The BMW E30 that's almost impossible to find today: an Alpina C2 2.7 sedan on sale in the US

When it comes to the BMW E30, there are versions and guises to suit everyone's taste, from the 325i to its premium all-wheel drive guise, from the renowned M3 to the M3's limited editions such as the Cecotto Edition. But besides all this, there are Alpina versions and it so happened that the 2-door Alpina versions were more widespread than the 4-door sedans. And then the story gets a little more complicated.

Alpina already had E30-based versions in production when the factory M3 was released in 1986. That made the Alpina models uninteresting, so they got down to business and brought out new versions with a 2.7 liters, derived from the 2.5 liters, whose cylinder capacity had been increased.

This car is one of these later and more powerful poses from Alpina, called the C2 2.7. Its 6-cylinder engine produces 210 hp and the Alpina archives contain information that only 160 examples were produced, of which only 74 were C2 2.7 sedans.

So, the car we're talking about today is one of only 74 of its kind ever produced by Alpina. And apparently only a few were white, and most had gold trim, while the example pictured has the typical Alpina blue and green body trim, which makes it look better.

In fact, this classic Alpina looks so good with its color combination, design kit and rims that it would be worth buying just for looks alone.

But this one also has everything Alpina stood for at the time — an interior with more side-supporting seats, a more powerful engine and an ability to fascinate you in driving sensations that you probably wouldn't expect from a production car 33 years ago, or, this example was produced in 1988. It is the 70th car produced.

The car was originally sold in Japan and operated as a collector's item there for many years until it was imported to the US in 2016. It also has the original Japanese delivery papers, and all the history is preserved.

The current owner bought it in 2019 and kept it in his collection for 4 years. And in all 33 years since the purchase, the car has accumulated 107 thousand km on its odometer, with rigorous documentation.

It's a very small mileage for Alpina, but Alpina models are often sold at exorbitant prices even if they have 200-300 thousand km covered. In this case, we are talking about a car put up for auction online, which ends in a few days. For now, the highest bid is only US$15,000, but the last similar copy that was sold in the world cost US$165,000 in the end. So, the sums will probably increase at the last minute at the auction, all hoping that they will be able to lower the price on this treasure, until it is clear that the stakes are heating up. It's a car, though, that virtually any car enthusiast would love to have in their garage and drive from time to time!