Beauty and the Beast

It never ceases to amaze me the stories that people have regarding how a car is intertwined into their personal journey through life. For Marvin Salazar his 1989 BMW 3 series is a reflection of his personality while also paying homage to his family and his upbringing. His handle @djmarvins on instagram is filled with beautiful colorful photos of both his passions, cars and music that reflects the lifestyle he has embraced. His family calls him Chicho, the BMW community knows him by E30 PWR and has created one of the most famous drift and custom BMW E30s on the internet.

A little background on the cars that Marvin is completely obsessed with. The BMW E30 is the second generation of BMW 3 series, which was produced from 1982 to 1994 and replaced the E21 3 Series. The model range included 2-door sedan and convertible body styles, as well as being the first 3 Series to be produced in 4-door sedan and wagon/estate body styles. It was powered by four-cylinder petrol, six-cylinder petrol and six-cylinder diesel engines, the latter a first for the 3 Series. The E30 325iX model was the first BMW to have all wheel drive. Marvin is drawn to the 2 door coupes and listening to the podcast you’ll find out its really the only cars he wants to build.

Marvin’s story begins as a kid growing up in Costa Rica with a pretty typical family and a father who had a passion for BMW’s. at 12 years old his father sent them a gold, E30 automatic car from the US which is also around the time Fast and the Furious debuted in theaters. The straight 6 in Costa Rica was one of the fastest cars and Marvin, feeling it Vin Diesel, immediately fell in love. When his whole family decided to move to the US, his older brother received an E30 convertible which is where the brothers started diving into customizing cars. Driving by a 1989 BMW 325i for about 4 years that had been left out in the elements, Marvin’s father decided it was time for Marvin to have a BMW of his own. Marvin sharpened his skills working for a SCCA BMW racing team learning how to prep cars, build roll cages and set up suspensions. Marvin then dipped his toe into the early years of Formula Drift but quickly found he did not have the money or sponsorships required to compete. He got a little bored with that and decided to move away from racing and into DJing as some of the hottest clubs in Houston.

The aforementioned $500 1989 BMW 3 series that Marvin’s father bought him 16 years ago is now the silver drift car featured in this podcast that has become world famous! The car was in rough shape as it had been sitting in the Texas elements for years. Slowly with the help of his father and brother the car slowly evolved getting more radical with each step of the process. Throughout his car hiatus while being a DJ, Marvin saved up his money knowing that one day he would finish the build that he started. The car then kept evolving throughout the years into what you see today! The full spec drift car has been drifting for about 16 years making him an OG of not only the drifting community but of the E30 community as well.

Now onto this wonderfully engineered BMW. The wide body kit is a Rocket Bunny Pandem full wide body kit from Japan, the front and rear bumpers are original M-Tech 2 with the black trim and Pandem trim that has been modified to ensure that the body kit looked as factory installed as possible. To fill up that massive wide body kit a set of 18x8 4x100 Werkmeister Jagermeister wheels, one of the only people in the world to fit them, with the rears flipped show off the massive lip. The color came off of an older BMW called flat sliver that shows off all of the body lines perfectly. The suspension has been completely modified in a DTM theme to fit not only the massive wheels and tire but give the correct geometry to drift this beast whenever Marvin wants. The front control arms are off an E46 to give him additional angle and an SLR angle kit to ensure everything stays happy. He rides on 12 year old BC coilovers for full adjust ability and reports that these are the best coilovers for drifting. To stiffen up the chassis the front has all been stitch welded and braced in every area possible.

The E30 is powered by, get this, the original M20 from 1989 that has only has the head gasket replaced, a testament to how stout and reliable the motors are. In its stock form the block made about 140hp which wasnt enough for Marvin. The block is now upgraded with ARP head studs, upgraded fuel system and a tune to keep up with the Apexi RHX6 Turbo. At 8psi Marvin likes reliability over big horsepower and now puts out 300hp. The car weighs about 2200lbs with Marvin in it and states he can put the car in 4th, clutch kick it and go straight to drifting.

This is where we are going to take a break much like Marvin did when he was building cars and shift to a big portion of his life, music. Not just any music, Mr. Livin La Vida Loca him self Ricky Martin!! Marvin looked up to him growing up in Costa Rica since he was the biggest thing south of the border. Marvin started playing EDM in a hot club in Houston but was then poached by another club and ended up making more money in 2 days DJing than working a whole week at the shop. After 11 years Marvin became one of the hottest DJs in the city but like all great things they must come to an end.

Back to the cars, the “Beauty,” in this duo is the same 1989 BMW 325i but has been virtually untouched and brought up what Marvin refers to as “OEM plus.” The 50K mile original car is a factory dolphin gray which pops under the lights and in the sunlight. Marvin got the car when he was driving a right hand drive Japanese spec 320 E class Mercedes and decided to flip it for some quick cash. Marvin was at a local car show and was approached by a guy who recognized his drift car from the internet and sparked up a conversation. After a while the man offered up his 50K mile 325i that needed a “full restoration” to Marvin. At the same time some guys at that bar had overheard the conversation and bought it on the spot, needless to say Marvin was mad. The new owner was talking with Marvin afterward telling him he was going to LS swap it, this only frustrated Marvin even more. After about a week Marvin was called up and told that the new owner backed out of the deal, you can guess what Marvin did next. Not only was the car 5 min from Marvin’s house but his girlfriends friend lived right next door to the owner! Even more weird, this was a car that was owned by a good friend of Marvins who instantly recognized the car when he posted the first picture of it.

The car was completely torn apart wearing a flat black paint job with tons of racing parts packaged in the interior. After going over the car there wasn’t a spec of rust, unmolested body panels and clean wiring. Marvin knew what he needed to do with the car and bringing it back to OEM spec was just what the doctor ordered. The full restoration was done by Marvin, his brother and his father and has all of the original parts including various service parts that typically were broken when these were taken into the dealership. The interior was taken apart with no headliner so Marvin installed a suede liner in the OEM color. The factory radio and steering wheel were also replaced to bring it back to factory spec. Factory non cracked dash and sport IS interior finished off the interior with Marvin’s dream spec, very rare and very expensive. The front end is a period correct Alpina late model front lower lip, Euro spec trim, smoked headlights keep with the OEM plus look. The BBS RS wheels were a baller aftermarket piece in the 90s and guess what, they have only gone up in cost.

By day Marvin works on some of the most exotic and historically significant cars in the world. With his brother by his side he maintains customers personal collections in a facility that would rival any museum in the world. The place is so exclusive we were not able to take pictures in certain parts due to the ambiguity that the owners maintain. The earliest car they’ve worked on is a 1924 and we aren’t talking about Fords and Chevys.

The next iteration of the Silver drift car will be a complete rebuild. Chassis and suspension parts will all be upgraded and Marvin will repaint the car in a Jagermeister DTM M3 replica that will surely piss off the BMW community. This car will hopefully be featured at SEMA in 2022. The show car will be headed to Pebble Beach in 2022 and only has a few final touches for it to be 100% correct and ready. Once these cars are done Marvin wants to move into old school FJs and Land Rovers, one of which is from his hometown and worked in a coffee field its entire life.

Marvin has live a wild ride and is expressed in the form of his drift car. But his art isn’t just function but rather a love and dedication to build a pretty car as well. While both of his builds couldn’t be any father apart functionally the both a beautiful pieces of art that anyone would dream of having in their garage. If you want to find Marvin he’s on instagram at @djmarvins or at his new instagram store @E30PWR that is currently evolving. He also has a YouTube page @djmarvins where you can see him sliding his car all over the US. His car has also been featured on many car pages including Super Street and BMW themed magazines. Big thank you to him and his brother Aaron for hosting us and Marco for cracking jokes and taking pics during the podcast. If you have any questions you can always email the podcast or reach out to Marvin directly!