Thankfully, you do find the occasional interesting foreign car when wondering about France. If it had been a run-of-the-mill E30 saloon, I don’t think I would have bothered, but old BMW wagons are definitely a CC-worthy catch. These were never imported new in North America; even in old Europe, they were never common and are getting mighty rare, but they sure look cool. Funny thing is, BMW took their sweet time to understand the point of wagons.
Historically, some carmakers displayed a strange resistance to the station wagon. Mercedes-Benz and BMW are a classic example of this: for the longest time, the only way to acquire a long-roof Bimmer or Benz was to pay a coachbuilder a small fortune so they’d make one for you. Mercedes sort of made the Fintail Universal part of their official range, but those were still made outside (by Binz in Belgium, to be exact). M-B only really began to integrate wagons in their plans with the W123 in the late ‘70s.
BMW were even more oblivious to this body style. Back in the ‘60s, the Neue Klasse saloon was a prime candidate for a wagon, but the Bavarians never bothered. By that point in time, BMC, Citroën, Fiat, Opel, Peugeot, Simca, Rootes, Triumph and many others had already integrated this variant into their product planning. Even as the ‘70s turned into the ‘80s, BMW remained stubbornly wagonless, at least officially.
In fact, BMW wagons did exist, but only in literal handfuls. Baur made at least two 1500 Neue Klasse for BMW’s racing team (top left), and coachbuilders such as Pichon-Parat and Jacques Coune also tried their hand at this exercise. Baur seems to have repeated the operation on a pair of E3s in 1972 (bottom left), and at least one British E3 was also transformed. The Series 7 (E23) and series 5 (E28) were even more wagonized by a cornucopia of outfits (in the present case, Pichon-Parat for this particular E23 and Schulz for this E28 conversion), some more competent than others.
When the new series 3 (E30) arrived in late 1982, the plan was still to have a two-door saloon, a four-door (which arrived a year later) and perhaps a convertible (in 1985), but no wagon. That wasn’t good enough for BMW engineer Max Reisböck. He wanted more cargo room in his E30 and he guessed others might too. So he went and made one himself and showed it to his bosses, who were suitably impressed by the result. So much so, in fact, that the E30 Touring was included into the range for the 1988 model year – on some markets only. The saloons were replaced by the E36 after MY 1991, but the E30 convertible and Touring stayed on until 1994, adding this BMW to the list of wagons that outlasted their saloon equivalent.
I’m not sure why North America was left out, nor which other markets never got the E30 Touring. Nor why the BMW emblem on the rear of this one turned into a shiny silver medal, whose doubtless unintentional anonymity fits quite nicely with this car’s absence of any model number. Is it a 4- or a 6-cyl., Diesel or unleaded? No idea. Not practical? You want practical, get a Volvo. The E30 Touring is arguably the best-looking European wagons of the ‘80s, and it handles exactly like a BMW saloon — that’s its selling point. Personally, I love how the Hoffmeister kink was moved to the D-pillar, and how compact and sporty the result is. Pity BMW waited until the E30 to get their estate in order.
Related posts:
CC Capsule: Monday Morning Outtake – 1989 BMW 325i Touring, The First Try, by JohnH875
Curbside Classic: 1985 BMW 318i – Teutonic Respite At The Tail End Of The Great Brougham Epoch, by Tom Klockau
CC Capsule: A Pair Of BMW E30 Convertibles – Antisocial Bloomingtonians, by Perry Shoar
CC Driveway Outtake: Two 1980’s Coupes – Hamburger or Wurst?, by PN
In-Motion Classic: BMW E30 On A Rough Side, by Yohai71
CC Capsule: 1968-70 Lancia Fulvia and 1990-93 BMW 325i – A Couple Of Rich, Full-Bodied Reds, by William Stopford
COAL (COJL) – 1991 BMW 318 i – My First BMW, Even If It Wasn’t Mine, by Saabaru
Very cool! As an American, I can only watch as some of these E30 wagons become 25 years old, become legal for import and cross the hammer for big bucks on sites like BringATrailer.
Lovely to see an original euro-spec in the wild. Many of the ones seen here get fitted with gaudy wheels and faux M spec junk to broaden their ahem “appeal”.
Oh and BMW rondels are known to fade just like that over time. Nothing malicious or ill-intended, just the nature of the beast as they see wear and sun exposure.
Funny you should mention that, because last year I saw an E30 Baur Cabriolet here in the US, equipped with… you guessed it, aftermarket wheels and an M3 bodykit. It’s the only Baur I’ve ever seen, but when looking at the pictures I took of it, I need to squint mighty hard to see the original appeal.
BMW may have been late to the wagon game, but in my opinion, they ultimately had the best-looking wagons on the market. The 5-series wagons were wonderful, and this 3-series example is mighty good too. Too bad we were denied them in North America.
My dream-life includes a 5-Series wagon and a King Charles Spaniel.
Right now I only have a cat… but someday
To be entirely unfair to you, the candidates for best-looker in the wagon dept from the ’80’s is an attenuated list, only encompassing this BM, the Audi 100CD and the 300 series Benz (out of which the 100 has to win for sheer elegance, an otherwise absent feature of the ’80’s).
This is closely second, formal and monied-looking, but thin-pillared and super-tasteful. Or, on another view, dull can be worthy, though I am firmly in the camp of the former.
If you look at the bottom of the tailgate there’s only a tiny low pass through as the cutline sits above the lights.
Apparently the drop down was intentionally large enough for a crate of beer.
I had no idea that BMW did not make station wagons for such a long time and to me that just sounds illogical for the car company to do that. Thank you for sharing this lovely find and I wonder how much of the rear end is actually part of the tailgate.
Hey, neat! I saw one of these E30 wagons in Toronto ten or 11 years ago—privately imported as a used car under Canada’s 15-years-or-older rule. I don’t particularly have a thing for Bimmers, but I found (and find) its design appealing. The E28 wagon shown in this article is terrific. The E23 has a lot of promise, but I’d need to see it with the tailgate closed. And I surely wouldn’t mind seeing more views of those Neue Klasse combis!
I’m almost certain that’s a 4-cylinder petrol version based on the single exhaust outlet and those hubcaps on steelies but not obviously winter tires.
These show up here as others have said every so often and usually for biggish money after someone privately imports them once they are 25years old.
Very attractive, I’ve read the story about the worker who made his own and then showed his bosses it previously elsewhere, it’s a great story and such a seemingly obvious addition to the range too.
There was another BMW “wagon” that originated as midnight project. The Z3/M Coupe (aka “clown shoe”) was not part of the original product plan, but some development people cobbled it up and convinced management to produce it. The top added some weight but gave the coupe a much stiffer structure than the original, somewhat willowy roadster.
Adding a full-height tailgate to the E30 would have had the opposite effect unless a lot of heavy structure was added to a platform never designed for it. BMW saved weight, money, and time with the 3/4 “notched” hatch design (good spotting, Nathan). Later generation 3-series wagons have proper tailgates. My E46 wagon is pretty stiff, and there is only a 50Kg/100# weight penalty over the 4-door cars, depending on which sources you trust.
The tail light clusters appear to not be part of the rear hatch. Very high lift-over height for a wagon.
Scrolling down, my first thought was ‘VW Foxwagen’
I remember when Autocar (prior to its merger with Motor) tested this in 1988, in conjunction with a Citroen BX estate and a Lynx Eventer (a ‘shooting brake’ conversion of a Jaguar XJS), it said “BMW calls this a hatchback, not an estate.”
A few around in NZ, a solid E30 sedan usually a 318i auto costs around $1500, unfortunately wagons go for around 4 times the price due to the fact there usually NZ new and 6 cylinders (320, 325) with manual transmissions.
Unlike later wagons which seem to be mostly used Japanese imports auto 4 powered 318, 320’s.
I’d love one but already have a German wagon project which has become a nightmare and left me with contempt and distain for German engineering.
An 2003 Audi Allroad 2.5 Tdi with suspension problems, a car that takes 12 hours to change an alternator which requires to complete removal of the entire front, from the headlights to the radiator support.