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Ever since I got my E34 540i back in November 2020, I had a strange feeling it would have an interesting history. Something about having factory parking sensors….in 1994 screamed that the original owner had some money. I always thought it would be interesting to try and retrace at least part of the car’s history, seeing as it has done over 370,000km. The only clue I had of prior owners was I could see on a report that the car had been registered under a company in 1997. I found the director of the company and googled his name. Up popped some old news articles from 2006 detailing he owned some prestigious racehorses and was even a New Zealand actor back in the 70s. Seeing as he appeared to be the third owner, things started to get interesting. I managed to get in contact with him, and actually went and saw him to ask him some questions about the car. He was more than happy to have a chat but didn’t seem overly enthused about the car which was a bit disheartening. He did manage to remember the name of the second owner, “he was a merchant banker from Remuera”, which was very impressive seeing as he had bought the 540 24 years prior. I googled the second owner’s name and immediately I had a plethora of information and a publicly listed contact number. I decided to give him a call on a Sunday and to my surprise he answered. He was happy to hear the car was still around and owned by an enthusiast. He was also keen to see the car again, seeing as it had been around 20 years since he had last seen it. We then scheduled a time to meet and about 3 weeks later I took the car out to Remuera to show it to him. What he had to say about the car was very interesting. He knew the first owner, who happened to be New Zealand’s highest paid salary earner back in 1994! He said the car was bought brand new from the BMW dealer in New Market and was the highest specified 540i available in New Zealand at the time. He bought the car from the first owner in 1997, but sold it soon after to the third owner, only to buy it back in the late 90s and then sold it to the people I bought it off in the early 2000s (who also happened to be a famous architect). This meant my car had always transacted privately and has stayed in Auckland its whole life. I am only the fifth owner which is somewhat impressive for a 27 year old car. The second owner also had a nice collection of vehicles such as an old Daimler and an F10 M5, and exclaimed that the paint on the 540 still looked pretty good considering its very high mileage, which he attributed to his passion for detailing. He then began to recount some interesting things that had happened to the car under his ownership: The car was always looked over by a friend of his, who also happened to be one of Bruce McLaren’s mechanics. While on Holiday in Rotorua, the gearbox locked up and it had to be pushed by a bunch of people up an incline out of the motel driveway. It then got driven home in third gear as that was the only gear that worked. The car ended up having to get a new gearbox at 70,000km, which he was understandably unimpressed about. Another time he recalls being stuck behind a truck with the car fully loaded for the weekend, so when a nice opportunity arose for an overtake, he gave it the boot to wind up the V8. About half way through the overtake the car decided to blow a coolant hose, spraying steam and coolant all over the windscreen, completely obscuring his view, leaving him no choice but to conclude the overtake with no vision and then immediately pull over to sort the mishap. After hearing all the stories about my car, it’s made me fall in love with it even more.

I can just imagine someone who bought this new in 1994 with PARKING SENSORS fitted. Brick phone, second dedicated line for a fax machine in his house, dialup modem, Walkman and a 10CD hifi setup. Total baller.

I've bought 2 vehicles (Triumph motorcycle, plus a '73 RX2 Coupe) via Bring a Trailer - both pretty well priced and no untidy surprises upon arrival to NZ. I keep an eye out on CollectingCars, and they seem to deal in very high end vehicles (think Lamborghini, modern Porsches, Aston Martin etc), and not so much my cup of tea either aesthetically or financially. I've had the daily emails from BaT for several years now, and these guys have built an exceptional business from the ground up (selling almost 90% of the 60ish cars a day they accept on to their site) Good for them!! Pics for self gratification.............

Yeah I was very lucky to find out the amount I did considering how old the car is! The second owner told me that apparently BMW thought that the gearbox (it would be a ZF box right?) once made only needed very minimal servicing and consequently did minimal servicing to it causing it to seize (no fluid changes or anything). The car had always been serviced with BMW so I think BMW paid for majority if not completely covered the cost of the new gearbox.

Intagram post, from the bmw culture team of one of my favourite Art Cars.

I continue to pick away at my parts list in preparation for the engine swap. A water pump here; a serpentine belt, pulleys and tensioner there; seals, gaskets, hoses. Taking my time getting ready.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1995-bmw-540i-32/ $63,000usd for a heavily modified 540 that's been resprayed (poorly, check the overspray underneath). It looks nice. But the body has done 300K miles. Just more BAT hype.

I have the Foxwell NT530 scanner with BMW software. Not a bad mid range scanner. I like it. Use it in OBD2 mode for fuel trim diagnostics (trims in %) and general engine work. Use it in BMW mode for all other modules. It does most of the stuff that INPA does. It has a little less fun functionality in the "Activation" menus than INPA. The BMW software also covers OBD1/ADS for the older BMW's like E30's and some E36's etc. One thing it does not do, is it will not code new/replacement modules.

Most items are normally for sale at the right price

I don’t usually like plenty of bold colours mixed in on a car as it looks too busy and cluttered but this just looks so right!

She's got the BellSouth Aerial and the obligatory holes in the console where the brick would have been mounted! And.... 10 Stacker in the boot!! You nailed it lol I keep an old 90s Motorola in the car just to emulate the baller-ness the original owner would have experienced. Car would have been about ~270K accounting for inflation in today's money but when you were earning 1 million USD in 94' a 540 would have been pocket change to swing.

GLWS, hope you’re selling to replace with something that has a more BMW-appropriate cylinder count

Update. PDR was done some time ago. I put air in the tyres last weekend, checked the oil (nil used), 98 in the tank (as usual), gave it a wash and removed the leaves that accumulate beneath the cabin filter shrouds [essential e60 maintenance]. Then enjoyed a club run to Raumati and back. It's a joy to drive; smooth, tight, great handling with light weight and 50/50 weight distribution, and awesome power train. Parts have arrived for the Valve Cover Gaskets (Elring), Serpentine Belt Tensioner & Pulley (INA)(and a new Conti belt for good measure), and the PCV bellows (Vaico). Now to get them sorted when we're out of the latest lockdown. I'll get the headlights polished up, give the car a thorough valet, and it may then be time to find it a new home next month. It's not getting as much use as we're not doing so many long distance trips. This car is a mile-muncher!

X

Finally figured it out, bmw new grill is skeleton nose.

It may well be hype, in your opinion. With a sell through rate of 87% in July 2021, its hype that is working with happy buyers and sellers, not only in the US but in Europe now. Fiqures that our beloved TradeMe would struggle to achieve I think😉 Check out the success of Collecting Cars, in Australia, soon to be in NZ and into Asia as well. Hats off to the owners of both sites for a good job well done.

Out in the wild

I've found if you can get a pot large enough to sit an end in, and put that on the boil, and add washing powder will do a great job.

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Nothing at all, just clean oil. Removing the original bolts and putting in new thread seal / retorquing them of course. Absolutely, used it since 2010!

Looks like a third rate knock off thing. What a joke haha