I have been looking at an '88 in town at an exotic dealership and it is currently at a body shop, but the body guy told me that it has a bent control tower, like the actual body piece on the inside of the frame that houses the wheel well and mount point for the suspension. I thought this was really odd and had never heard anyone talking about anything similar on here or s14. Has anyone had this problem on their M3 or heard of it at all being common? A problem like that leads me to believe in a possible crash history, yet I ran a carfax and it's clean so I'm kinda confused. I will also post some pictures of the car up in awhile once I get them to also get some help looking over it to see if anyone can spot anything detrimental or if I should stay away from the car.

Yes, the strut tower can crack from being driven very hard or from being in a collision. There are a few threads on S14 about it.

No it's not a common problem, but if the strut tower is bent, it's from an impact of some sort. check to see if it's bent by using a tape measure. Put one end on one of the tape on a front fender bolt on the side opposite of the damage, other end goes on one of the strut bolts. Repeat the process for the other side, if you've used the same points of measure the two sides should be the same. If the car is at a body shop and they have frame repair equipment they should also have measuring equipment and frame specs, pay them to measure it for you so you know what your getting into. If it's a reputable shop and the damage isn't severe they should be able to repair it for you. Good luck