The M4 pickup we talked about yesterday is not the only wild creation these days in Las Vegas attending SEMA. Miami-based BMW specialist Renner is there to showcase the Projekt 3, an extraordinary M3 E30 that happens to have six more cylinders than the original car. Yes, underneath the hood is a naturally aspirated V10, the mighty S85 with a 5.0-liter displacement.
The ten-cylinder engine has been borrowed from a 2008 M5 Sedan donor car that Renner purchased to build this bonkers M3. Crammed into the engine bay, the V10 has been massaged to deliver 625 horsepower, or a healthy increase of 125 hp over the engine’s original specifications. It has had the VANOS variable valve timing system removed and it’s been tuned more aggressively to have the power delivered sooner.
Then there are the exquisite disc-styled wheels with blue accents painted by hand and wrapped in Yokohama tires. The blue pinstripe was also manually applied, and Renner says they’ve fitted one of the last five OEM windshields available for the M3 E30. The side skirts and rear glass are also original, and while not installed on the car for the SEMA show, the company can fit an M3 Evolution front spoiler to the new Euro-spec bumper.
Painted in Blue Silver Metallic, this restomod isn’t exactly cheap. As it stands, Renner is looking to get a cool $350,000. Despite the exorbitant price tag, Ronald Norat from Renner says the company is close to selling the car. While it costs a small fortune, the car was stripped down to the metal and fully restored, on top of the engine transplant and other tweaks.
The end result is a high-revving, high-power, high-priced sports sedan with a timeless design while retaining a lot of the original parts. Although this M3 E30 is mostly a demonstrator to showcase Renner’s capabilities when money is no object, it’s a fully functional and drivable car, complete with a tachometer that goes all the way up to 9,000 rpm.
Source: Larry Chen / YouTube
