Kees

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

Yeah I was thinking the same thing 😂

I agree that it will get snapped up quickly. Apart from being auto, probably one of the nicest spec'd ones around in decent original condition. Looks very good!

Just saw this pop up for sale on trademe. Not a fan of the e39 wheels and its auto, but otherwise it looks quite nice. Wonder what it will go for, barely ever see these for sale anymore. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/bmw/other/listing/3325329675?bof=NRwtLMve

Your comparison perfectly illustrates why I cannot fathom the e30 market. While people seem to froth over that e30 (I can appreciate the build but it is far from my taste) and e30s in general, I do not understand how someone could justify spending so much more when tidy e34s languish sub 10K (for a manual 535i or a low km auto 540i) and even sub 5K (for a manual 520i or a very tidy auto 525i). A clean 320i Auto for 8K will be snatched up in a couple hours while a clean auto 525i will struggle to find a home at 4K. I definitely think its a case of E34s being undervalued rather than e30s being overvalued though. E34s are the BMW everyone seems to like but no one seems to want. A 70K price difference is just ridiculous considering the 540i probably drives nicer since it was setup with a V8 from the factory and has proper adjustable suspension rather than air suspension.

@Michael. Oh dam there's still quite a few left to go then lol

Yup it is but good spotting! 94 cars on the list so far, I wonder how many are left that aren't on there. Can't be too many now

I've watched the E34 market quite closely especially since I was making an NZ E34 540i registry. Two wof and reg examples that sold in the last few months were: An alpine white car with 400,000km on it, interior was very worn as a result of what I can only guess were dogs climbing over the seats. Exterior was in reasonable condition given the mileage. Was listed for 3K ONO on trademe and sold quite quickly. Saw it on the shore recently. The second was a silver one with around 260,000km (was in the 200s but can't remember exactly). Was originally Diamond black but had been resprayed. Interior was below average and respray was far from a professional job, but much like the other car, it had good bones. It was $1 reserve and sold for $3070. I bought mine for $2.5K in November 2020 with 367,000km with wof and reg, but have spent thousands making it nice again lol. And that's honestly why I do not understand the E34 market, particularly with 540s. Although I've formed a bit of a bond with my car now, if I was going to rewind time I would have spent the extra and got a nicer one for 6-8K because it is expensive to get them back to spec if you are a bit OCD about having a tidy car. The one on trademe for 8K, while it isn't to my taste with the brown interior and gold wheels, the paint looks mint and someone has clearly spent a decent amount on the certified adjustable suspension. Considering what 540s offer (and E34s in general) I really do not understand their low values relative to what they offer compared with the values of E30s. People would jump at a tidy automatic 318i for 8K but there seems to be little interest in that 540 for sale at the moment. The M60 B40 is one of the most reliable V8s BMW ever made, and offer decent power especially for an early 90s car. E34s have that classic classy BMW look that everyone seems to appreciate, regardless of whether they are a car enthusiast or not, and still feel like a modern car to drive. 5 Speed automatic is a very nice gearbox relative to it being 30 years old, and it does suit the cruiser nature of a 540. And since 540s were at the top of the tree, they have enough technology to make them easily daily driveable (if you can afford the fuel lol). Plus 540s are pretty rare, when I was making my registry I found that many had cancelled registrations, or on-hold registrations. Like if you think about it objectively, what other fast, classic V8 European car can you get for 3-8K. They are extremely good value in my eyes and are absolutely under-rated. But anyway, hope you find this helpful.

Just saw this come up in my Facebook feed, E46 M3 crashed in West Auckland this morning. Hopefully the driver is ok.

Typical NZ post. I ordered new bumper inserts for my E34, they come all the way from Latvia only for NZ Post to deliver the package to the wrong address. Spent 4+ hours on the phone with them, and in the end used my own common sense to figure out what other locations they could have delivered my package to and managed to retrieve it myself. Still haven't heard anything from their end. Completely useless. Would be nice if they compensate me for the package considering how long I've spent on the phone on hold.

I can back up the recommendation on the Turtle Tax Ceramic Black Polish. Had always been a Meguiar's person for car polishers but I gave the Turtle Wax product a try and it worked really well on my 540i. I find Meguiar's polish leaves a lot of polish dust which is really annoying if you are polishing an entire vehicle. I had a particularly nasty scratch on my passenger rear door which the polish has darkened to the point where it is virtually un-noticeable unless it is pointed out. I also coated my car with three layers of the Turtle Wax Ceramic Black hybrid wax. Haven't washed my car since its polish but when I do I will use the black car wash product (although I'm not sure how useful it will be given the car has been fully polished and coated). Before: After:

Saw an Estoril Blue 330ci Clubsport on Spur Road today. Can't be many of those around! Also saw an E46 M3 convertible wearing its hard top on East-Coast Road. Really need to invest in a dash cam so I can capture a photo of these rare beasts out in the wild!

Looks absolutely superb!

Spotted this tasty M-Tech E30 Coupe on the shore today.

Agree

Interesting, I certainly think he will make some money on it, I reckon he can get high 6s for it. Seeing as there aren't many factory manual 330s around I think it would be a shame to rip that one apart as its probably one of the tidier sedans left. Would be a great base for a good glow up with some m-sport bumpers etc. I can imagine comprehensive insurance would be ridiculous on that car, but third party, fire, theft and glass cover probably wouldn't be too bad. The insurance on my 540i is pretty affordable for me, although I wouldn't be surprised if insurance companies have fine-tuned their quote process since I got mine. I remember being able to obtain an instant AMI Young Drivers quote on my 540 as well as some older AMGs (was something I used to do when I was bored), however now if I fill out all the details they want me to call them "for additional information".