BMW M3: an E30 dream becomes reality

18 November, 2015

Most of us can remember when we first became passionate about cars — and certain makes at that. For me, I remember getting a ride as a 10-year-old in a Subaru WRX rally car. I’ll never forget being strapped into that bucket seat, and getting airborne over a local speed bump just near my house, narrowly missing a wandering dog upon landing. Another vivid memory around the same time was a ride in an ’80s Honda Prelude Si, with a DOHC 16-valve two-litre. I will never forget the howl that the factory two-litre motor produced near redline — cementing my passion for the H badge for years to come.

For Gabor Mester, he fell in love with cars whilst at a family friend’s place where he stumbled into a BMW M3 E30 in their garage. Throughout his teens he would go over and offer to wash and clean the vehicle for the owners, just to be around its bulbous ’80s curves. Fast forward a few years, Gabor now owns that particular vehicle — and after seven years of ownership, the passion continues to grow.

Polishing to perfection

The secret to a show-stopping finish is colour sanding, no matter which paint system you use. Even a good painter, no matter how experienced or talented — like my mate Bruce Haye, CEO at Ace Panel and Paint in Whitianga — can’t shoot to a perfect mirror finish. To get that level of perfection, you need to colour sand.
It used to be called ‘rubbing out’ or ‘cutting’, and it was done with pastes that came in cans. They worked — sort of — but the compounds really just rounded off imperfections instead of eliminating them, and they removed a lot of paint in the process. But now your new finish can be made flawless, thanks to microfine sandpapers that come in 1000, 1500, 2000, and even 2500 grit ranges, and Farecla G3 polish — available from automotive paint suppliers.

NZ Classic Car magazine, March/April 2026 issue 404, on sale now

BMW’s flagship techno showcase
The supermodel 1995 BMW 840Ci is simply elegant and perfectly engineered.
BMW’s 840 Ci flagship Coupe provides superb comfort and equipment packaged in a stylish body, with grand-touring performance and surprisingly competent handling for its size.
It’s the kind of machine that stands apart from the start. When BMW first unveiled its flagship Grand Tourer at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show, the automotive world blinked twice. Sleek, low, and impossibly modern for its era, it combined drama with a sort of purposeful understatement. This silhouette still looks striking today, long after its peers have faded into obscurity.
Initially offered with a range of engines, the model you’re reading about is the V8 iteration, featuring a 4.0-litre eight-cylinder heart under its long bonnet and a smooth five-speed automatic at the back. It wasn’t about blistering sprint times so much as effortless velocity. There was power on tap, sure, but the way it delivered thrust felt unhurried and measured – the automotive equivalent of a deep exhale on a long drive.
Poster 1964 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, C2