A rare E36 BMW 325is Coupe, Spotted in China in the Dongba area in the far eastern suburbs of Beijing in November 2015. The good 3 was painted in green and in reasonable shape. The paint on the bonnet, roof, and boot lid was heavily damaged, likely caused by bad Bimmer-hating weather.
Otherwise she looked all right. Completely original up until the alloys, and nothing was missing or broken. A professional clean-up will probably do miracles to this great green car.
The E36 325is Coupe is very rare and was only available in North America from 1992 until 1995. It was a somewhat sporty special developed to fill in the gap between the regular 325i and the manic M3. Normally, filling that gap was the job for the 328i, but that car wasn’t available in the U.S. until 1996.
The engine was exactly the same as in the 325i: a 2.5 liter six-in-line with an output of 192hp and 245nm, good for a 235km/h top speed and a 0-100 in 7.5 seconds. Gearbox was a four-speed automatic.
The interior was sadly in a sorry shape. The seats are very worn out and the whole place looks very dirty. Radio is a cheap Chinese after-market example, but the original optional arm rest is very cool.
The E36 3-Series was never sold in China so seeing one on the road in a rare pleasure. This particular car has black license plates , which were issued to foreign owned companies from the 1980’s to the mid 00’s. These companies could buy a car locally, or import one. There were no limits on the number of cars, or on price, or engine type. The numbering started at 京A·00001, and then up. So the lower the number the older the car. Any black plate beginning with 京A·0 or 京A·1 is considered ultra rare.
Two rusty pipes on the left. And fuct you.
The car was still in very active use when I met it in 2015. I saw it all over the compound, driven by a middle aged Chinese man. However, the last insurance and inspection dated back to 2014, as proven by the stickers on the left-top side of the windscreen.
As you can see the BMW was parked on the middle of a street, with many others behind it. This was normal practice in the compound where I lived at the time. Residents find the price for the underground parking too steep and put their cars on the street but there isn’t enough space on the sides, so they put their cars in the middle. This road is a public road, with sections of the compound on each side.
The 325is two weeks later, after some fresh snow. It had at least 10 centimeter pf snow on top of it. Can’t have been good for that damaged paint! Later again, the car was gone, and I never say it anymore. Hope she survived.
That same day. Dog wearing pink vest and pink socks. Owner with a partially pink jacket and a pink shawl. It was a cold day…
That same day again. My Beijing-Jeep Cherokee BJ7250, also with black plates.