The 1980s had it all: decent music, hairspray-assisted hairstyles and the BMW 3 Series. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and even luckier to get a 316 as my first demonstrator.
That may not sound like much, but back in 1983 no salesmen had them; they were too busy flogging the things. Compared with the British rubbish and assorted Eurotrash I’d been used to, it was a revelation. No wonder everyone wanted one.
It may be hard now to realise just what a giant leap in car technology, brand building and all-round automotive awesomeness the E30-generation 3 Series was. I mean, it actually handled. The doors shut with a reassuring ‘gerthud’. Nothing ever rattled. Sitting in a 3 Series made you feel confident. Driving one turned you into a demigod. Not owning a brand-new 3 Series was not an option, and I was there to help.
The customers came in all shapes and sizes as BMW developed the compact executive car to the point where absolutely everyone wanted a 3 Series. The yuppies may have been the early adopters, but there were also company car buyers who would dump their user-chooser Ford Sierra Ghia in a heartbeat for a chance to pilot a boggo-spec three-door 316 in Henna Red.
The brilliant thing about all German cars was that everything was an extra. What made me smile was ‘radio preparation’; that’s 50 quid. For that, you got a couple of speakers, a few wires and a manual aerial.
Yes, it was all about the extras. That’s because it was all about profit. We were not playing the ‘park ’em deep, discount ’em cheap’ game like Henry Ford. More profit in the deal meant more money in my double-breasted suit. Some dealers did discount, but we never did. It was pretty much a sackable offence. Indeed, it was our job to raise the retail bar and it was relatively easy to get customers to spend comfortably over £20k on their car.
All I needed was a customer with a 323i and a sense of adventure whom I could steer towards a dog-leg, close-ratio gearbox, limited-slip diff, alloy wheels, air-con and all the technical wonders that Bavaria could provide.
But there was more. Much more. We were well ahead of the customisation curve at Park Lane, because we had the facilities to do anything to make your 3 Series look a lot less like the one belonging to your mate on the foreign exchange floor. This may have been a good thing for my bank balance, but it did lead to some aesthetically challenging bodykits, colours and leather trim.
A 3 Series needed the right spec and we always pre-ordered stock with a sunroof and central locking as the bare minimum. I did have one customer who insisted on keeping the solid roof on the grounds that someone would dive through the sunroof and onto his daughter, for whom he was buying the car. I explained that it would knock the resale value for six. He went ahead and ordered a 320i without a sunroof. He needed to worry less about resale and sunroof divers and more about the salesman doing the handover.There was nothing else like the 3 Series around. Nothing. Well, Mercedes-Benz tried with the 190. We got a left-hand-drive, part-exchange car and drove it around the Mayfair block. It was no 3 Series, although clearly accountants would love it. No, the appeal of the 3 Series widened with the introduction of each model: the Baur Convertible, Convertible, Tourer. This is where BMW began to mine multiple niches.
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E21
I agree with James that the
Regarding the debate about Merc vs BMW in the eighties, people I knew seemed to get the BMW on their way up to getting the Mercedes..
catnip wrote: I agree with
I agree that the e46 was the best design wise. First time I saw one it really turned my head and I ended up owning 3. It does look dated now though. Never liked the e90 design although I had a nice 335d. E92 coupe much nicer. Basic dash was poor and looked like a backward step compared to the e46. Nav was absolutely necessary just to make it look finished!
F30 looks great though - especially in m sport. f31 touring the nicest yet imho.
Dumpy?
@ Sundym
One thing is for sure, most customers fell in to one of two distinct camps...i.e. BMW drivers wouldn't consider an M-B which were seen as 'staid and old' in appeal.
Ultimate Driving Machine....what a strapline! Other brands have tried for the last 30 years to match that and pretty much failed miserably. BMW's marketing was state of the art at the time, , and convinced the British buying public that the brand was more than it actually was...having said that, I used to wring the neck of the various E30 325i's I had as demo's and never once did it 'fall off the road'...they were a great steer in those days...very involving and 'alive in the hands'
I can assure you though that not one customer ever asked me what the CD figure was on a BMW...they couldn't give a damn! The eighties was about excess in all areas not saving the planet.
However we are all different and I haven't liked the shape of a BMW 3 series since the E30...and still think the E28 5 series was the best looking 5 series ever built. In fact I switched to running a M-B dealership at the end of the E30 era.
@ Sundym
One thing is for sure, most customers fell in to one of two distinct camps...i.e. BMW drivers wouldn't consider an M-B which were seen as 'staid and old' in appeal.
Ultimate Driving Machine....what a strapline! Other brands have tried for the last 30 years to match that and pretty much failed miserably. BMW's marketing was state of the art at the time, , and convinced the British buying public that the brand was more than it actually was...having said that, I used to wring the neck of the various E30 325i's I had as demo's and never once did it 'fall off the road'...they were a great steer in those days...very involving and 'alive in the hands'
I can assure you though that not one customer ever asked me what the CD figure was on a BMW...they couldn't give a damn! The eighties was about excess in all areas not saving the planet.
However we are all different and I haven't liked the shape of a BMW 3 series since the E30...and still think the E28 5 series was the best looking 5 series ever built. In fact I switched to running a M-B dealership at the end of the E30 era.