[CurtEgerer]

'the' - +1 on your observations on the market. There are lots and lots of e30 M3s around for $10-$15,000. While some of these could be decent buys, they all come with a couple of paint jobs, a dubious rebuilt engine, a ratty interior and a long list of modifications. Since these cars made reasonable daily drivers, many were used as such and have racked up uber miles as well. If you read the e30 M3 forums there's not much discussion about keeping the cars original. Most of the talk is how to modify them. The prices have been creeping up over the past 2-3 years on the unmolested, lower mile cars and NOW is the time to get in before they go out of sight, IMO. I've been offered $25K for mine as a data point (orig paint, 60K miles).

This may be one of the only truly affordable 'homologation cars'. BMW built the M3 racecar first, then figured out how to take that racecar and make it reasonably civilized as a street car - the way it should be.

** Also, the 'rattling' noise from the engine heard on startup is no cause for alarm. These engines have forged pistons and they rattle like crazy until they warm up (usually a minute or 2). If they keep rattling after warm up though .... run!