In my chaotic deliberations of the last year, I’ve ommitted to share with the world wide intraweb some of the more interesting acquisitions I’ve made of late, specifically this Alpina C2 2.7.

I’ve been looking for an E30 BMW (80’s 3 series BMW) for a couple of years now and have just been watching them with that kind of passive interest someone has for something they feel they’d never really get in the real world. However, whilst going through the Piston Heads classifieds, I happened upon this almighty Gem of a car.

This model is the C2 2.7. There were only 159 of these cars made worldwide in all the variants, including convertible and touring models. It basically left the factory as a 325is and is then immediately sent through Alpina to turn it into the C2. It’s bored out to 2.7, gas flowed head, mahle pistons, Alpina camshaft, Alpina ECU, Alpina suspension, Alpina exhaust and the awesome body kit.

Now, the car’s not been looked after so well by the last owner who was, quite frankly, an idiot who didn’t understand the unique nature of this car, choosing instead to treat it like a piece of shit 318i. It’s got a few things wrong with it, like it’s been fitted with cheap shit springs, the exhaust is not original anymore and there are a number of cosmetic points that need attention.

Overall, the bodywork – at least externally, is in great condition and I’m amazed at how many heads it turns – more so than the GT3 sometimes. My aim with this car is to bring it to it’s original glory and invest in some good suspension, brakes, exhaust etc. It has been quoted for a full restoration and subject to timing, I will be going through with this.

I’m really in love with this car, it sounds fantastic and looks superb – I’m quite simply amazed by the attention it gets. I’ve had a ridiculous amount of people stop me in the street and ask me to buy the car. I had one person follow me home in his car and made an offer there and then. Only 3 weeks ago somebody left a note on my windscreen with his full details asking to buy the car.

It’s also what’s called a ‘Tech 1’ which is the chrome bumper versions and pre-facelift. Personally, I think the Tech 1’s look better and this car will always command a premium over standard versions. As an example, a nice 325i will go for about £3-4k. I’m hoping with enough TLC, this will be valued at circa £15k.

The latter photos are from the Total BMW cover shoot it was part of a few years back.