ZHP values rising. At what point do you just get an M3 ?

[GeorgeH]

I like your touring George!

Thanks! It doesn't have the velocity stacks anymore and it's all one color... I need to update my journal thread, maybe tonight.

You just got real lucky with your purchase and I don't think the price you paid is a good example for ZHP vs M3 prices even back in the day - you could barely find an SMG M3 vert for that much back then. Back in 2015, $7K got you this bucket of bolts. If the price difference wasn't as significant as it was, I probably would've considered an M3.

Definitely jealous of your find though. Alpine white 6MT is a beautiful colour - I don't know what crack the seller was on to price it like that, but all the more power to you lol

Fair, it was a trade in at the dealer I worked at because it was misdiagnosed as needing a transmission (by the owner, the pivot pin was broken and intermittently it would grind when pushing in the clutch). I did the RACP, bearings, vanos, clutch and some other "minor" things and sold it with around 140k (iirc) for $16k 3yrs ago and it took a little bit.

Also I did have a SMG Imola M3 before that, the previous owner tried to change the clutch himself. The SMG wouldn't adapt and he thought it had a bad hydraulic unit. I bought it for $4500 iirc and it turned out the clutch was damaged and wouldn't disengage. I 6MT swapped it and kept it for a couple years and when I sold it, it had similar miles and condition to the alpine car with RB and Vanos done and I had to work to sell that one for $12k. You aren't going to find that deal either.

But I do see SMG cars misdiagnosed all the time, deals are out there if you know what to look for, just not as prevalent as they were. (*Side note, I've converted maybe 10 or so M3s from SMG to 6MT, and the majority of them were misdiagnosed as needing a hydraulic unit and they all could have been fixed for less than $500 in parts. Misdiagnosed by their owners or other shops, I generally like to diagnose them before I swap to learn more about the failure modes whether the customer specifically asked for it or not). 3yrs ago I could go buy an M3 coupe for $5-6 within a week or two of searching, convertible SMG were even cheaper. And when looking for a donor, I could buy a wrecked M3 off of CL or FB for $3-4k.

SMG verts can still be found for $8-9k right now. The S54 touring I am building the customers donor car was a 90k SMG vert he bought off a used car lot for less than $10 (it did have a salvaged title, but had been repaired, albeit not perfectly).

Either way the days of those cars being priced like that are over and not valid to compare to today's market as your $6,200 ZHP then isn't that now just like all of my M3s are worth more now too.