02x06 - BMW E30: The Reluctant Revival

[bunniefuu]

I'm Ant Anstead.

And when it comes to cars,
I can fix almost anything.

Oh! There she goes!

When it comes to houses...

Woo-hoo!

...not so much.

I'm supercharging my mission...

[HORN BLARES]
Oh, my God.

...fixing up and flipping
eight more classic motors.

[LAUGHS] You look like Laurel
and Hardy, you two.

Because the 500-year-old farmhouse

I bought for my parents
to retire in,

is a crumbling money pit.

I would brace yourself,
because it ain't gonna be cheap.

But I won't be defeated.

Yeah, it's beautiful, isn't it?

I want Mum and Dad moved in
before summer ends.

We call it glamping, shall we?
Right, that's the spirit.

And with the help of family...

[LAUGHS]
AMELIE: I did it!

...and my petrol-head, pal Duncan...

- Yeah!
- Yay!
Come on then, let's go.

...I'm determined
to turn cars into cash...

Oh!
...even...

Ah!..if it kills me.
Whoa!

It's only 6 weeks till Mum and Dad
are due to move in.

With just two out of the four rooms
finished, I'm behind schedule.

And there's a major space I haven't
factored in. The entrance hall.

So, I'm calling on my little brother
Michael to kickstart the job.

The vision is this,
we will vault the hallway.

So you'll see the beautiful,
quirky beams

when you come into the front door,

you've got this really grand double
story vaulted sort of landing area.

Yeah. Surface area.
There's quite a lot to do

Yeah, I'm er, I'm pretty overwhelmed
at the moment.

I've gotta get the cars done.
And the problem is,

if we don't push through
on the house,
we're not gonna make the deadline.

So I need you to demo this.

It is the nastiest job though.

I know, delegation.

Erm, but I do
wanna hit something though.

While the inside's
fallen behind schedule...

I feel better
for breaking something.

...Duncan's also battling
to get the outside plastered
before summer ends.

But apparently,
he's found a car he reckons

will give the house kitty
a much-needed boost.

- What have you found?
- BMW.
Okay. Which one?

E30 325.
That is a boring car mate.

Back in the '80s, early '90s.
We're not in the '80s, early '90s.

That car dominated
the touring car series.

It's a boring saloon.
No, you're wrong.

You know these cars have
got a cult following.

Yeah, I'm just not in that cult.
Just go and have a look.
Ring it up, please.

Why do you like it so much?
I had one.

There you go. You're basically,
let's go buy a car that you have.

No, no. We have to be...
We have to be businesslike,

we have to make sensible -
This is business.

These are sleepers at the moment.
Yeah, they're sleepers now.

But how long
are they gonna be sleepers for?

Till we put this one up for sale.
You'll love it.

I won't love it.
You will.

I feel like some sort of
spoiled teenage brat.

Not happy that I'm driving...

into North London to go
and see a car that I have
absolutely no interest in.

It's boxy, it's functional.
It's not a standout car.

You're not gonna stop in the street
and go, oh, look at that.

But to be fair to Duncan, Duncan
does know his cars really well.

So when your friend says, trust me
on this, you have to trust him.

Launched in 1982, the BMW E30 is
worshipped by people like Duncan

for being the ultimate driver's car.

It spawned the high performance M3,

so revered it was nicknamed
"God's Chariot."

They're the type of car
that people like to drive fast.

And my worry is, is that these cars,
if they're bad ones,
are quite notorious.

The engine's tired.
Brake issues, oil issues.

Because I don't like the car,

that doesn't mean
there isn't a market for it.

The types of people
that lusted after this car
and remembered it as a kid

are actually the right sort of
age now to go and afford one.

The car's on the market
for 7 and a half grand,

Duncan's promised me restored E30s

fetch between 10 to 15 at auction.
I find that hard to believe.

Oh, man, that's the car.

That's the car. It's freaking white.

Call Duncan.

Dude, you know the car's white.

Don't tell me you
knew the car was white.

It will be fine. White's good.
White's never good.

No, trust me.
This car, this is the one.

This will be a good buy.

All right, I'm gonna hang up on you.
Yeah.

The owner's called Mounir.

Okay.
Best put my happy face on.

Here we go.

Morning you must be Mounir.
Yes.

Ant.
Nice to meet you.

Pleasure to meet you.
- So this is your baby?
- Yes, it is.

Got the car about seven years ago.

So, er, I've got
all the paint work done,

the front bumper,
the wing got fixed.

Is there any mechanical stuff
you've done?

No mechanical jobs whatsoever.
So what does it drive like?

Stop steer starts.
It drives just fine.

It's a legendary car
as well as I'm concerned.

It's one of the best cars ever made.

You obviously
don't tell your friends

that that's the best car
ever made.

Oh yes, I do.
Everyone around here loves the car.

They always take pictures
when they see it.

This car's famous around here?
Yeah, in the neighbourhood.
Everyone knows the car.

All right, do you mind giving me 10,
Of course. Yeah.

I mean, it's the straightest 325
I think I've seen in a long time.

Sits really nicely on the road.

Panels are really good.

Oh yeah. That is tidy.

This is an ECU car.

So electrics are normally an issue.

The dash tends to light up
like a Christmas tree, which it has.

Oh man, it's an auto.

Do you know what,
if this was a manual I'd be like,

actually Duncan,

Rear wheel drive, manual car.

Yeah, it's a kind of '80s icon

and I could probably then
ignore the fact that it's white.

But it's an auto.

It's pretty tidy in there though.
Seats look good. Carpet looks great.

Start her up.

[ENGINE STARTS]

She sounds really lovely.

You know, there's something about
that BMW straight six engine...

Just burbles away.

Oh, but if it had a manual.
This could be a fun car.

The dash warning lights
are a worry,

and the brain of this car
is saying that there's an issue.

But as I sit here today,
I dunno what the issue is. Hmm.

Let's check out the engine.

Hoses are a little bit frayed.

Oh that's leaking. I can hear it.

Oh yeah,
there is a definite leak in there.

The heat shield's
missing off the bonnet.

Probably taken off
when Mounir had the car painted.

He's spent all of his efforts
on the visuals

and not a single bit of effort
on anything mechanical.

So, cosmetically she's nice.
Mechanically,

I mean, she could be a can of worms.

To make it a risk worth taking,

I need Mounir to come down
from 7 and a half grand.

You will not find a BMW E30
in this condition for that price.

Let's just say £6,500,
knock a grand off.

I think we're just gonna
cut in the middle.

We call it £7,000.
£6,750.

£6,850.
Right, we have a deal, buddy.

£6,850. Duncan picks it up.

- That's great.
- You can talk
about BMWs all day long.

I'm sure he'd be loving it.
It's the greatest car.

Er, no Mounir
it's not the greatest car.

And I hope it's worth the risk,

cause I'll need all the cash I can
get to push on with the hallway,

which is taking Michael and Dad
longer to demolish than I hoped.

How much more
will you get done today?

All of it has to get done
to get the electricians in.

Or it's gonna push us back
a few days.

And to get the scaffolding down.
Can't even open the front door.

It's gotta come down today.
Got no choice.

Once it's demo'd, renovating
that vast space won't be cheap.

I just hope Duncan's right,
and my £6,850 white BMW E30

is more valuable than I think.

I know once I pull into the yard,

he's going to give me
some grief over it.

Once he's made his mind up,
he doesn't like something,

he'll be like
a blooming hammer drill.

We're gonna have a battle
on our hands. I can see it.

[HORN HONKING]

Look what I've got ya.

I don't know why I was thinking it
might look better when it got here.

What do you mean, man?
This is a proper classic.

You realise that the burden of this
is 100% on you?

I think there's
a good market for these.

Really? So tell you what,
if we don't make any money on this,

the plastering for free?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?

Oh, well in that case, I can't lose.

In fact, I'm hoping
that we make three pence on this,

which I think we probably will.

And which case I get
- the plastering done.
- Mmm.

Lovely deal.

Didn't think that through, did I?
No, you didn't. No.

Oh man. Okay, let's get
in the BMW E30 zone.

I know the real reason
Duncan loves this so much.

Its because it's the car he drove
on his wedding day.

Dolphin-grey, two-door, manual.

You know, this is when touring cars
were at the top, you know BMW.

They, were smashing it.
My mates were rocking around
in Mk2 Escorts.

And you had the BMW,
and that made you cool.

What a car. Unbelievable.

All right, so what we should
then do is if...

if it captures
the imagination for you,

you're our target customer,
and our target customer,

you, is gonna remember
the touring car.

Remember it as a great driver's car.

So if we get it driving great
and give a nod
to its race pedigree somehow,

then alright, I'm in, I'm in!

But under the bonnet it where we're
going to have most of the issues.

There's air leaks,
it's gonna need a timing belt,

it's gonna need a service.

It's actually not been serviced
for seven years.

In fact, he admits he's not
done anything mechanical
for seven years.

At least it's not white
or an automatic.

Thank God that, isn't the case.

I just pray this car isn't
going to prove as cash
and time-hungry as the house.

I need the hallway
ripped out by tomorrow

to stand any chance
of getting back on schedule.

MICHAEL: Definitely running
out of time today.

As Duncan would say,
we're reverting to an "Antism".

It's the, er,
sort of do before thinking.

NIGEL: I wasn't expecting
all this demolition.

It's very messy, but it is
what it is, we'll get it done.

We'll have to see
how we go in the next few weeks

before we decide
on moving in or not.

To stop my grand plan falling apart,

I need to get my BMW E30
sold at profit ASAP.

So, it's going into the barn
for a long overdue service.

Reverse. There's a delay.

Drive.

Yeah. Yeah. There's a delay.
Yeah.

Okay, reverse.

There's literally like - I could
make a cup of tea in that delay.

You know, we don't want to book an
appointment to look, put it in gear.

There's a good -Send a telegraph.
There's a courier pigeon,

and then it suddenly works.

Well one of these auto boxes,
it's all about oil pressure

and little valves,
and if the oil's all dirty,

that oil takes longer to go through
all them little valves and pistons.

This is a problem. Auto gear box.
It's not what we want.

Either it's gonna be a simple fix,
or it's gonna get really expensive.

What does she look like under here?

Remarkably good, actually.

I'm trying to fix the delay
in the auto gear box

on my reluctantly bought BMW E30.

Okay, ready?
Yeah.

It could just be a transmission oil
and filter change,

or an expensive gearbox overhaul.

Yeah, that's not a lot of oil.

This auto box relies on really good
oil pressure to change gears.

If it hasn't got
the right amount of oil pressure,

that could account for why
it's got a delay going into gear.

Sump pan off, then we can
have a look at the filter.

The sump pan's where the oil
collects before recirculation.

You got the sump? Yeah.
Yeah.

Could be a comedy moment this.

What, where you pull
transmission oil over my face?

Let's whip that filter off.

If this has never been changed...

little bits slowly
block that filter up
which would restricts the oil,

which then would restrict
the pressure in the box as well.

If that fixes it...
[BLOWS RASPBERRY]

Happy days.

We'll see.

I need this
to be a cheap and easy fix,

because my hallway's proving
anything but.

The demolition
and electrics are done,

Michael's now insulating
and lathing,

ready for Duncan to plaster.

Oh, man.

[CHUCKLES]
That's a lot of work.

Yeah, you have no idea.

It's more than a single room, just
the height of it and the access.

Yeah, from the ground floor to here.

It's the only part of the home
that's double or triple height.

If we get Duncan in to get
the ceiling done, he's gotta do
a scratch coat, top coat.

It's gonna be another 14 days,
- I reckon.
- We're running out of time.

We really are running out of time.
Yeah.

Because at the moment,
with the current pace,
the current trajectory,

we ain't gonna make the end
- of the summer.
- No, we won't.

I need a lucky break.

I've just spent 60 quid
on a new filter...

and fresh transmission oil, hoping
this fixes the auto gear delay.

What did you end up
taking out of it?

We dropped two litres and it was
a little bit dry at the dipstick.

I'm thinking I've chucked
- an extra half litre.
- Yeah.

Perfect.

Right Duncan,
the moment of truth. Yeah.

Have some fingers crossed please,
Ant. Go for it.

Clear off the ground.

Tell you what,

it's straight in. Reverse?

Dude, that's fixed it!
Yes.

That was a cheap fix.
This old Bimmer's growing on me.

The least I can do
is give its precision-made

German straight six engine
the servicing it deserves.

Do you know what the
service interval is for a cambelt
on this car?80,000?

No, it's actually less. It's 60,000
or every seven years.

And bear in mind, our seller
owned this for seven years

and admitted he did
nothing mechanical.

So it's on borrowed time.

The first thing to come off
is that under tray underneath.

Up in the air then.

The cambelt, or timing belt,

synchronises the engine's
crankshaft and camshaft.

If it snaps,
the results will be catastrophic.

I can see the cambelt from here.

Through a little hole in the side.

We're gonna have to do
some, er, mechanic hand yoga.

Next up is fan.

She's away. That's it.

God, it's really tight
- up there, isn't it?
- Yeah.

Spin it like that. Look out!

Whoa! Good catch.

All right. I think the next bit
we'll tackle from up top.

Before taking the timing belt off,

you have to align all the cams.
There's timing marks.

BMW very handily give two
timing marks. One here on the crank.

This little dimple there in
the casting needs to line up
with a line on the crankshaft.

So I need to rotate it
to line it up.

And then at the same time, there's a
casting mark up here on the head

that needs to line up
with a line on the camshaft.

Now for every two rotations of the
crank, 'cause it's a smaller cog,

it does one rotation of the cam.

Now it's absolutely imperative
that this lines up

because once the cambelt is off,
the engine is free,

walk away for a cup of tea and then
somebody knocks the car, moves it.

Just one tooth will affect
the timing of the engine.

And if you turn the engine on
and the timing's out,

it gets really expensive
really quickly.

I'm going to use a white marker

so I can see where I need
to line them up more clearly.

The cambelt only works if it stays
under a complete state of tension.

It's like the belt of
your trousers. If it's loose,
your trousers will fall off.

And that is done
by this tensioner here.

I'm just gonna lock the tensioner
in a place where it keeps
the belt nice and loose.

Then the cambelt
should just be able to slide off.

It's amazing how strong
these rubber belts are,

but of course they have to be.

They're taking the forces of
this brilliant straight-six engine.

Ah, there we go.

Now this is the cambelt,

and actually, you can see,
now it's out, how it works.

The lower crank shaft sits here.

There's an auxiliary pulley here
with some teeth on
and then the camshaft up here.

So every time
the crankshaft rotates,

it carries those pistons up
and down.

Six of them,
because it's a straight six.

And if the timing is off,

so let's say this camshaft,
one or two teeth out,

and the piston rises
while the van is open,

you're gonna have
two big bits of metal
hitting each other under rotation.

That's gonna ultimately end one way.
And that's this engine going bang.

So this consumable item needs
to be changed every seven years

or 60,000 miles.

And if this goes,
your engine is toast.

This new cambelt kit
has set me back just 75 quid.

But before I go anywhere near it,
check my timing marks are in line.

Get this wrong,
and a cheap fix

could turn very expensive
very quickly.

That is the cambelt fully on.

I'm gonna rotate the crank
just a little bit.

That feels good.

Yeah, I can feel it now.
The slack is taken up,

which means I can now
lock the tensioner in place.

Two revolutions of the crank will
show if I've got the timing right.

That lines up.

That lines up. And that lines up!

Right. That is job done.
You can turn the key. It's your car.

That timing belt, timed up properly?
We're about to find out.

Yeah. Yeah, we're good. Go on then.

You don't stitch me up and put it
a tooth out so it wrecks me engine?

Er, no. Because I like this engine.

Why don't I trust you?

No, wait!
[ENGINE STARTS]

Oh, mate.
Yeah?

That straight-six is...

I have to admit the way
that engine sounds

is absolutely beautiful. Happy?

Another step closer, mate.

Another step closer. Whoo!

To find out what other
mechanical jobs are critical,

my fate lies in the hands of...
a computer.

Who'd you borrow that from?
Er, a mate of mine.

He's put me the right connector on.

This E30's from an era

when cars were
becoming electronically brained.

A thorough service means
connecting its engine control unit

to a diagnostic scanner
and keeping everything crossed.

All right, go on, then. Plug it in.

Plug it in and tell me
the nightmare list of items
that's gonna be wrong with it.

No, you of little faith.

Go on.
Wait for it.

Come on. Come on.

DUNCAN: Come on. Come on.

You know that list is potentially
gonna be a nightmare.

Our BMW E30 has been
flashing up engine warnings,

so we've plugged in
a diagnostic tool.

This'll scan its
internal computer system

for errors in the engine,
and other key systems.

There's no way that this car
has sat still for seven years

and that is not gonna kick up a
- load of faults.
- You of little faith.

Right, engine ignition on.

- Ignition on.
- It's telling you
- to put the ignition on.
- Yes.

Go on, then. Hit me.

I don't even want to look.

How many faults?
All right.10? 20?

Fifty?
We have one.

Shut up. There must be
more than one fault. One?

All right, what's the fault?

Saying O2 sensor control.

Right, oxygen sensor,

check for air leaks
from manifold and downpipe.

- Okay.
- Be sure system
is in closed loop status.

I think I know what the problem is.

When I went to see the car
in Enfield and run it... Yeah.

...you lean on this pipe here,
and you can hear the air escaping.

Which means the system that's
supposed to be airtight is not.

Right.
It might just be a leak.

You little beauty.

Right. Let's take those hoses off.

Leaks in the hoses
that feed oxygen into the manifold

would disrupt the perfectly balanced
air, fuel mix,

reducing engine performance.

This is a leaky BMW.
Mmm.

- It's leaky.
- All right.
You chose it.

But we can make it not leaky.
Okay.

This is actually missing
the jubilee clip off here.

So somebody's had
a go at this before
and then put the clip back on.

The Germans put clips on things
for a reason.

These are pennies
for the jubilee clips

and hopefully if
that sorts our problem out,

that's another big tick
for this car.

We're all... all back together.
Let's get our bit of technology.

There she goes. Right.

Come on, come on.
Ignition on?

Ignition on. Jump in.

Let's get this up to temperature.
- Hands clear?
- Hands clear.

I'll leave the ignition on.

Reset codes.

Right, let's see. Moment the truth.

All right,
let's get into codes. Codes.

Oh mate.

No codes present.
- That fixed it?
- Yeah.

It was half a dozen Jubilee clips.

This has saved us,
I mean, potentially hundreds
and hundreds of pounds.

- Boom!
- Actually starting
to like this car now.

Come on, then. Give it some love.
Only because it's turning out cheap.

Well, what we should do is
make it look as good as the outside.

I've got these insulation pads
that they can go on.

While we've been working
on the BMW...

What a difference.
Just makes it look factory.

Factory fresh.

...Over in the house,
Michael's finished lathing

and lambs-wool insulating
the hallway,

ready for busy boy Duncan
to plaster...

This is like a lime and chalk mix.

So, you know it's very flexible
and good on timber framed houses.

...while my son Archie
cleans up the mess.

What is the point in this?

Well, you have to stay on top of it.

I Hoover here, go down there,
and it's clean.

I come back, and it's dirty.

Nana does this every single day,
so get to it.

As a reward, I have a job for him
that's a bit more fun.

Archie's going
to help me engineer a nod

to my BMW's '80s and '90s
race car pedigree.

So I was thinking of lowering it.

And why would you lower it?
Well, there's two reasons.

There's the mechanical reason.
If I can take the weight of the car,
put it closer to the tarmac,

it will improve
the way the car drives.

So imagine, all that weight is now
gonna go round the corners better,

it's slightly lower to the ground.

Secondly is the aesthetic reason.

I think somehow we've gotta make
a white four door saloon look cool

and lowering it is definitely
gonna make it look cool.
Make it look faster.

Put those paving slabs in the boot

until we're happy
with the ride height that we like.

Oh, you're dirty.

Could you really not have
- helped with this?
- No, no,
you're doing fantastic. Terrific.

Is that enough yet?
More slabs.

Keep going, buddy.
Let's lower this boy.

I reckon this is possibly
- the last one.
- I hope so.

What do you think?
It's really low.

I know! I love the way it looks.

- It does look cool.
- Right?
Do you think more or less?

- I think that's about perfect.
- I
think that's about perfect as well.

We can't go too far because
we will change the way
the car handles, negatively.

That is 35 millimetres,

three and a half centimetres.
I'm happy with that.

That's well within the tolerance
of not affecting
the car's handling too much.

Right. You can take
the slabs out of the boot now.

[SIGHS]
And I'll go and order

a set of 35 millimetre
lower springs.

Yeah, 1991.

E30, yeah, front and rear,


great, okay how much are they?

All right,
does that include delivery?

This afternoon? Perfect.

Yup, I'll take 'em. Thanks!

Nice job, Archie.
But you're not done yet.

Right. Whip that wheel off
and just place it down there.

Whoa. There we go.

Keep going.

Oh, my God.
Slow down on the trigger.

Oh, my gosh!
Oh!

I hope it hasn't damaged the hub.

Let's have a look.
You could've told me.

What, that the wheel is
- disconnected?
- That it's gonna fall.

The wheel's gonna fall.
Good to know now.

Are you comfortable
taking the other side wheel off?

Cos we're gonna do both at the
- - same time.
- Okay. Yes.
- Go on, then.

This is the bit we're replacing,
that spring there.

We're gonna take this old one out
and stick the brand new,

thirty five mil, shorter one in.
But what I need you to do,

is if I rest this
underneath the wishbone,

if you go to the ramp and lower it,
but slowly until I say stop.

For all its high-tech flourishes,

the E30's suspension
is mechanically simple,

supported by an array
of aftermarket suppliers,

making it very mod-friendly.

Five, four inches. Tiny little down.

Okay, one more of those.

Stop. Perfect!

Right. Throw that under there

and make yourself comfortable.

We actually only have
to undo two bolts.

You're gonna do that one.
I'm gonna do that one.

This is the damper out the way.

You've removed the anti-roll bar.

And then I need you
to lift the ramp again slowly.

[GRUNTS]

Beautiful! That'll do.

Right, there's only one way
to take these springs out,

and this can get a little bit shady
because springs tend to go "ping."

Oh that was un...
That was underwhelming.

I thought it was gonna jump out and
- fly around.
- It does boing though.

Yeah, we're not gonna
need that anymore.

Right, you go underneath the back.
You know exactly the bolts to do.

I'll do the front.

Four bolts lower the rear of the car
- and that's all.
- That's it.

Right, the bolts are out.

Right, we'll take the pressure off.

You saw what I did
- the first time, right?
- Yeah.

Lever it the spring out.
Pull and hope.

- Ah!
- That's pretty good, right?
Easy.

This is a really easy fix.

You could, with the knowledge now,
tackle this on your own.

Right, I'm ready, what's next?

We have to wait for the parts.

To get the hallway back on track,

I'm counting on the 30 years'
experience of Duncan,

AKA the fastest plasterer.

What we're going to do
is try and add a nice bit
of character to the top of this.

You start getting these big,
nice, chunky rounds.

Plus if you've been to the pub

and you happen to knock your head
on them, it's nice and soft.

My 128 quid 35 millimetre springs
are here,

which means we can
drop my E30's suspension.

- Thanks, dude.
- Yeah, all right.
- Do I need to sign that?
- No.

Yeah? Beautiful. Cheers, bud!
Thank you.

Woo-hoo! Fancy.

- Oh, they're blue.
- Now it should just
slot in there because it's shorter.

Fits like a glove. It's meant to be.

You lower it down and we'll raise
the wishbone. Take up some tension.

Okay, slow. Stop.

Right, if you come
and connect the anti-roll bar...

Right. Drum it up nice and tight.

Right, is that it?
That's it.

Done. Two bolts. Spring swap.
Let's do the other side.

I might make
a mechanic out of Archie yet.

Beautiful.

Right. Take that axle stand
out of the way.

Fronts now?

- That is it.
- Done?
Yeah, that's it.

The car is lowered,
but we're not done yet,

because what we wanna do,

cos the car's been up and down
so many times,

suspension's relaxed,
the best thing to do is take it out,

drive it up and down the yard
a few times,

and that allows the car to settle.

Obviously, I'll be the one driving.

You want to drive?
Of course I do.

I worked on the car,
I deserve to drive.

That's not unreasonable.
All right, you can drive.

Start her up.

Cool engine.

Now we're just gonna go up and down
four or five times.

Right, perfect.
So, keep going all the way back.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

Lovely! Right, we're just
gonna go forwards and back.

You can give it a bit more pace.

And what that does is it settles it.

Right, stop it right there.

Right, key off.

All right, let's check it out.

It looks so much better.

What do you think
- of the ride height?
- It looks cool.

It makes it look
more of a racing car.

Low's good.
Low is good.

One of the hardest things in plaster
is probably doing ceilings.

Duncan's living up
to his Fastest Plasterer nickname.

The insulated backing coat
has dried,

and now he's applying
the topcoats in the hallway.

The topcoat's really the one
that starts to make the job

actually look finished.

We only put a little bit of moisture
on the trowel, just to let it glide.

We come up, go diagonal,

we get more of a nice gentle curve.

Lowering my BMW E30's ride height
has made it look 100 times cooler.

But to push its motorsport look
even further and make it stand out,

I've called on the skills
of my mate, Henry.

He started as a digital designer

but has been in the vinyl wrap
business for 15 years.

And unlike me,
he loves the BMW colour.

This white space for me
is beautiful. It's a plain canvas.

We'll apply it going that way

just so to push all the air
out in one direction.

So you just have to keep a lot
of tension on it, a bit of pressure.

The only way you can do it
is with a bit of patience.

I've been told
I have lots of patience.

If Henry's painstaking work
pays off,

it should up my E30s auction appeal,
hopefully paying for the hallway,

which Duncan's
now finished plastering.

And I've got
the perfect embellishment.

Hey, Dunc. Duncan!

- Yo.
- Do you wanna
grab that chandelier

and navigate it up the, er, stairs?

What the meter-wide
chandelier through?

It'll fit. I don't wanna
take the scaffold down
to get the light up here.

Michael's installed a wooden bracket

which should take the weight
of my stunning centrepiece.

Don't bang it. No! Dunc!

This is like a square peg
hitting a round hole.

I think you're doing fantastic.
I've got this. I've got this.

Don't worry. We're up.

Well, we're still in one piece.
Me and the chandelier.

I feel a comedy moment
coming on, Rodney.

Right. Done.

Oh, mate. That looks the business.

Dude, that looks amazing.

Three. Two. One.

[CHUCKLES] Oh, my God.
It transforms the whole roof space.

And the best thing is,
if my BMW makes a loss,

the plastering's free. Thanks Dunc!

But that's feeling
less likely than ever,

now Henry's finished
working his vinyl wrap magic.

Oh my God, dude, stop.
Whatever. Just stop.

Don't change anything.
This is perfect.

Do you know what,
I was really worried
that it was a bland white car

and now it just stands out,
and it just feels individual.

I'm glad you like it.
It is absolutely perfect.

Before we sell her,
there's one vital finishing touch.

I've splurged £53 to make my E30

look like it's just rolled off
an early '90s German factory line.

This is a monumental moment.

The minute you push that badge on,
it represents the end of our work.

We are done on the BMW
that you chose.

This is the money.
Well it better be.

There you go.

Our work here is done.

Now I need to figure out
what I've spent and how much
she needs to make.

All right. We paid £6,850.

£6,850.
And I put everything into buckets.

So mechanical parts, things like
the load springs, timing belt,

transmission filter is £270.90.

Around 55 quid on servicing.

The wrap, my mate pulled me a
massive favour. Did it for 500 quid.

And all the other bits like
the soundproofing in the bonnet,

- and the... Badge?
- I can't believe
how expensive that badge is,

but it does make it...
is under £200.

£190.49, which means we've spent
a shade over a thousand pounds.

£1,016.02.

Bringing our total to £7,866.

- Bead of sweat.
- Listen, you were
pretty confident at the start.

I've gotta hear that straight-six.
I've gotta drive it.

The only way
for me to truly appreciate

this BMW E30 is to hit the Autobahn.

- Yeah!
- Silky smooth.
That's the right expression.

I don't think I've been in an E30
since I had mine.

That was 26 years ago.

But I mean this,
this drives beautiful.

The steering is exceptional.

The lowered stance is epic.

I think we did it just enough.

So visually it looks way better
on the outside.

But performance wise, look,
this is a different car.

Proper car.
This is a driver's car.

I just can't believe how tight
the whole car feels.

Yeah, there is
a German quality to it.

And look, no rattles, no bangs.

It's reluctantly grown on me.

All right, All right.
I admit, this is a great car.

Yeah. Never doubted it.

Yeah, I have to hand it to him.
I would not have bought this car
without Duncan's influence.

This is definitely a car
I would've overlooked.

This car was about fixing
the mechanicals.

There was warning lights,
it had that sluggish gear change,

but once all those jobs are done,

you know the car's
not only aesthetically perfect,

it's now mechanically sound,

but I couldn't just leave it
as a standard white
saloon car, the vinyl.

And if we're gonna put it
in an auction, we need
somebody to be drawn to it.

This makes our car individual,

and the new owner
is gonna have a fantastic car.

And truth be told,
and I'll probably whisper this,

before this car,
I wasn't a BMW E30 guy.

I'd take that on a road trip.

Don't tell Duncan.

We're at the Silverstone Festival.

My BMW E30 owes us £7,866,

and she's going to auction,
no reserve.

Okay, so how confident
are you feeling?

[CHUCKLES]
I'm not very confident.

Good luck, babe.
I got married in one of these.

Maybe you should buy it.
If I took this home,

my wife would have a heart attack.

She'd think we're in
for another 30 years.

Come on, let's keep the faith.
Let's keep the confidence.

Either I get my plastering done,
or we make a profit.

I actually win either way.
Yeah.

Go on lead the way.

AUCTIONEER: £5,000,
here at £5,000, online £5,500...

Here we go.
On to lot number 653 then,

the 1990 BMW 325.

[GASPS]
Now this is on you,

let me just remind you,
under your leadership,

seven thousand eight hun-
Over £7,800 is spent on this.

£2,500. £2,800.

£3,000. I can say now, £3,000.

- - £4,000.
- What, £4,000?
- Uh-huh.
Someone's just screamed 4 grand.

£4,200. Here at £4,200 -
£4,500.£4,500. £4,800.

£5,100.£5,000 now.
I mean, it's moving quick.£5,500.

£6,000.£6,000 I already have... Oh,
my god, they're going up in grands.

£6,000, with my commission
at £6,000.

£6,500 now.
£6,500, thank you. £6,500.

£6,500 then, that's with your bidder
on the telephone, Harry.

Then at £6,500,
online you still wait there then.

- At £6,500...Come on.
- You're still
currently losing your bet.

Come on.£6,500.
Come on, one more.

Are we all done then, at £6,500?
- Come on.
- Sell at £6,500?

I'll take £6,800 anywhere
if it helps.

Otherwise at £6,000...
Yes, £6,800, it does.

The guy at the front is bidding.
£6,800.

You need another grand
to win your bet.£7,000.

Come on.
No, keep your hands down.

£7,200? £7,200, thank you.

£7,500.
Oh, God, you're gonna pull it off.

- Come on.
- Well, thank you
for your bids, then.

£7,500 is that.
Come on.

Sure you don't want £7,800?
Go on.

What about £7,600?
Go on. £7,600.

Well, thank you for your bids, then.
£7,500 then.

Back on the telephone at £7,500.

No one offering more then,
at £7,500?

You've nobbled me.
£7,500 then,

That's yours, Harry. £7,500.

That's the first time
I've come to a car auction
and I'm happy that I lost.

You know, 360 odd quid down.
But I've won the bet with Duncan

and Duncan said if the car
sells for a loss, I'll get
the plastering done for free.

And the house needs
a lot of plaster.

It does eat away a bit of profit
of the money we need for the house,

but at least it's not £1,000, £2,000

I feel sad for Duncan.
He threw everything at it.

It was his car to champion
and he really has championed it.

And I've come to sort of
respect the car a bit more.

I've secretly come
to admire the E30.

Still don't think
it's the coolest car ever.