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I absolutely love the original recaro seats. So rare. A mate of mine had the same recaro seats in one of the early right hand drive M635si's (1985). He was adamant that they were an option. Is this a colour factory for a 79 E24? It almost seems like a E9 colour - Fjord blau.

I agree - nice car but not sure about the price either. Mileage is inter-planetary territory, and pricing veers towards ///m power (various) levels. Just seems a tad absurd when you can buy a 507 bhp E60 M5 for the same price point. Market will prevail - but to be honest, thought $12-$15k may have been more appropriate.

I tried to buy this car in 2002 - when it was for sale for $16,995 - private sale in Forest Hill, North Shore, Auckland. I hesitated as I thought it was too expensive. It sat on replica Schnitzer 17" rims. It was then purchased by someone who ended up being a mutual friend- and he owned it for 3-4 years before selling it to Boris - BMW CC member and fellow Bimmersporter (who now has a mint E34 M5 in grey). Boris presented this at BMW events, car shows, etc. It was a very nice example. I purchased a South african spec 535is a week later which had alot higher k's but was around $6k cheaper. That was an amazing car too! These were lovely cars back in their halycyon days.

i agree man , you have vested interests in some sweet cars bro. Don't sell, don't sell !

Another thing too with the higher mileage examples, they apparently eat suspension components. A Kiwi buddy of mine who also lives in the USA purchased a 4.6is to use in Aspen Colorado where he lives. His also has clocked inter-galactic mileage (170,000 miles). He replaced the timing chain, has spent a vast fortune replacing the control arms, tie rods, bushes, not to mention shocks. Despite the costs to run his (which is an extreme daily driver), he loves it. He has owned a plethora of M-cars prior to the 4.6is - and he loves it!

I had a 1990 South African spec 535is in a very unusual plum type colour and throwing star replica's.. Full body kit and sports interior. It was spec'd incredibly - as a good as a E34 M5. Would have kept it except an opportunity arose to buy my 'first love' - a NZ new M635csi - which I simply could not ignore. I put it on the old 'auto trader' magazine - and it was gone on the first day the magazine sold. Have always wanted to buy an E34 M5 - might buy my friends example in the future. Such a cool car.

The E34 to me is such a pretty car. The design in my mind hasn't dated. A buddy of mine has one in white with body kit and throwing stars - appointed in M-cloth /leather. Stunning motor car.

Hi Scott, sorry to jump belatedly on this thread. The reason I am typing these words is because of the 635csi. My first car love was the BMW 635csi. My best friend's dad was a mega -successful architect - and his salad days were the 1980's. In 1982, had a blue 633csi. That was followed by a UK imported, 1983 635csi in Royal Blue with black recaro seats. I was smitten by that car. I remember that car like it was yesterday. He proceeded to delve into the world of Ferrari's - but I recall in 88 - he bought another 635csi in royal blue for his wife. Such a stunning car!!! My dream was to get one - a dream fulfilled in 1999 when I bought a 1989 635csi Highline - in Burgundy / cream leather - at the time one of the best examples in NZ. This car has been discussed a few times before. I have a register of M635csi's in NZ ( 20 examples in NZ new plus various imports). As for 635csi's I was told in 99 that there were over 100 in NZ. They were popular - despite their $125k price tags when BMW NZ imported them in from around 84/85. Sadly rust has affected many - with many once fabulous UK examples now dead and I have heard of a few NZ new examples been affected too. Sorry - hard to determine accurately how many live today. However, not many 1979 examples with a body kit, adorned in Henna red!

The recaro’s which even some early M635csi’s had has an option. In my opinion, gorgeous seats.

Is the colour Henna red or Zinnober? Sensational colour! I am intrigued by the body kit. I see that the bumper assembly has been dechromed and the front spoiler looks sort of like one from a M635csi, and the rear diffuser kind of looks similar to the optional M-technic skirt available on later cars. Side skirt looks a tad different to the M- technic option. Body colour side mirrors too- once again a M635csi feature. As for the boot spoiler, once again very unique- and despite not being a fan of spoilers sitting on boot lids- probably aesthetically appealing versus the clumsy 1st generation rubber spoiler on 1979 examples.. Externally it’s a far cry from a garden-variety, 1979 635csi. If it was mine, I’d try and get some recaro front seats like you could have ordered till around 85’. Stylish seats that would look far better than the comfort seats here.

Fjord Blau.

The very cool thing is that we had a Kiwi a few years ago embark on a project that converted a track prepared 850csi into a M8 replica. Pretty sure if not documented on Bimmersport, there is information on it online. Looks very similar. Sad the factory 850csi never made financial sense. Would have been a stunning piece of kit!

Mate I have said it before but you take beautiful photos!

Awesome stuff. Serious amounts of ///M power!

So true. Dinan was based here in Northern California, near Silicon Valley until 2013 or so. He sold it to a private equity firm that moved their base to Alabama, and Steve started helping out with a racing team. He has now moved back to Northern California, and has a tuning business called Carbahn that tunes all German Marques. He has a great reputation.

To be honest, I am sure Steve Dinan would have done some testing to ensure that S1 specifications would be beneficial to enhance performance - however only marginal from factory. It seems pretty quick to me - but that is based on driving only 3 different examples of differing ages and mileage. All the work was done at purchase and Dinan provided 4 year warranties. Incidentally, the Dinan badge could only be obtained by a certain minimum number of Dinan upgrades. I can tell you that the Dinan S2 mod's translated to a $35k additional outlay - which elevated output to approximately 470bhp and had a huge increase in torque - without any supercharging but had some fancy Dinan headers. As mentioned previously - the rock star is the 'S3' with 600 bhp - due to supercharging, etc. I have had a few of my BMW friends mock me about the Dinan badge - instructing me to remove it. When I first arrived I myself was a tad cynical about the Dinan brand - didnt thinking it had the cachet of legendary Euro tuners. However, it has chunks of kudos in the USA - but I didnt buy it because of the Dinan badge!

Thanks mate! I am a sad arse enthusiast (like many of us here) who loves to keep his cars in good condition! Saying that, this car is in superb condition cosmetically and mechanically, belying its 20 year old life.

Good question. There was a software tune, free flow exhaust, high flow air intakes, clutch, flywheel, engine brace, and suspension. There are 3 tiers. This was entry level Dinan modifications. Dinan s3 in its day was a $40k outlay - and supercharged out to 600 plus bhp. Apparently they were numbered and there were 30–40 made to that spec. For me personally, my modifications are relatively minor, and can be can be changed back pretty simply. Not sure whether performance is hugely different today. I didn’t buy the car for the Dinan status- I loved the colour, and the condition and price befitted my criteria! ?

Hi all, Here are some recent photos taken of Bluewater during twilight over the Northern Californian winter. Apologies again for the amateurish photos. I however think the colour looked nice... hopefully I will be able to present some nice photos someday.

Seriously awesome.

I recall reading about this on the M5 forum many years ago. Evidently a hard core car guy. His forum username was Apples and I know there was a thread where he ended up revealing that he was indeed Stuart Appleby, pro golfer. One of our Kiwi golf pro's is also a huge car guy with a lovely M power collection.

For whatever reason, NZ never seemed to receive any 3.8 6 speed M5's new (correct me if I am wrong) with the wider kidney grill. What we got was a limited number of 540is's that were badged differently. Some had 540is on the back. Some simply had ///M. There was one that floated around Auckland in the early 2000's that had the plate Blu M5. It had an extremely flamboyant after-market exhaust that ensured you heard it before you saw it. For whatever reason, the body-kit was different to the Aussie 540i LE - but their cars was spec'd slightly differently too. For those of you who were Bimmersporters - 10-15 years ago, there was one genuine Oz spec 540i LE in NZ that happened to be owned by one of our Bimmersporters (was his username Cain???) and he anecdotally lost control of his of his vehicle off an Auckland motorway off-ramp and killed his 540 (he was ok). I remember the parts from his car going into one of Ross Lamb's 'frankenstein' 540i's (I drove that car- alot of fun too). In their day, they were a cool car. They looked like a M5, and performed almost like one. The interior design was lovely and they were (and still are) a fun drive. Ross also owned a mint 540is in Avus blau. Not sure what happened to that car. As discussed previously, a 15,000 km example in hell red popped for sale around 10 years ago - the owner wanting some serious coin. That was stunning - unsure what happened to that one either.

Evidently purchased by a gentleman in Auckland

Brilliant! I remembered it when Ross owned it. Great car!!