There’s something wonderful about passing down wrenching knowledge and skill through generations, and family project cars often contain a little bit of everything. Some mechanical work, some wiring, some bodywork, some upholstery. But what happens when they involve a lot of everything, rolling out of the garage as a complete beast? You get something like the wild E21 BMW 3 Series of Essex-based father and son Paul and Ethan Foster, which just won the 2025 Hot Wheels Legends UK competition.
Right off the rip, this E21 pays tribute to top-level classic touring cars, starting with a real Group 5 wing that’s now rocking a massive carbon fiber element as a modern touch that still maintains an old-school feel. There’s a spoiler at the top of the rear window too, and a serious air dam, but the big visual story are massive flares covering 345/35R15 Pirelli rear tires, the same sort you’d find on a Lamborghini Countach. We’re talking so much rubber, you might miss the presence of side-exit exhausts due to fixation on the rolling stock.
Given the dramatic appearance of this E21 3 Series, you’re probably wondering what’s under the hood. Well, the Fosters have gone not with a BMW straight-six or V8, but a Rover V8 pumping out a claimed 420 horsepower and breathing through individual throttle bodies. Given how BMW bought Rover Group in 1994, you can almost think of this engine being part of the family tree. Actually, this is the second Rover V8 under the hood of this outrageous project, the first being a highly tuned 3.5-liter unit that sadly suffered a failure. Not ones to give up, the Fosters decided to go all-in with the current powerplant, a five-liter Rover V8 from J.E Developments breathing through individual velocity stacks.
Considering that the most potent roadgoing E21 only made around 140 horsepower, a beefier drivetrain was required to harness the grunt of the British-American V8, so a DTM-spec Getrag gearbox handles the torque while a Quaife helical limited-slip differential mitigates the potential for lighting up an inside rear tire.
Rounding out the build are coilovers by Gaz, a British firm that’s supplied dampers for everything from race cars to the MFB Bentley from “The Grand Tour,” along with Wilwood brakes, a top pick of racers around the world, because brakes are the second-most-important thing on a car next to tires. Oh, and check out those turbofans. Sweet, right?
What staggers me the most about the Fosters’ E21 is not just the scope of this father-son project, but also the attention to detail. Everything underneath is done up in M colors, from the suspension arms to the differential to the brake hard lines.
View this post on Instagram
What’s more, the build isn’t just for show. With curb weight clocking in at under a ton and proper race-capable hardware aboard, this BMW was reborn to run both on the road and up hillclimb courses. It’s easy to see why this won the Hot Wheels Legends Tour UK, and it’s not done yet. This radical E21 3 Series is headed to the European round of the competition, and if it wins that, it’ll go on to the world finals for a chance to become a Hot Wheels car.
Top graphic image: Hot Wheels
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
This is probably my favorite build shared on the autopian. My first car was an e21 and I love them. This is so cool
Just not my cup of tea. If I had this kind of money, I’d be flying a 172 for fun.
But I admire the family that wrenches together. There are far worse family dynamics.
Do you remember that the Countach only had 15″ rims? That’s how tiny the cars are. Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Anyone have the deets on the wheels? <3 Turbofans
They are some of those custom D-lng Designs. The old site actually did a article on the Belgium shop. You can find them on Instagram.
Oh, the wailing and gnashing of teeth that this choice of engine must cause the BMW faithful 🙂
(The Rover V8 was the equivalent of the small block Chevy to British car builders, cheap and ubiquitous power, for kit cars and production cars both).
It makes me very happy they have put that in there.