Evaluation help with '97 Alpine White on Magma (Dinan) M3

[911r]

Hello all,

An E36 M3 recently fell into my lap. As I'm insuring it through Hagerty and the vast majority of their policies are agreed upon value, I'm seeking help valuing my car. I might also consider selling the car down the road to purchase a 'cleaner' E36 M3 or an E46 M3 and have Brett work his magic. I've tried pricing this car based on comps from BAT, Craigslist, etc. but similar spec'd cars, in similar condition, with similar miles and mods are nearly impossible to find comp-wise. Maybe you guys can help?

Anyways, some details about the car.

Was sold new in '97 in California and had a Dinan Stage II package installed at the dealer ('original' Dinan badge car), along with a couple of other Dinan goodies (carbon-fiber engine cover, front strut tower brace, rear shock tower brace, Dinan short shifter). Some other mods were installed in period like an AC Schnitzer exhaust, Turner sway-bars, Bilstein dampers & Dinan springs. The car resided in CA until '04 where it then moved to New Mexico, where it has resided ever since. Because the car has lived in CA/NM since new, it has absolutely zero rust. It also has a clean carfax (no accidents, or damage claims).

Specs/Car Info:
- Alpine White
- Magma interior
- 192k miles

Mods:
- Dinan Stage II (Intake, exhaust, tune)
- Dinan carbon fiber engine cover
- Dinan front strut tower brace
- Dinan rear shock tower brace
- Dinan short shifter
- Dinan springs
- Bilstein struts & shocks
- Turner Sway-Bars (front & rear)
- Slotted front rotors, drilled rear rotors
- AC Schnitzer 'Sebring' Exhaust

Maintenance/Restoration: (parts are on order)
- Full cooling refresh incl. water pump with metal impeller, Z3MS54 radiator, thermostat, hoses, belts, pulley, expansion tank, etc etc.
- OEM front control arm bushings with new housings
- OEM rear trailing arm bushings with poly limiters
- OEM clear corner lights
- OEM (chrome on black) grills
- OEM ZHP 5-speed shift knob

Cons:
- The car has two dents, I've scheduled to have them both pulled via. PDR
- The driver's seat has two tears/rips, the passenger's seat has one tear/rip, the rear 'bench' seat has one tear/rip
- The front, and rear bumper, along with the rear wing would benefit front a respray
- Most rubber gaskets on the car have started to crack (esp. the rubber trim beneath the quarter windows) -- I'm considering replacing.
- Paint on the flat black roof molding that runs on top of the windows is starting to flake off -- I'm considering replacing
- Rear bumper is sagging on one side
- ABS & Airbag lights are on (easy fix I hope)

Pictures: (Please note that I will take more tomorrow / ASAP, I just wanted to write this up first while I had the time. I apologize for the shitty pics.)







Thanks,
911r

[Westopher]

I'd say 15k? With the cons dealt with I'd think 18k.

[Nate047]

Cool car, it's kind of hard to tell the condition from the pictures though. If you want to sell, I would echo what Chris said but maybe less if we could see how bad (or not bad) the cons look in person. If you just need a value for insurance I would try to put it at like 20k if they'll agree on that.

[911r]

I'd say 15k? With the cons dealt with I'd think 18k.

Cool car, it's kind of hard to tell the condition from the pictures though. If you want to sell, I would echo what Chris said but maybe less if we could see how bad (or not bad) the cons look in person. If you just need a value for insurance I would try to put it at like 20k if they'll agree on that.

Wow! More than I expected. I was thinking maybe $10k if I'm lucky? Attached in the next post are a handful more pictures. I did my best to capture every imperfection, including the paint chipping on the bumper, rear bumper, and wing, along with the cracking trim and cracks on the seats. Otherwise, the car is pretty solid. VIN matching, idles smoothly, no hesitation, no CEL, headliner isn't sagging, everything works incl. AC & Heat, door panels are all in great shape, etc etc.

[911r]

More photos:











































Leaning more towards selling it at this point in time, I would really like to find a '95 Dakar / Daytona Violet car to have braymond/Brett restore and geek out on.

[Westopher]

Interior is rougher than I thought, but I still think 13k is reasonable. The window gaskets, a detail, and the cons cleaned up will help you get much more than 10k. I'd say you could get 10 without even washing it at this point.

[JitteryJoe]

It is a LUX, yes? I believe they tend to bring a bit less money. The Dinan parts are nice but overall the car looks pretty rough. The interior is very rough as pointed out.
Some investment in cleaning up the obvious problems might go a long way but I don't think you can much for the interior without a fairly big spend. Plus you are pushing 200K miles and that is not going to help the value. I'm not on top of the prices much anymore but $13K sounds in the ballpark.

[Nate047]

Interior is rougher than I thought, but I still think 13k is reasonable. The window gaskets, a detail, and the cons cleaned up will help you get much more than 10k. I'd say you could get 10 without even washing it at this point.

Yup agreed

[911r]

Interior is rougher than I thought, but I still think 13k is reasonable. The window gaskets, a detail, and the cons cleaned up will help you get much more than 10k. I'd say you could get 10 without even washing it at this point.

It is a LUX, yes? I believe they tend to bring a bit less money. The Dinan parts are nice but overall the car looks pretty rough. The interior is very rough as pointed out.
Some investment in cleaning up the obvious problems might go a long way but I don't think you can much for the interior without a fairly big spend. Plus you are pushing 200K miles and that is not going to help the value. I'm not on top of the prices much anymore but $13K sounds in the ballpark.

Yup agreed

That's awesome. Yea, it's a LUX package car, unfortunately. I'd honestly be happy to get $8k for it a-ha; just want whoever buys it to have plenty of money left over to go through it and feel good about the purchase.