Kees

If you look at Michael Grant Motors on street view you can see a few cars that seem to consistently be on the yard over the years. It's absolutely bizarre. Most of the other cars on the yard seem to be somewhat reasonably priced (as far as cheap car yards go) so its strange the same logic never applied to the BMWs. I'm not an accountant but could the overpriced BMWs that have sat for years that are supposedly worth 15K be a smoke screen for some creative tax returns or something? Just the space they have taken up from the many years they have been for sale would far exceed their actual value, especially when coupled with the amount of maintenance they would need from 12+ years of sitting in the sun. Probably just worth scrap value at this point. This E39 Touring looks to be an example: 2009: 2015: 2021:

It's not that we are psychopathic, we are just better than all the peasants who couldn't afford their own Ultimate Driving Machine... Let's just ignore the fact a bunch of us probably won't be able to buy a house because we sink so much money into our former ultimate driving machines... not psychopathic at all 😅

Saw this E28 today at the Northcross lights.

Excellent spot! Will add it to the list.

My wealthy older neighbour has german plates on his X5M and TTRS and he's never been pulled up about it. That said, seeing as I'm young and get the "random license checks" rather frequently they might try get me for it. Although I like the look of the plates so I sort of want to get them and then if they ever hassle me about it I'll just try talk my way out of it.

Yeah fair enough with going for the THE325 combination, spending $999+ is a bit ridiculous when all the good plate combos are gone in general given the vast quantity of personalised plates that have been issued over the years. Oh right I should probably order some frame holders too when I get my euro plate. Not sure if it would bolt straight onto the E34, although seeing as its NZ New it has the wider license plate surround at the front so it might just go straight on which would be good. I might just "lose" my original government issue plates in the garage because it would be a shame to surrender them. They are so old that when I drive the car at night, according to my mates, the rear plate is incredibly challenging to see and read, which has its bonuses lol.

@E28E30 Thanks for the info, I think I'll end up going for euro plates in the style of the one on your car just with the original "SO9785" combination. The other reason I can't get rid of the plate combination is that my car has a sister car with the plate "SO9857". Both are 540s and have a difference in VIN of 70 units so would have been close to side by side on the production line. Pretty insane coincidence. The owner has his combination on euro plates which looks good. The personalised euro plate on your car looks really nice btw! Much better than the MBP520 government issue plate! I have the combination "DOENUT" but it isn't on any car because I keep getting cars with original plates so would never put it on. I'm slightly obsessive about original plates, whenever someone has a car on original plates, especially one thats like 20+ years old and then they change it I cringe so hard. Unless a car I want wasn't offered new in NZ, I'll always try find one with original plates!

Definitely wouldn't want to lose the original combination. One of the reasons I bought the car was its original 1994 combination as I'm quite OCD about original plates for some reason. Both my cars have original plates lol. If you get a euro plate do you have to surrender the old plates even though its the same combination?

Thanks! Yeah the throwing stars make a huge difference. Car drives so much better than when it had the sofa wheels as you can get far more modern tyres on it. The 15 inch BBS look alright they are just way too small for such a big car imo.

Yup they are on the list, I was thinking euro plates would look quite good plus the front one can help cover some rock chips which is a bonus

Thanks! 😁

Since I got my car exactly a year ago, I thought I would give it a decent wash and then attempt to go take some half decent pictures of it with my DSLR. Here are some of the photos I got with the freshly cleaned car:

I've had my E34 540i exactly one year. Thought I would put a few photos up showing the before and after on the car and how it's changed over the last 365 days. At some point I might make a proper thread for the car detailing everything I've done, I'm the iPad generation so Forums were a bit of foreign territory for me so I've got a messy collection of discussions instead of one big one. Anyway here is the before and after from the day I picked it up (17/11/20) to today (17/11/21), Before: After: Before: After:

Personally I think its a very unique car for $38K that is well worth the money. I don't think you would ever, ever find a manual V12 for less than that, unless its the carcass of a burnt out 550M or something lol. Even if you just consider the parts value of the CSi engine, manual box, suspension, ACS body kit and wheels, its a good deal. Would personally take it over a manual e36 M3 any day of the week given how epic it looks, and I bet it would turn many more heads at a car show. Its only down side in my eyes is that it is LHD which would probably be a bit annoying, but like at the end of the day a manual V12 is generally a winning combination. You could probably get a ratty SMG E46 M3 for a little more but once again...., manual V12! Just my 2 cents worth though.

Just spotted this on marketplace. 6 Speed manual 2011 BMW 535i. UK Import that came into NZ in late 2012. Interesting car but $37.5K seems very steep, especially since its almost F10 M5 money.

Finally got round to sorting out the scrape on the bumper air-duct on my E34 540i. Gave it a quick sand with 150 grit paper, then 280 grit and then 400 grit. I then used some gloss black pasti-dip that I had lying around and it honestly came out way better than I expected. Here is a before and after. Before: During: After:

Yesterday I installed my freshly painted sunroof panel into my E34. When I got the car about a year ago the original sunroof panel was badly rusted so I promptly tried to find a replacement one in good rust free condition (which was actually a bit of a challenge). The previous owners had roof racks on the car which they would use to haul around kayaks and paddle boards. I suspect the salt water dripped down around the sunroof and would get absorbed by the seal and rusted it out. HellBM had a really tidy panel with no rust and good seals. Only catch was it was silver. I bought it and put it in the car, it kept the water out well which I was pleased about. I had always planned to get it painted but I just kept putting it off. The silver looked out of place but on tilt was passable since the wheels on the car are silver too and the car just looked a bit scruffy all round. But after I polished up the car it really started to annoy me so finally I got it painted. Was painted at Shields in Browns Bay on the shore. Was $216 including gst which I think is a very fair price, most other quotes I had were north of $300 excluding gst. I masked the seals off for them and gave them the silver panel and the badly rusted original panel to colour match it with. 36 hours later it was completed. Makes the car look a lot tidier in my opinion. I've included a photo of the car when it had the silver top to show the difference. Before: After:

https://www.turners.co.nz/Damaged-Vehicles/Damaged-Cars-for-Sale/volkswagen/t6/20443183 Came across this, I believe this is the van that got hit. Damage really goes to show how huge the impact must have been.

Yeah I did think maybe they were trying to find where the reserve was, its just quite a jump from 15K to 25K that makes it look a bit suss. Surely you would go up in $500 or $1K increments to find the reserve... I guess maybe the 25K bid was a mistake and that is why it has been removed. Will be interesting to see if that bidder ends up winning the car.

Looks to be some shill bidding on the auto E24, which has magically jumped to a $25K bid from a 0 rated account.....

If you have 10 daily drives, how many weekend cars you got? 😂

Wonder what the reserve will be on the CSI. This one was for sale a few years back. Also the guy in the trademe questions who thinks a CSI is worth 10-12K wins the clown of the month award. Total fool.

Not sure if this has already been posted already but there is a trio of E31s for sale in New Plymouth. All are auctions so will be interesting to see what they sell for. The cars: - 95' 850csi with an ACS kit, RHD. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/other/listing/3325771764?bof=WUxN4CXo - 91' 850i with csi running gear installed, LHD with an ACS kit. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/other/listing/3325817894?bof=WUxN4CXo - 98' 840i Individual in Lila Metallic. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/other/listing/3325799712?bof=WUxN4CXo Quite the collection! All look to be in good condition and are close to one of a kind spec-wise, especially in NZ. Photos taken from the trademe listings.

Apparently it’s sold pending payment. Did you manage to get it?

I wanted that 540iS too. That deal still hurts lol