Austin Detwiler 1994 BMW 316i Touring Wagon
Rolling in is this 1994 BMW 316i Touring Wagon. This car came off a production line in Hamburg, Germany, and was brought to the United States, passing hands a few times. Prior to Detwiler’s ownership, it was owned by a car collector in Pennsylvania who had purchased it from the original importing owner.
Detwiler and his neighbor, who also loved the BMW E30 generation, found the vehicle on an online used goods marketplace. The car was overpriced, considering it was not in running and driving condition. Under the hood was a blown M44 BMW engine. It was Detwiler’s dream to own a rare E30 Wagon in either White or Daytona Violet. Eventually, Detwiler talked down the owner over a two-week period until they agreed on a final price. It was then that Detwiler and his friend drove a trailer from Cleveland, OH, to Hershey, PA, and back. They learned that this 1994 BMW 316i Touring Wagon was the collector's 65th E30 generation BMW he had owned.
Under the front-opening hood is a BMW M20 Turbocharged motor connected to a RWD manual transmission. This motor has a custom turbo kit, a Cut Ring head gasket, and a Gates racing timing belt with a billet tensioner. The acoustics of this car are honed in thanks to the 3” custom turbo-back exhaust. It has an E36 M50 flywheel with an M5 clutch kit. It’s all safely secured in place thanks to the Delrin and polyurethane transmission mounts coupled with M5 engine mounts. More uncommon materials were used in the Delrin shifter rebuild with DSSR. It gets cooling thanks to the CSF oil cooler with custom-fabricated intercooler piping.
This unique look expertly ties everything together with a very limited edition, 1 of 200 Daytona Violet 283. It’s riding on 17” Apex reps. It comes with an upgraded sound system thanks to the Rockford Fosgate door and rear deck speakers. It has an installed OEM non-airbag Mtech steering wheel. Attention to detail was not skipped with the design edition purple seats with a matching shifter boot and emergency brake handle cover.
This car is quite unassuming to a blind eye, but a real BMW or E30 enthusiast will recognize this masterpiece as a rare and unique build. Detwiler stated, “I am friends with the main technicians at BMW of Westlake, and when I told them I bought it, they immediately tried to buy it off me. Of course, I refused because it's my dream vehicle.” He sees himself with this car in the future and even has plans to put Airlift Performance air-ride suspension in the front and rear, paint-matched fenders for consistency, and Alpina or Borbet Type A wheels.
