{"id":81192,"date":"2026-02-08T10:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T13:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotive.einnews.com\/article\/890481453"},"modified":"2026-02-08T10:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T13:40:13","slug":"bmw-e30-m3-pickup-truck-the-ultimate-utility-vehicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/08\/bmw-e30-m3-pickup-truck-the-ultimate-utility-vehicle\/","title":{"rendered":"BMW E30 M3 Pickup Truck: The Ultimate Utility Vehicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

BMW’s M Division<\/a> is a master of creating high-performance road cars that can dust off the odd track day like it’s nothin’. What BMWs with the letter M on their bootlid don’t do so well, and we hope that Bavarian Motor Works don’t mind us saying this, is pick up lumber, drywall and cement bags. One BMW<\/a><\/strong> enthusiast has sought to improve on the classic E30 M3 recipe, by adding the ability to carry a few bags of livestock feed. That’s right, he’s turning an E30 into an M3 pickup. But don’t fear, this load-lugging M3 has sacrificed many of its chops as the Ultimate Driving Machine.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"bmw-m\"
\n
This Cheap BMW M Sports Car Is An Overlooked Future Classic <\/a> <\/h5>\n

Despite being a true pop culture icon, this bona fide BMW sports car is one of the cheapest “M” models you can buy in 2025.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Project MUTE Is A BMW M3 Ute <\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\"BMW
BMW E30 M3 pickup front three quarter pic<\/figcaption>YouTube\/ BlacKnight Creations<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyone who has taken a trip Down Under will know that in Australia pickup trucks are called utes. And this is where we find the ultimate utility M3. Project MUTE is the side project of BlacKnight Creations, an outfit in Australia, and started off as a beaten-up E30 BMW 3-Series Baur. Anyone unfamiliar with Baur E30 Bimmers, they are a semi-convertible version produced by German coachbuilder Karosserie Baur. This convertible, which retains much of the side doors and features a built-in rollover hoop, is the perfect basis for a pickup. So that’s what BlacKnight Creations did in the creation of a pickup version of the iconic E30 M3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The M3 Pickup Has Been Created From An E30 Convertible <\/h3>\n

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It appears that the original intention was to just create an E30 pickup, but the project seems to have snowballed in the best way possible. A detailed build on social media such as YouTube and Instagram, shows how the car starts out as an E30 Baur junker, before slowly morphing into an M3. The level of detail (and cost) is astonishing, and proof of the passion that is being heaped on this project.<\/p>\n

For starters, this E30 has been treated to $10,000 USD worth of original M3 panels and bodykit, with the rear sections needing the C-pillar cut out. A full E46 steering setup has also been fitted into the E30. Whereas some builders may have gone for aftermarket wheels, Project MUTE has been fitted with F87 M2 competition 788M rims. Titan Suspension coilovers give it the perfect stance.<\/p>\n

\"2001
\n
Rare BMW M3 GTR Street Car Just Arrived At The Peterson Automotive Museum <\/a> <\/h5>\n

BMW\u2019s 2001 E46 M3 GTR, one of only three street-ready examples, is on view in L.A.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And What About The Engine? <\/h2>\n

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Presumably, original E30 M3 engines are not exactly easy to come by, with BMW building roughly 18,000 M3 road cars between ’86 and ’90 (Hagerty<\/a>). BMW produced significantly more versions of the legendary E36 M3<\/a>, with 71,242 vehicles produced worldwide (official figure<\/a>), so it made more sense to fit the later S50B32 unit to this project M3 pickup. This race-bred engine was introduced at the end of 1995, generating 321 horsepower and with a larger displacement of 3.2 liters.<\/p>\n

Around this point, BlacKnight Creations revealed that around $28,000 had been spent on the project. That’s around the same price as you would expect to pay for an entire 1997 E36 M3 in good condition and running order (Hagerty Valuation Tools: $26,000) but that’s not really the point of such an epic project. Currently, BlacKnight Creations is putting the finishing touches to the tailgate, with the car expected to be fully completed any day soon. Most of the car is complete \u2014 we can’t wait to see the finished result.<\/p>\n

\"BMW
\n
This S54-Swapped BMW E30 Build Came Together In Just Five Days <\/a> <\/h5>\n

Former Donut Media host James Pumphrey whipped up this slick BMW E30 in just five days with the help of Castro Motorsports.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The “Real” BMW E30 M3 Pickup <\/h2>\n
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\"BMW
BMW E30 Pickup driving pic<\/figcaption>BMW<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Unbeknownst to a lot of people, BMW secretly built an M3-powered E30 pickup truck back in 1986. This car also used a BMW 3 Series Convertible as the base of a transformation into a BMW M3 Pickup. \u201cThe convertible bodyshell was chosen as the basis for two reasons,\u201d recalls Jakob Polschak, head of vehicle prototype building and workshops at BMW M Division and an employee at the company for more than 40 years. \u201cFirstly, we happened to have such a model at our disposal and in perfect condition. And secondly, the convertible\u2019s built-in bracing made it the ideal choice for a pickup conversion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Official E30 M3 Pickup Was A Sleeper <\/h3>\n
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\"BMW
BMW E30 M3 Pickup driving rear pic<\/figcaption>BMW<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

The first BMW M3 Pickup didn’t have the production car’s boldly flared wings, instead equipped with the narrower body of its regular, volume-produced sibling. The car was, however, fitted with a 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine with 200 horsepower. The BMW M3 Pickup was used as a workhorse around the factory premises reliably for over 26 years before finally being retired in 2010. The car, unsurprisingly, remained a one-off. BMW also went on to create a more modern E90 M3 Pickup<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

\n

Sources: Hagerty.com<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BMW's M Division is a master of creating high-performance road cars that can dust off the odd track day like it's nothin'. What BMWs with the letter M on their bootlid don't do so well, and we hope that Bavarian Motor Works don't mind …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}