South Africa BMWs

[E12 518]

Hi All

My name is Mohammed from South Africa a true BMW fanatic.I must say this site is really interesting.The E21 is very very limited in our country.I have been communicating with Jeroen informing him about our BMW website and the BMWS I own.
I would like to get permission from you guys to show you more about our website and the BMWS in South Africa if that is fine with you guys?

[garyw51]

Hi Mohammed,
I for one would love to hear more about South African BMWs. They did some strange and wonderful things (a 530 e12 comes to mind! among others).
I actually have a 1974 South African 2004 sitting in my garage waiting to be restored. What is a 2004 you all ask? It is a Glas design that went to South Africa and had 2002 engine and box put in. It has early e12 lights grafted front and back among other strange features. I believe there were about 200 made of the 2 litre and this could be the only one in Oz. It was brought in by the South African ambassador before he was expelled over apartheid issues.
Interesting that this design was sold to Mazda to become the 1500/1800. Body rubbers, glass and doors are interchangeable and, of course, all the BMW experts claim the car never existed. BMW could not sell these Glas designed cars against the Neue Klasse sedans so sent the pressings to South Africa. Believe it or not!
My car's restoration is a long way off - too many e21s to do. There is very little information about these early South African cars and BMW South Africa is no help at all so any information would be appreciated.
What is the website?

[E12 518]

Hi Gary

Thank you for your response.We have a very fine example of a 530 MLE in Johannesburg,South Africa I will post some pictures for you.I have never heard about the 2004.Would be very interesting to see pictures of it.

This is the website:

www.sabeemer.co.za

The article magnificent minter is my E12.You will also see my previous BMWS.

This site was started by my friend as a hobby.He has a passion for BMW and his intention is to showcase all the bmws in South Africa to the rest of Africa and also to the rest of the world.I have recently joined forces with him as I share the same passion as he does.

I hope you guys like it.

[Jeroen]

Mo: thanks and welcome here!

Gary: heard about the 2004, any decent pics from your car?

We have some more people that are familiar with the SA car scene, I'm sure they will report here as well. And for me, SA cars especially means E30's. The 333i but the SA/Alpina spec 325iS even more!

And the 530's yes, friend of mine used to race one for BMW Netherlands in the 70's. Funny coincidence is that I just met him this weekend, at the Spa Classic.

[TopCat]

I too love to hear about SA BMWs- they tend to have even bigger engines than the modified ones

also love SA!

there are some very tasty CSLs racing in JoBurg - there is an article and photos somewhere here.

I expect to be over next Feb - Zwartkops and hopefully Killarney

[E12 518]

Hi Topcat

Please feel free to go through all the articles on our website.There you will see full features on passionate BMW guys with their BMWs.
Guys feel free to ask me anything you want to know about the BMWs in South Africa and I will gladly assist if I can.

Jeroen you are 100% right about the E30s in South Africa especially the 325is.These have become collectors items and guys are selling them for ridiculous prices.I however am more keen on the left hand drive E30s and I am sure you guys have a lot of those.

We had a BMW day in February this year.Massive event with an awesome turn out.You will see a lot of examples of the 325is and also other BMWS

http://www.sabeemer.co.za/bmwdaygp2013

[TopCat]

found it! details of those tasty Batmobiles (including Pablo's)

http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.p ... ilit=+2013

when hunting for Herman (my B6) I had my SA chums look out for an E21 with the big block-- nothing found- it seems strange that the first BMW to have the BB transplant was the E30 333i and it used many Alpina parts. Surprised that the SA engineers (and many are/were brilliant) didn't do the transplant on the e21
Or have we got this wrong and they do exist??

fantastic- hope you meet you guys in feb?

[Jeroen]

Nice report on the BMW event and I love the variety of cars. The SA 325iS is a legend, values must be approaching M3 values by now I guess. So did the 325iS always come with the M-Tech2 bodykit as standard? We have the 320iS with a 2 litre S14 here and that had the M-Tech 2 bodykit standard on the 2 door versions, optional on the 4 doors.

Of course we had plenty of LHD E30's back then and there are enough survivors, but because of the humid weather in the northern half of Europe minters are rare here as well these days, but not impossible to find.

[garyw51]

Hi all,
There is an international Glas club which lists 7 2004SA vehicles left (there are more but fairly rare).
www.glasclub.org
pictures section gives a few images of the 2004SA.
There is also some limited information and images on Wikipedia and oldtimer BMW site.
My car is a long way from photogenic at this stage and is really a long term project.
Mohommed, if you can find any information about these cars it would be appreciated.
I have not heard of any big block e21s in SA but it is possible. Certainly the e30s are most famous and one (a 333I) has come up for sale in OZ although there is some doubt about its authenticity.
Love the variety of BMWs on this site as well as the e21 focus.

[E12 518]

Hi Gary

I had a look at your link I have never seen or heard of those cars before.The only car we have is a 2002.
However if I do come across anything I will let you know.

Jeroen yes the kit came out standard.We also have the E30 325i shadowline 2 door that did not come with any kit on it.
If you look at my feature you will see I had a blue shadowline with no kit.

I wish we had the opportunity to buy the left hand drive cars and get them to South Africa.

Have you guys heard of the E30 325ES 2 door?

[Jeroen]

In the English speaking countries the 2 door versions were always referred to as 'S' or 'Sport'. Over here they're just named 325i or 325e no matter if 2 or 4 doors. And we had the 325e as well.

That adds some confusion every now and then, for example as for the UK a 320iS is just a plain 2 door 129 BHP M20 320i while in Italy the S14 powered 192 BHP version carries the same name. There are many more examples.

[TopCat]

[quote="Jeroen"]In the En
That adds some confusion every now and then, for example as for the UK a 320iS is just a plain 2 door 129 BHP M20 320i "

The 318iS sold in UK had a 16 Valve head (at least)!

but these were times when the badge reflected the engine size (more or less-316 excepted)

[Jeroen]

The 318iS sold in UK had a 16 Valve head (at least)!

And available as a 4 door as well just to make sure the confusion's still there. But that was in the E36 shell.

But I can imagine with E30's you had a 318iS with plain M10B18 or M40B18 as well as with the 16V M42B18 lump. Over here, you need more than just 2 doors to earn a Sports badge lol.

[E12 518]

Howzit guys

Ive been so crazy at work now recently.Anyway I popped in to say howzit and hope you all are keeping well.

I also wanted to share our latest feature on our website:

http://www.sabeemer.co.za/beemer-fan-feature

I hope you guys will enjoy this one.This is a true BMW fan who has owned a lot of E30s

Im very keen to see the E30s you guys have over there if possible can you guys post some pics please.

[Jeroen]

Most will have posted on their 'other' cars here in the OT section. Here's a thread on my Italian 320iS for example:
http://www.bmwe21.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=14661

Apologise for some Dutch jibberish in the topic but it is followed by a brief translation on page 5