I have a 1995 Daytona Violet/Dove Grey e36 M3 with 85,000 miles on the clock. On the outside and inside it's completely stock. Underneath, though, that's where I've modified it with everything I believe to be the best mods for a 95 M3 (S50 engine, OBD I).
Full chassis reinforcements
Underbody protection plate
Sway bars
Control arms
Camber plates
H&R Sport springs
Billstien shocks
Fluidine all aluminum radiator
All aluminum water pump and thermostat housing
Dinan intake
3.5" Bosh HFM
Bimmerworld boot
24 lb Bosh fuel injectors
Shrick Cams
TMS Stage 3 chip
Borla Exhaust
BMW 3.38 Differential
UUC Short Shift Kit
ZHP Shift Knob
ZKW Glass Projector Headlights (OEM for Euro M3)
Earlier this year I hit a deer at a relatively low speed, damaging the front bumper, and everything on it, the hood and the corner panel. No mechanical damage or chassis damage, just cosmetics.
It's going to cost many thousands to fix up the car properly, to replace the body panels, headlights, fog lights, etc. etc. and proper painting. That means 3 body panels with new paint while the rest of the car has 23 year old paint. So in my opinion, might as well respray the whole car.
So I was thinking of using this as an opportunity to restore the entire car to showroom condition (without removing upgrades, because, let's face it, the US M3 as stock kinda sucked). Sand and respray the whole car at a professional BMW restoration shop. Replace all plastic parts that are near their end of life. Spruce up the interior, refreshing the color on the leather seats. Replacing the aging steering rack and some other things.
All of this could cost $20,000 ...
Insurance
I had full coverage on the M3 when I hit the deer. Liberty Mutual. They towed it to their shop, a good shop I've used before. The initial estimate was $10k in repairs and $10k in value - so a total loss. I bought the car for $10k a couple years ago so that's actually not bad for me.
I went to check autotrader for a replacement and found that I couldn't get another low mileage 95 M3 for under $20k and that there were literally none for sale within 200 miles and no Daytona violet M3s for sale in all of North America. Wow the e36 market has really dried up. I sent all of those details to Liberty Mutual and played their 30 day waiting game (insurance people know what I'm talking about).
After 30 days, Liberty Mutual agreed the car was worth $17,800 (75% in appreciation over a few years!!) so it's no longer a total loss. However, the shop refused to repair the car because they didn't want to guarantee repairs on a 23 year old car. That meant Liberty Mutual had to pay me out the value even though the car was not totaled and retains a clean title. They gave me the option to buy the car back for $1,000. uhhh... yes pls.
The Question
So after all of this, I still have my car, just missing 3 body panels, it still has a clean title, and I got a check for $16,550. So do I just fix it as cheaply as possible and pocket the rest? Do I use this as an opportunity to turn the car into a concourse winner, a showroom quality car. Or should I part it out, take the cash and buy another old BMW that's going up in value?