There are a few decent ones of these available around me for a pretty reasonable price. If, by chance, I can convince the boss to let me get one what should I be on the lookout for? Also, why isn't there as much love for these cars? Everyone loves 2002s and E30s and talks about them, but why not the E21? There's only handful of them among even the members of the board here... Thanks in advance.
Basically, the E21 is heavier than the 2002, but less powerful than the E30. Top that off with a front suspension that was shimmy-prone, some extra weight, and an engine suffering from late 70s-early 80s emissions equipment, and you can see where they aren't the BMW crowd's first choice.
That said, I like them. They're pretty simple, and with proper maintenance and a few mods, they can be made to be very entertaining rides. Add an M20 small six (which was available on the E21 chassis in Europe in 320/6 and 323 variants) for real fun.
That makes sense. I loved my old E30 and am itching to have another BMW in my stable, but wanted something different.
Back in the late 70's Russ Norburn took me on a very impressive ride on the Durham Freeway in a 320i with a turbo'd baby six.
There seems to be a big crowd of devoted fans over on Bimmerforums. I have had 5 of them, all of which were only around long enough to part out for usefull goodies on my 02. I always thought one with a mild Rover V8 swap would make a great DD.
I suggest an E34 535i (preferably mine!) but if not, I've always loved the looks and dynamics of the E21.
Any low price BMW you buy is going to need a full front end rebuild anyway, so I wouldn't let the front suspension issues scare you off. Just budget for a whole bunch of poly bushings (don't forget steering rack bushings). Main thing I'd look in to is parts availability and prices, especially trim pieces and anything unique to the E21. Not that you typically buy that stuff new, but if I had to choose between a car with solid mechanicals and so-so cosmetics, and one with solid cosmetics and a few issues, I'd go with the pretty one in this case, at least if you ever want it to look fancy. Bad mechanicals are just an excuse to upgrade with stuff from faster cars in the BMW family. 
DO IT.
Main thing to look for on an E21 is rust. Good god they rust.
Then suspension.
Way back when, I did an article on 'em, and I've had a couple myself. If you sweet-talk 'em, maybe Tom will add it to the article archives.
rustrustrustrustrust.. as Tim said.. these are cars from before rust proofing and even before the builders knew how to avoid rust and dirt traps in the undercarriage.
funny thing is.. I think they rust worse than the 2002?
Tim Baxter wrote: Way back when, I did an article on 'em, and I've had a couple myself. If you sweet-talk 'em, maybe Tom will add it to the article archives.
Tom, are you listening?
I kinda prefer the looks of the E21 to that of the E30. I'd start with a really clean car, upgrade the suspension, and maybe swap in a M42/M44 (or M50). Oh and add Panasports...
the worst part of the design of the E21.. IMHO is the headlights. I prefer the looks of the european models with the 7" headlights
i heart E21 with tucked bumpers.
Actually the single larger headlight was used mostly in the 'lowly' European models (315/316/318) whereas the ones at the upper end of the range like the 323i got the quad headlights.
I think apart from the rust issues, the other issue with US E21s is that all of the 'interesting' engines (like the 323i) stayed out of the US...
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