Very sadly I have to make room in the garage for a wooden boat and must sell my E12 M535i.
I am the car’s second owner, having bought it in 2004 from the original owner. I have done approximately 10,000 miles in the five years that I have had the car. The mileage now stands at just over 48,000.
The car was featured in Total BMW in 2003 as a pristine low mileage example. I can provide scans of the article if you would like.
I was asked by the BMW Car Club UK to show the car in the line up of historic BMW M cars at their 30th Anniversary celebration of the BMW M models in 2005. If you go to the web page below you will find photos of the car sitting in pride of place next to an M1, along with photos from the Total BMW article, and photos of the car as it is now:
http://homepage.mac.com/simonpj/E12_M535i_1981/PhotoAlbum16.html
I paid £5,000 for the car in 2004, which is what I am asking for it now. Over the past five years I have spent far more than that on the car. It has spent its whole life garaged, and is in excellent original condition. I have taken the approach of treating any minor signs of rust as soon as they have appeared, and this has included replacing the front wings when slight bubbling appeared in the front wheel arches. A couple of years ago I noticed slight water absorption in the rear spoiler, so had it removed and the boot lid repainted. The spoiler has since had a chance to dry out fully, and is in very nice condition. It could easily be re-fitted. (I do actually really like the look of the car without the spoiler.)
Apart from the changes to the spoiler, and the front wings, the car is completely original. I did have a new set of front springs fitted a couple of years ago, which were original E12 M355i stock – but for the version with air-conditioning (the only ones still available) – so very slightly stiffer. They work absolutely fine – and I wasn’t able to notice any difference.
The car drives wonderfully, without any signs of its age.
I have receipts for all work that I have done to the car, including £3,500 worth of tidying work done by Jaymic immediately after I bought it. I recently had a complete new rear bumper fitted, as the underside of the original was starting to show some bubbling in the chrome.
The car has service stamps for the first 22 years of its life before I bought it, along with almost all of its MOT’s, and the original sales invoice (shown on the web page above).
There’s much more to tell about the car – which I would be glad to discuss over the phone – or to show you in person, here in Cambridge.
Regards,
Simon
Girton, Cambridge, UK.
