ssbmw

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!!

I have driven a few 540is’s over the years and I am a big fan. I owned a 535is too and I think the 540is does everything a bit better. If I had one like this I’d spruce up the suspension and freshen up the gearshift. These look awesome in this colour. Anyone recall the 15,000 km example in Hell red that came up for sale around 10 years ago. Anyone know what happened to that one?

Imola red E39 M5’s are so desirable on a global level. Such a striking looking colour in the flesh. On a personal level, I think the 2 tone optional leather scheme that BMW presented in either Imola red / black, Silverstone /black, and LMB / black can look tired and dated 20 years years later (if neglected). Believe it or not, caramel heritage leather with wood trim is the sought after interior spec in the USA - with any of the desirable exterior hues.

I love the detailing on the steering wheel. Think it is a lovely car. Not sure that the price should be commensurate to the values of premium E39 M5’s as the demand for these is surely not the same (despite the rarity). A few of you may have read my thread on my US spec E39 M5 on the Showroom section. I see that this Alpina has the Amber indicator lenses like US cars - which I subsequently replaced with Euro style Hella’s. Were the amber lenses for the Japanese market? So did the Jap spec E39 540i’s have the same? Curious.

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, a number of E39 M5 owners here have changed to euro clears. Very interesting point regarding the Dinan badge. Believe it or not, I have a history of keeping things to factory spec. My 840ci sport is completely original - everything in that car is like it left the factory in Munich. I was very sceptical about the whole Dinan thing upon arriving in the USA. In my mind the Dinan brand lacked the kudos of European brands such as Alpina, Schnitzer, Hartge, etc. However, the Dinan upgrades are pretty much part of the car's history. It was sold to a gentleman from L.A. in late 2002 - who spent approximately $12k on Dinan S1 upgrades upon purchase. With the mods, it was anecdotally putting out in excess of 15-20 bhp than factory. Dinan is a highly respected brand in the USA, and I have to say, this car goes extremely well. I thought about removing the Dinan badge for the whole stealth thing (in Germany they often de-badge everything - including the ///M logos on the side-trim)- but chose to keep the car how it was sold to the original owner.

Now that the clear lenses are done - I am out of control - adding things to Bimmersport only days after my last note! ! No seriously, I found out recently that much to my chagrin, one of my foglight lenses were broken. Fortuitously, my mechanic is mates with the owner of Umnitza - who runs his business nearby (they sell after-market lights, body-kits, wheels , etc). In a nutshell, Matt the owner is a great guy - and we hit it off by virtue of having many things in common - not to mention he also owned a now -deceased E39 M5 also in Bluewater! Matt recommended I try one of his new LED offerings for the E39. Despite a different tone to the factory Hella headlights, I quite like it.

Hello again. Just a quick update - I recently got some Euro style clear indicator lenses for Bluewater. As mentioned previously - this had me frustrated from the day the car arrived in my drive way. I hadn't noticed it previously, and it really bothered me - heightened by the tone of my car's hue - Bluewater Metallic which clashed with the amber lenses. I have some photos to share. Sadly, I am currently dependent on my iphone for photos - most of the photographic content on this forum puts my output to shame. Especially ADRO - man he sets a high benchmark with his beautiful photography! Hopefully - sooner rather than later I will be able to add some high quality photos of Bluewater on this forum. I take it out most weekends - and it really is one of the highlights of the week. What makes me sad living in the USA is seeing so many of these amazing cars being neglected. I have seen 2 awful examples this week in Carbon Black that clearly had seen better days. Don't think I'd ever see examples like that in NZ.

Beautiful photos and gorgeous car, man.

Looks like a nice original car. If it were me, I'd try and acquire a head unit that they used in later E31's and E36's - really looks good with that console.

Crazy times, those early 90's. The economy was still feeling the effects of the sharemarket crash - and the car industry wilted. Higher- end BMW's suffered. 7 series sales slowed down. The M635csi's anecdotally were being discounted from $190,000 to $130,000 (the cost of standard 635csi's) and the last one left a showroom was a 87' that sold in 1990. The E31 then arrived! The 8 series was marketed heavily as this uber-sophisticated, technologically advanced coupe. Initial sales were OK because of the hype and unique looks - however the 850i's struggled to sell big numbers in the long run. As you say, a few would have shared a showroom with the last of the E30's. The colour I saw most frequently was Calypso red!

Though not as rare as manual 840i's, this is a relatively unique car - BMW only made 98 examples with a 6-speed manual versus around 1,000 in automatic for the 850i (in rhd). Try getting another manual E31 in NZ -especially a 850i - slim pickings. Mauritius blue - nice colour too. Low miles for a car nigh on 30 years old. Shame it doesn't have the M-tech body kit, or have 17" style 5's or throwing stars like the latter E31's. Personally, I see E31 prices all over the place- quite hard to price. The 850i's with inter-galactic travel that have been poorly maintained - are deemed boat anchors by many, and can be a hard to sell at $10k. A nice one on the other hand with solid provenance, history, and reasonable mileage could be a $15-30k car. If this car has the history and has been maintained - I see it from $20-$25k. Once again, on a global perspective, nice 8's are on the rise - not just the 840ci sports and fabled 850csi's. As usual, the NZ market is conservative, and does not necessarily follow international trends. However, this is a rare car and deserves to go to a good home.

There’s also some very special, rare classics sitting in garages down there that keep a very low profile. Case in point, only earlier this year, Max a member here (who was trying to sell the late model E39 M5 in LMB that had a front -end rebuild) accidentally by word of mouth came across a 50,000 km e39 M5 in carbon B that was sitting in a 12 car collection just out of Cch. No one knew about that car at all. (Subsequently sold for a profit and now lives in Auckland).

I agree with the sentiment flowing that the price is kind of ridiculous- almost in line with zany, over-ambitious Oz pricing! However, it is a mega rare example in what appears to be in lovely condition - and in a fantastic colour. There were only a handful of Kiwi-new E34 M5’s in the first place. Sadly one was written off, and a number of (including UK and South African) examples have inter- planetary mileage these days. I personally think this is a $30-$40k car. I know that falls into nice E39 M5 territory (certainly a few more options if you want to buy one of those). However these cars were so rare in the first place - with their engines even hand built! I think this deserves to sit in a nice collection. The values for these (mint examples) are slowly on the rise everywhere around the world.

Yes I know. This bothered me about the US Market cars from the day I started looking for one. With certain colours which are lighter - like Bluewater metallic- the amber is too contrasting. in the flesh, by the way - Silverstone has more of a 'baby blue' feel to the colour, whilst Bluewater metallic is actually more silver / grey.

Yep.. they did. It bothers me - especially with the colour I have. Here's a friend's Silverstone that shows his Euro style headlights with the clear coloured indicators. In my books, it looks cool.

Yep!!!! Well done... those amber indicator lenses bother me... will be getting that done soon. well done Martin! I hear that you are a Mr E39 M5 in Nz. Would love to catch up someday.

No. Good try. If you quickly look at an Euro E39 M5 you’ll get it.

Hello there, it's been awhile since I provided any commentary on the acquisition of Bluewater. I have owned her for nigh on 10 months now, and as one may suspect, my enjoyment of the car never ceases to amaze me . I live in Northern California - in the San Francisco Bay area where there are ample places to enjoy the features of a very practical, tactile M car. As many owners have found, what would you purchase to replace it that provides the power, handling, and charisma of a 6 -speed M powered brute? Possibly a E90 M3? There have been the age-related pro-active maintenance that I have embarked on such as the replacement of various hosing, power steering pump, and thermostat. The next step is the replacement of the suspension components such as control arms / bushes. Being a nice -day -driver only though - will probably get that going later in the year. As mentioned before, the 'Los Angeles' style chrome style 65 wheels will eventually get refurbished. However, there is one thing that bothers me about that I need to sort out too - from an aesthetic view that I really like about the Euro (including the Australasian market) style E39 M5 that the US market never got. Something external- visually obvious. Can anyone work it out?

So possibly 2-3 nz new 3.6 M5’s ( and lots of imports), 3 with 3.8’s, and no doubt the odd import too. However, why so rare? Was this due to the effects of the share market crash in 87?’ I suspect too that BMW weren’t as good with their marketing back then for their M5’s. A lot of people didn’t really know what a M5 entailed. A far cry from the success Bmw had with subsequent versions of the M5.

To be fair, not sure the 18” wheels look right. A nice set of staggered 17” style 5’s would add to the look!

Wow very cool. So how bad was the damage when the car was in the accident? A pre-face lift then? The titanium trim with the Imola / black leather looks grouse

No dogleg - they appeared on the early left hand drive examples possibly