettonati erano il bianco ed il rosso), erano caratterizzate dagli accessori "M Technic": spoiler anteriore e posteriore, placca rifrangente rossa tra i gruppi ottici posteriori con la scritta "BMW", strisce decorative nere o argento identiche a quelle della 635CSi; inoltre montavano i cerchi in lega leggera BBS a raggi incrociati di misura 5,5 x 13, gli specchi esterni in tinta con la carrozzeria, e il marchio "M" sulla parte destra della mascherina anteriore e sulla parte destra dello spoiler posteriore."

At the end of 1981 two new versions of the 3 series appeared on the French market: the M320 and the M323i. They were available on a limited range of colors (the most popular being white and red), and were characterized by the "M Technic" accesories: front and rear spoilers, back reflecting plate in red and back optical groups with the BMW lettering, decorative stripes in black or silver, identical to those of the 635 csi; they also mounted the cross-spoked light alloy BBS rims in 5,5 x 13, the external mirros the same color as the body and the marking "M" in the right side of the front grille and the right side of the back spoiler.

This is as far as a Spainard can go translating Italian into English

kpeters

Posted Sunday, Jul 31st 2:59am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 497

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

Great actually it cleared some thing 2 me I used a translator to read it

!

So, there was a M320 & M323i but they were just fashion objects for the french people. Too bad they weren't mechanicaly enhanced.

EricDeeJay

Posted Sunday, Jul 31st 4:07am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 339

LA, CA
82 320i

So if anyone tries to put an M logo on their car, every one of these parts had better be there.

imaradiostar, i looked at your feedback. I don't recall who bought them, i didnt see my old user name on there. Usually I do leave feedbacks.

aussie323i

Posted Sunday, Jul 31st 4:37am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 384

australia
1979 323i

Hi all

Just to let you know- Australia also had an e21 323i motorsport designated 323im.

Basically they were very similar to the euro edition S with the motorsport front spoiler, recaros, dogleg box, sport steering wheel, BBS alloys, LSD, etc. But no extra power- the motor was still a stock 2.3- 50 were built as a limited run- much like the JPS, and these were used by BMW Australia to premote the local touring car racing.

A mate of mine had one- as far as I know they were all white with the motorsport stripes on them...... unfortunately I don't have a pic of the car...... technically (much like the 333i in South Africa) these are not 'official' BMW factory models but more a dealer supplied vehicle.

kpeters

Posted Sunday, Jul 31st 4:57am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 500

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

Ok aussie please explain this 2 things to me:

aussie323i wrote:

-Just to let you know- Australia also had an e21 323i motorsport designated 323im.

-(much like the 333i in South Africa)

Did the Australian motorsport E21 had the M\\ Badge?

And WTF! is a 333i!!!!?

aussie323i

Posted Sunday, Jul 31st 1:42pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 385

australia
1979 323i

The 333i is a South African e21 model which had the 3.3 M30 from the 6 series fitted- apparently they went real well!

Yes- the Australian 323i Motorsport e21s had M/// badging- much like the french version- M/// grill badge replacing the 323i badge, and an M/// badge on the rear.

BruceH

Posted Sunday, Jul 31st 2:48pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 635

Atlanta, GA USA
81 323 Baur, 85 745

BMW of South Africa assembled "KD" (knock down) kits from components shipped in. This allowed BMW to avoid onerous tariffs and duty without funding a full manufacturing plant.

BMWSA was always happy to take leftovers. They built e12s after the e28 was being built. They also produced the mythical M745.

The 333 was another limited run parts bin special like the M745.

Bruce

myersport

Posted Sunday, Jul 31st 3:58pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 162

east tennessee
'82 320iS. '91 327iC

kpeters wrote:

HEY! Do I have the motorsport rims!?

K-
The motorsport wheels (BMW part no. 36.11.2.205.138) were 13x6 with a 13mm offset. They were manufactured by BBS/MAHLE and were very similar to the 13x5.5 sport wheels that everyone calls BBS, but were actually made by Lemmer. The motorsport wheels had a black plastic centercap with the original m-technic logo, as the standard chrome cap didn't fit.
--Dennis
p.s.- A bit of BMW part no. trivia-almost all BMW part no.'s have a '1' as the 5th digit. If the 5th digit is a '2' then the part is most likely an M-technic component.

OOK

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 12:31am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 3

New Zealand
323i 1981

Hi All,
I think I may have one of the Australian 323i Motorsport e21s. It was imported from Australia to New Zealand in 1983 and has the M/// badge on the back the front has been replaced at some point and has no badging. According to the local BMW dealer who made some enguires from Germany the car came out of the BMW motor sport facility in Germany in late 1980. I have had the car for about 12 years any have not been able to find out anything else about it.
Cheers,
Brent.

RDAvena

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 12:49am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Staff
Post nr. 1424

SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
1981 323i, 1988 545is, 1997 528i

Should be easy to tell if you car was ever at the ///M shop by your VIN would be "WBS"

kpeters

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 1:15am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 504

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

I don't have the motorsport rims lol....

Very interesting this thing about motorsport E21's I wonder why they didn't mod the engine.

OOK

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 2:06am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 4

New Zealand
323i 1981

I have checked the car and found the following:
BMW E21 323i RHD Manual
Colour Polaris Metallic
First reg. Australia 1980
The VIN is WBAA113202B7252299
Rims MAHLE-BBS 36-112205 138
Front Spoiler M-Technic 51712210179 KBA 35954
Rear Spoiler Motorsport 51712205435 9
Seats RECARO KBA 90024
Stearing Wheel M-Technik 3239059136
Also has Limited Slip Dif.
If anyone has any other info about this I would be very interested to hear.

Cheers,
Brent.

myersport

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 4:02am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 163

east tennessee
'82 320iS. '91 327iC

All the part no.s you listed are M-technic parts. Please post some pics so we can see it! Sounds like you have an interesting e21!
--Dennis

OOK

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 4:23am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 5

New Zealand
323i 1981

Hi Dennis,
Weather permitting I will give it a clean and take some pics this weekend.
Cheers,
Brent.

aussie323i

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 5:09am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 386

australia
1979 323i

Sounds like the right options

According to the 'Redbook'(OZ used car listing) the motorsport 323i came out in 1982 although their information could be incorrect- who knows what BMWAUS were up to back then.

OOK

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 6:26am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 6

New Zealand
323i 1981

Found the original note I got from the local BMW dealer about 10 years ago, what it actually said is that it was built in Germany Oct 1980 Left factory with full M-Tech body kit, full M-Tech suspension kit, Recaro seats, 5 speed sport box - (it now has the standard box not the dog leg)

Gabi_323i

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 8:19am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 86

Bucharest, Romania
11/80 323i 2.7i Motronic 1.3

myersport wrote:

kpeters wrote:

HEY! Do I have the motorsport rims!?

damn, i just sold them

DHoang

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 4:48pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 286

Texas USA
323i, e39 528i, Maserati Spider, Tundra LTD V8 p/up

Well guys, seeing that "m" logo certainly puts validity to the e21 being the 1st M car, true ?

JJG323

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 5:40pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 846

Reading MA USA
1979 BMW 323i

DHoang wrote:

Well guys, seeing that "m" logo certainly puts validity to the e21 being the 1st M car, true ?

Dhong..I know we were really the first BMW 3 series, and for its time, the e21 was radical in many ways, and they are true classic cars like the 2002. I know of no 2002 that came with an M badge,
and prior to this thread no e21 that ever came with one.

I am still not to sure about our cars being the 1st "M" cars. Here is what I think:

JJG323 wrote:

Can it be that Motorsport divison evolved after the e21, and that some cars had some protype M- parts? Other than that it really does not make sense: simply slapping an M badge on our cars does not make it a Motorsport edition e21.

later,
J

RDAvena

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 6:32pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Staff
Post nr. 1425

SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
1981 323i, 1988 545is, 1997 528i

DHoang wrote:

Well guys, seeing that "m" logo certainly puts validity to the e21 being the 1st M car, true ?

No, it is an e21 with MTechnic parts. A true ///M car is one that was built by the ///M group in Munich and would have the VIN reflect this with the "WBSXXXXXXXXXXXXX" coding. All of our e21 cars came out of Dingolfing.

OOK

Posted Tuesday, Aug 2nd 11:00pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 7

New Zealand
323i 1981

Have a look at this site
http://www.bmwworld.com/models/m_30th.htm
It gives a breif history of the M divisions first 30 years (upto May 2002)and the E21 is not mentioned.

BruceH

Posted Wednesday, Aug 3rd 3:06am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 637

Atlanta, GA USA
81 323 Baur, 85 745

There were no e21 M cars, period.

M-Technic parts yes but no true M cars.

Bruce

RDAvena

Posted Wednesday, Aug 3rd 8:31pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Staff
Post nr. 1429

SELECT * FROM users WHERE clue > 0
1981 323i, 1988 545is, 1997 528i

wow, I guess this one was nipped in the bud.

racrx7

Posted Wednesday, May 17th 11:22pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Junior Member
Post nr. 1

Texas

Hey guys!
Found something interesting today. I went to the local junkyard and found 320 sitting there. It had written on it that it was a 1978. After a quick look, I knew this was an odd one, here is why. On the trunk, it had a 320 badge with an M sticker that looked to be factory. It had what I believe were the sport rims with Alpina center caps. I looked inside and all the guages and switches were in German! I opened the hood and it had a 6 cylender. The front grill had a stock 320 badge in it and it had a BBS front air dam and a rubber spoiler on the trunk. Is this the car you all are talking about? I grabbed the front grill and mirrors as they were different to. Will try and post a pic of them. They are available if anyone wants them.

Waferman

Posted Thursday, May 18th 12:03am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 6

Oregon
78 320i, 83 320iS

Jason_323i

Posted Thursday, May 18th 1:04am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 392

UK, Scotland
323i 2.7 tripple webber track car. Maserati Biturbo

Hi

Ther is a differnce between a M car and a motorsport car, when i was in NZ/Oz last year you could get motorsport version of the e46 3 series from the dealer, when i checked it out, it basicaly the same spec as an SE in the UK.

So there was motorsport e21 in europe, but there never was a 320is you guys got all the reacro's and LSD's

Jason

Madhatter

Posted Thursday, May 18th 3:11am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 33

Australia - QLD
E21, E24, E30

they arent motorsport or m division cars, they were prepared by dealers and have nothing to do with bmw itself so they arent M vehicles, regardless of badges or titles used.

So no, they werent the first M cars, badges are titles aside, the motorsport division was working on the 3.0CSL and M1 vehicles before the E21 rolled off the production line.

We have discussed it here before.
http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1410

I didnt know BMW SA built a 333i in the E21 range, i think you might be getting confused with the E30 vehicle they made. AFAIK, hartge were the ones who built an E21 333i.

tony323

Posted Thursday, May 18th 3:22am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 69

Pa USA
1996 318ti, 1982 323i, 1982 320is, 1988 Alfa Verde, 1983 533i

I purchased my 323 from the original owner who was in the army when he purchased it. It had the BBS spoiler(now gone), side skirts (now gone), rear spoiler (soon gone) and some brand of three spoke steering wheel. It also has the same type of cross spoke wheels that rays car had. He said it had the sport box in it but he blew that and I was blessed to receive it with a four speed box with a really poor shifter (very worn). It also had the wondeful "M" emblems on it which he said were on it when he purchased it. I believe they were all items stuck on it by the dealer to up the price, like dealers do here with pin stripes and paint protection. The "M" emblems had to come off along with the BBS stuff. Oh, it also had the wonderful rectangular head lamps if anybody would like to buy them.

Tony

Madhatter

Posted Thursday, May 18th 7:29am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 34

Australia - QLD
E21, E24, E30

racrx7 wrote:

Sounds like a 320/6, euro vehicle, nothing special, just didnt exist in the US afaik.

kpeters

Posted Thursday, May 18th 9:06am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 763

San Jose, Costa Rica
1981 320/6 Kastanienrot-Metallic 5spd

Hey nice mega bump

.

Would love to see some pics, im also incredibly interested on the 335i S.African model.

chupchup

Posted Thursday, May 18th 6:38pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 49

Singapore
320m20

I think it is very clear that a true "M" BMW must have one very important ingredient - a real Motorsport engine!!!!

During my travels, I managed to buy a limited edition book published in 1998 by BMW M GmbH titled: BMW M Power. This is a beautiful book giving full details of ALL the M cars up until 1998.

The first M car was the M1, and there is NO E21 M320, M323i or M3. For that matter there was also no M 2002's either. I guess the closes we get to a M E21 will be the Turboed 320i, but then that is not a road car.

As much as I would love that there was a E21 Msomething, sad to say that there is none - officially that is. Motorsport accessories, parts and components were avaliable for the E21 but the is NO M E21.

What we uncover from sales brochures are absoutely interesting, unfortunally most were cleverly packaged together by importers and dealers to generate sales, I think the most famous example is the US 320iS. Until this day there has been numourous arguements if that was indeed an "iS", and it will never end.

Is is a standard practice by BMW factory to list out specifically the parts of the car, so if the biil of lading says it's got the following M parts, it unfortunally does not make it a M car. The spec list does 2 basic things - 1, it allows the factory to keep a record of the specification of each and very car and an inventory of the logistic parts. 2, it prevents the parts from being removed from one car to another.

Happy hunting guys

M42powered

Posted Thursday, May 18th 7:39pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Staff
Post nr. 655

Arizona, USA
1981 BMW 320i

I think people are confused...

M3 - Is a car. The first one as everyone can come to a concensus about is the E30. No if ands or buts about it.

Motorsport parts - Just like people make E36 M3 phonies. Add the FACTORY front skirt, emblems, etc. and you have a iMposter.

sooooo... is it possible... outlandish as it may be. That BMW motorsport division produced those trendy aero pieces, like the motorsport front end rear spoiler, etc? Companies do it all the time. I don't think anyone is thinking they will find a factory E21 with an S14 in it. So it can't be called an M3. But has anyone anywhere confirmed that a motorsport trim package was available? And by that I mean spoilers, dampers? etc? I keep repeating myself but everyone is getting confused as hell.

Cliff notes: No E21 M3 EVER. Possibility of trim package?

chupchup

Posted Thursday, May 18th 8:16pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Singapore
320m20

I didn't realise my last post was confusing... I tot I dis say there was NO E21 M3....sorry if that was the case.

Just a point in case, prior to the E30 M3, all the previous models (with the exception of M1) was designated M535i, and M635i that is following the original base model. Only with the E30 M3 did BMW start badging the M cars as M3, 5 and 6. In fact the E24 was never called a M6, its was called M635i. Also the 8er also had a M version but it was never badged as M8 or M850i it was simply called 850CSi.

skyflyer

Posted Monday, Mar 23rd 3:19pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 50

Australia
1980 BMW 323i E21

i think i need to bring back this old thread just to clarify one true fact.

yes, i 100% agree with aussie323i. there is a 323i e21 motorsport in australia, again let me state in AUSTRALIA. i am not aware of other countries at this point but after some thorough research bmw australia dealers did deliver such cars back in the early 80s, although i cant say atm as to whether they came with m badge, one thing for sure is that they were coined 323i motorsport by dealer during the period. call bmw australia and they will confirm that for you. back then, you had these options: stock e21 323i manual, stock e21 323i auto, e21 323i motorsport manual, and e21 323i jps manual from dealer.

cheers.

ps: e21 motorsport in australia is not an m car!