We've been saying it for a while, but the E30 M3 is the next future classic. And the proof is right here: A 69,000 mile, super clean, example . That is crazy money for one of these cars.

The car in question was owned by former Jalop and current man about Road & Track Sam Smith at one point, a man who is probably kicking his own ass vigorously right now for selling it before it appreciated to stratospheric levels. The sale took place in one of . Quite the way to start it off!

But is this price far above market, or is it the shape of things to come for the E30 M3? We've seen E30s appreciating for a while, but this is the first price that has literally made me drop my jaw and realize that I might have missed the boat on ever owning an original M3.

And when I say original, I mean an unmolested, unmodified, stock example, which is basically what this is. It's one of the rare, super clean, low milages M3s still out there, a sub-genus in an already rare species.

My thought is that this is crazy money right now, but within a year or two, $60,000 sales of the E30 will be commonplace with good examples fetching north of that. What do you think? Are E30 M3 prices a bubble that's waiting to burst or are prices like this the new norm?

I bet it's the new norm. So long dream of owning an E30. It was fun while it lasted.

Photo via BaT