Ownership Verified: My inevitable E39. I ///M not saying anything without my lawyer!

thomas

Grouchy Beemer Owner
STAFF MEMBER
Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Messages
6,210
Location
Freiburg - DE, or Texas when possible
Car(s)
E39 M5, '94 Cadillac Fleetwood, '21 Focus Wagon
Well, the 1-series will leave me in 2 month or earlier and a replacement has been found. And due to a wide variety of circumstances and personal preferrence, I ended up getting what I ever since being a teenager consider the best looking sedan BMW ever built - the E39. I had been eyeing the market for years now, and was mostly focused on those few details:

- 530i
- sedan
- manual
- factory M-Sport

The first 3 alone reduced the market down to only a few dozen cars on the market, and the M-Sport to almost single-digit numbers. Then finding one that's worthwhile and has all the details and the right asking price, I was basically looking for a unicorn. And the prices for unicorns did not move for the last at least 2 years, people are still asking 8-10k EUR for what I was looking for, which I had a hard time justifying for it. Add to the lack of choices the usual insanity that builds up if you go for the reasonable car over and over and over again, and a change in commute circumstance, and suddenly things go way wrong. Or right. Depending on how you wanna look at it :D.

tl,dr: Yesterday I picked up this puppy far upnorth in Denmark, where it spent almost all its life since it got exported from Germany:




Exterior Carbonblack Metallic (416)
Interior Black extended Nappa Point leather (O5SW)
Date of production 13.09.1999

Code Standard Equipment
S210A Dynamic stability control
S216A HYDRO STEERING-SERVOTRONIC
S261A Side airbags for rear passengers
S302A Alarm system
S423A Floor mats, velours
S430A Interior/outside mirror with auto dip
S459A Seat adjuster, electric, with memory
S488A Lumbar support, driver and passenger
S494A Seat heating driver/passenger
S500A Headlight wipe/wash/Intensive cleaning
S520A Fog lights
S522A Xenon Light
S534A Automatic air conditioning
S548A Kilometer-calibrated speedometer
S555A On-board computer V with remote control
S710A M leather steering wheel
S775A Headlining anthracite
S785A White direction indicator lights
S473A Armrest front
S602A On-board monitor with TV
S694A Provisions for BMW 6 CD changer

Code Optional Equipment
S326A Deleted, rear spoiler
S352A Insulating double-glazing
S354A Green windscreen, green shade band
S403A Glass roof, electrical
S415A Sun-blind, rear
S428A Warning triangle and first aid kit
S441A Smoker package
S469A Integrated child seats
S508A Park Distance Control (PDC)
S609A Navigation system Professional
S629A Car telephone (GSM) w card reader, front
S672A CD changer for 6 CDs
S677A HiFi System Professional DSP
S761A Individual sunshade glazing
L801A National Version Germany
S863A Retailer Directory Europe
S879A On-board vehicle literature German
S915A Delete clear coat


First set of pics, together with the new Adumobil:































And this is Adu's handwriting on Adus phone, so you better put that checkmark here, Adu ;).






The history:
It currently has apr. 248k km and is fully serviced. The engine is not the original one, its a used one that got swapped in last summer with certified 190k km after the original one failed with busted crank bearings. The replacement subsequently got fitted new ones of those, plus new bolts for them. During that whole deal the clutch, both o2 sensors, the battery, all spark plugs, front pads, all filters and fluids and the engine fan got replaced. All that was done in june 2014 at 245k km, the car was only driven apr. 2kkm since then. And only 4 weeks ago another oilchange was done. Castrol 10W60 of course. The seller was a mechanic with his own shop who bought the car as a project and weekend cruiser. He bought it with the broken engine and fixed it, well, swapped it. Almost one year after bringing it back on the road, he realized that he hardly ever gets to drive it, and decided on "if it sells, good, if not, I won't be sad either". The previous owner had the car since either 2000 or 2002, not sure, the car spend a short time in germany before he exported it to DK. It was fully BMW maintained until 2014, the last 3 stamps are from the sellers own shop. Oh yeah and it got fileld with wax at some point in the recent years to prevent any kind of rust spreading.

The flaws:
Rust around the fillercap that needs to be taken care of in the nearish future, and about 3 minor spots around the car (1-3cm size). The paint has so many stonechips and dings and scratches, I couldn't care less about adding new ones ;). The wheels are begging for a refurbish too. The interior is oddly split in terms of condition. While the seats look excellent for the milage and way better than most of that age, the aluminum trim is mostly fucked up wherever it got touched a lot. I'll either refurbish or replace that eventually. Biggest technical issue I know of: The interior mirror (autodimming) is broken/leaked, its half dimmed half clear all the time. A replacement will be sourced soon. Some plastic things here and there are broken or missing or something, the usual things after over 15 years. Car runs and drives great, only noticed a wobble on medium braking at the range of about 70-90kph, not above or below, not when braking harder or more gentle.



tl,dr again: Imo a solid car totally worth the money and with an acceptable pricetag for the condition. I put about 1000km on it so far, consumption is in the realm of 12 liters/100km with mostly autobahn. Do I regret it yet? Not even a bit! Will I at some point? Very likely! Fucks given? Zero!


Bring on the comments!
Thomas
 
Nicest 530 I've ever seen.. Anyway, still one of the best looking 4-door BMW's, and with the correct powertrain, nice! :)
 
Shotgun on the 'ring!

A freakin' M5! You even blasted by here and didn't at least give me a short visit? I'm offended!



Nah, sweeeeeet car, I'm envious...
 
Very nice!

What's up with the M5 badge though? Is that standard? Here in the US even the 540i with M-Sport package didn't come with one.
 
Err, it is an M5, recognizable by it's four tailpipes and it's V8 under the bonnet... ;)
 
I agree. Possibly the best BMW ever made? Congratulations, this is an awesome purchase. I'm truly jelly!
 
You even blasted by here and didn't at least give me a short visit? I'm offended!

I know.. I am really sorry.. as you know I had the intention to, but I left so late that I only made it to .nl past 9pm, so adding more stops was just not going to happen..

What's up with the M5 badge though? Is that standard? Here in the US even the 540i with M-Sport package didn't come with one.

Well, the original owner did not order delete model designation, so it has the badge. Over here the badge is default on all BMWs, unless you order the free delete option. A german 540i would have "540i" on the back, unless delete ordered.

Possibly the best BMW ever made?

Imho, yes, or at least top contender! :)

Despite having considered this for month and planned this specific purchase for weeks, and having put >1kkm on the car already, I don't think I fully realized that I actually did that already :D. As I said before, I think this will probably be the best and the worst decision I've ever made. Just because.
 
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Thomas, I fully support your lunacy. And you need to bring that to Texas next :p

Congrats!
 
gratz on the car!
 
Err, it is an M5, recognizable by it's four tailpipes and it's V8 under the bonnet... ;)

Look carefully at that engine bay...

Sorry, didn't look at the engine bay picture earlier.

So it's not a 530i then.

- - - Updated - - -

Err, it is an M5, recognizable by it's four tailpipes and it's V8 under the bonnet... ;)

Look carefully at that engine bay...

Sorry, didn't look at the engine bay picture earlier.

So it's not a 530i then.
 
Oh, one more thing: I just watched the Wheeler Dealers episode with the M5 - you need to change the headlamps to the ones off the facelift. :nod:
 
Adu put that on only minutes after I arrived last night :D. I have the fullest intention to do so. Not sure about the tail lights as those need actual metal modifications (internally), which I am not fond of. But I'll first make sure the car passes T?V and gets registered here. If the T?V doesn't throw any technical issues my way, I'll look into the list of things I want or need to do. Say: interior mirror, parking lights (are error-throwing LED currently), have a bodyshop tell me how much the rustremoval would rape me and such things.
 
I was about to say that too. Every E39 needs facelift headlights.
 
I was partly righ! I figured either E30 M3 or an E39 with oomph. Turns out you got the best of both! :D Seriously congrats! You definitely nailed it on the factory M-sport. Can i have a ride at ringmeet?

EDIT: Double windows is the absolute tits. You'll so enjoy that.
 
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Very awesome, I'm in love, I desperately need a ride in this should you ever be in the area! Congratulations for doing it. You're my hero!

If I'd ever buy one I'd go for the old style lights, I'm apparently the only one who prefers them.
 
Monday afternoon/evening I'll be driving home from Hanover to Stuttgart. That very much puts Frankfurt/Limburg at least on one of the two route-options (A7 all the way or A7 and A5). Timewise, nfi, 1800ish, +-1hr I guess. Can't tell when my appointment there will be over.
 
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