This BMW E21 belongs to Dieter Verboven, although you might remember his other car I featured back in March. Like his Lancia, the attention to detail on this build is top caliber and is definitely feature worthy during September's BMW month.  This isn't the first BMW that Dieter has owned, before this one he had an E30 convertible. With the E30 he won several prizes, but because of the laws in Belgium, he didn't had a lot of fun driving it on the open road. All cars need to be stock when taken to the garages for road permits, so the scope for performance modifications is limited. But this is not the case when your car is 25 years or older. So the plan was to look for another BMW that was older, and this E21 proved to be the perfect candidate.

Dieter found the car hiding in an underground garage in the center of Antwerp. The owner was the second owner and he still had all the original paperwork.

The exterior is dominated by the extremely wide fenders that house the 3 piece Tramont Staria wheels. The fenders came from a BMW 2002, remodeled to fit the E21. The frontbumper has been made by Kamei and again had to be adjusted to make it fit.

The kidney as it is affectionately called has been painted black to give it a better contrast with the white exterior. The lights have also been changed; the original E21 came with dual headlights, so Dieter placed a single headlight grille with bi-xenon lamps to ensure he can see something on his late night outings.

At the rear you can truly see how wide the fenders are… they needed to be adjusted to fit the original chrome bumper. Because of the new engine, Dieter made a special exhaust system with tips on both sides. Maybe you wondered what kind of mirrors Dieter used? Well he used a set made by Hartge and again modified them to fit.

The engine came from his earlier project. Sourced from a  E30 325i the capacity has been reworked to 2.7 liters. It's mated to 5 speed gearbox with an AC Schnitzer shortshifter kit. The engine bay has been cleaned and the engine has received a new engine cover.

Inside the interior we can find a FK seats with Sabelt harnesses. The original interior was blue, but Dieter wanted to take the black and white theme from the outside to the inside so he changed it to black.

In the rear we can see the rollcage that Dieter sourced in the UK. For that extra race look he removed the seats and sound deadening.

An important that make this car looks so good are the wheels. The Tramont Staria wheels measure 17" with 205/40/17 Kumho tires in the front and 17" with 245/35/17 in the back. For the stopping power Dieter went with a set of Brembo four pots.

I always love the rear of the car when it is done right, and this one is just perfect don't you agree? I can't wait to see what Dieter will build next!

-Jeroen Willemsen

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