M5 Prices

[1st 5er]

... I can't stop driving mine...

... like ya stole it.

[88 M5]

[quote="M5BB"
Did Eric's black/black car in Colorado Springs ever sell?
I know it didn't meet reserve on BAT.[/quote]


I think he struck a deal with the high bidder after the auction closed.

[tschultz]

Both M5's e_schauble and s14's cars sold around $35-40 earlier this year. Both were listed on BAT.


Either way i know mine isn't worth that much, but if I sold mine it's getting increasingly difficult to get back in one...

[SDKeith]

Hi All: I'm new here and am the buyer of the e28 M5 on BAT a couple weeks ago (the $26,750 one, not the $53k one). I picked up the car in Baltimore this week and drove it to a shipping depot to have it trucked to the West Coast. For everyone's reference, the car was poorly presented relative to its condition and I think I got a relatively good deal. Minor rust bubbling on the front of the rockers, but the seller had a compression test and the motor appears healthy (we'll see when the car gets to La Jolla Independent in a couple weeks). Frankly, if the seller had the car detailed inside and managed the auction better I think it would have gone for more. Regardless, I'm excited to finally have one of these!

For additional reference, I looked at the $53k example when it was for sale (locally to me) at Symbolic motors for $80k prior to the auction. It was lovely looking, but I was offended by the $80k ask. It appeared more "refreshed" than "restored".

[GreekTennis]

Hi, I bought the one in August from San Francisco for $30,000 on BaT. I sent it to EAG sight unseen to be "rejuved". Got it back last week and was very happy with the work. I did do about $10,000 plus of work, so Im in $40,000 now, but for a 117k car and mechanically strong. I'm happy. Maintained, these last over 400,000 miles, so the car will outlive me most likely.

Good luck with your car, I followed that auction. Seemed like a good deal.

[SDKeith]

Hi, I bought the one in August from San Francisco for $30,000 on BaT. I sent it to EAG sight unseen to be "rejuved". Got it back last week and was very happy with the work. I did do about $10,000 plus of work, so Im in $40,000 now, but for a 117k car and mechanically strong. I'm happy. Maintained, these last over 400,000 miles, so the car will outlive me most likely.

Good luck with your car, I followed that auction. Seemed like a good deal.

Great to hear you were happy with EAG's work. May I ask the degree of effort/parts you got for your $10k? I'm currently budgeting out what I think mine needs. La Jolla Independent is local to me and has a great reputation, but the car hasn't left the East Coast yet and have debated calling Eric at EAG and re-routing it.

[Matt]

Remember when you could buy E28 M5s and E34 M5s for $7k all day long?

I should have jumped on some of the E34s. I missed the boat.

I need a black E34 M5 with shadowline and gray/silver rockers, and there are precious few on offer these days, and they are all $30k

E60s are probably at their low point - I am starting to see them in the high teens. E39s have hit their low point and are rebounding.

If I were a collector, I'd already have an E39, and I'd be looking at E60s right now.

[Karl Grau]

Great to hear you were happy with EAG's work. May I ask the degree of effort/parts you got for your $10k? I'm currently budgeting out what I think mine needs. La Jolla Independent is local to me and has a great reputation, but the car hasn't left the East Coast yet and have debated calling Eric at EAG and re-routing it.

I personally would take the local shop. Trying to monitor the work and make decisions from that far away isn't something I would want to do.



La Jolla Independent, the early years.

[funfunfer]

Nice Plymouth GTX parked on the street.

[SDKeith]

That's a good thought, Karl (also great pic of the dealership that is now L.J.I.). I've decided the car's going to stop at EAG on its way to the West Coast for at least the initial portion of its sorting. L.J.I. has unfortunately lost its internal major body shop capability (sadly, the gentleman passed this year) and the car has some rust issues that need immediate attending to. EAG has everything in-house, except upholstery. I don't have the time right now to deal with shuttling the car to different service providers (especially if it's non-op mid-resto). You'll see me asking noob questions elsewhere on these forums shortly!

[Karl Grau]

L.J.I. has unfortunately lost its internal major body shop capability (sadly, the gentleman passed this year)

Do you mean Robbie? Holy crap, he wasn't that old...

[mottati]

For additional reference, I looked at the $53k example when it was for sale (locally to me) at Symbolic motors for $80k prior to the auction. It was lovely looking, but I was offended by the $80k ask. It appeared more "refreshed" than "restored".

I owned that car a couple years ago. it 'was' a pretty clean original paint car. Euro bumper conversion. I did the euro lights, a top end engine overhaul (which started to address some oil leaks at the head/block/timing chase, and escalated), and went thru the suspension. I was a bit disappointed that the buyer stripped and repainted it, and added the m tech kit, but hey it wasn't mine anymore. The interior was pretty rough when i had it, other than a new dash installed by a prior owner to me.

I was curious how good the paint could have been for a $5800 job.

[SDKeith]

L.J.I. has unfortunately lost its internal major body shop capability (sadly, the gentleman passed this year)

Do you mean Robbie? Holy crap, he wasn't that old...

Not sure if it was Robbie. I'm new to working with LJI, but they told me their main body guy passed and that serious work would likely need to go elsewhere. They did offer to guide/coordinate. If the motor needs more than top-end work it will definitely go to them as EAG said they've had bad experiences with bottom-end overhauls and prefer to swap in used/low-mile short-blocks.

[GreekTennis]

That price included new wheels and tires, new airbox, taking out dents, major detail inside and out, new brakes, rotors, etc, etc. I wanted it to be as perfect as possible without a repaint. You can ask them, I'm sure they can tell you. They know these cars inside and out, so I rely on their experience and expertise.

[GreekTennis]

Maybe Korman for the engine rebuild. See Youtube "most beautiful M5"

[SDKeith]

Thanks, unfortunately I've found the car has major undisclosed issues. I've started a new thread asking for advice.

[june82000]

Hello All. I’ve had an ‘88 535is for 2 or 3 years now but happened upon someone with an M5 willing to part with it and was only a few miles away. I had never spoken the guy ever; he contacted me about some parts from a 528e I was parting out. Long story short, $3k and a ‘97 Boxster later the car is mine. A wee bit rough on the inside, a little corrosion that I will be dealing with and the car is generally neglected but runs and drives. Besides the exhaust system in very bad shape, it sounds ok. Did find a sticker inside for an independent service center so I might give them a call for some history down the road. First thing I do need is some exhaust if anyone can help me out. Stock used is all I need. Cheers!

[Burnze]

I just bought this junker for 16K.

Bad: Heavy sun damage because it was parked for years. I don't have records from 2008 to present, so I'm assuming it needs everything.
Good: No rust. 109K.

[TribecaNYcar]

Just saw an E28 M5 posted for sale on Craigslist for $35,000

Has 150,000 miles
Looks very clean

https://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/cto/ ... 97698.html

[88 M5]

This over 270k mile clean example just sold for 26k on BAT. Looks like a well-maintained car.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1988-bmw-m5-46/

[88 M5]

My 133k mile example did not meet reserve at 21k high bid, with a reserve of 25k. I don't see this as a downturn in value but rather an abhorrence to rust by BaT bidders, my license plate lights are toast. I'll get that cut out and replaced then drive it like I stole it for a few more years.

[hodgepodge]

Hi All,

I now have 2 E28 M5s and am happy to share.

I love what a small world it is. I bid against several folks in this thread on BAT for various M5s. Got winning bid on one (88 M5's car, I think), but it was RNM (Hard to bid against myself....). My goal was to get 2 M5s (one to rebuild and the other as reference and to drive). I'm happy to say I was able to do this and now have 2 E28 M5s. Both were once BAT cars so you can take a look at them there if you want. I call them the twins as I also have an E39 M5, as well as several other BMWs and a bunch of other cars, so it can get pretty confusing. Anyway, here's the scoop. When I buy a "classic" car to restore, I plan to spend at least $10k on it and usually more like $15k, sometimes more, depending on the car. When the restoration is done, I like to keep the reference car but that depends on the cars, the market, and what I want to restore next. I just enjoy restoring cars and would rather drive and have fun with my investments than have to log into Fidelity to see them on a screen. I am not a dealer. I do not do this to make ton's of money, but I try to do it so I don't lose money. The trick, or more accurately the risk, is in picking the right car(s). And I always try to set realistic expectations when buying and when selling a car.

For the M5s, the first one I bought was the 7/30/18 BAT car that did not make reserve. I'll call this the bottom-up car as most items under the car had been done. This car is nearly rust free, has original sheet metal except for the hood, has new seats, has the original hydraulic rear suspension and has all new bushings, bearings and suspension components. It also has a lot of records. But it needs a lot. It needs carpet and some interior/exterior trim, some door/trunk/window gaskets, it needs a replacement dash, it is missing ALL of the M5 specific NLA trunk panels (fortunately, having another car makes it easier to fabricate NLA parts...), and it needs a full paint respray. The non-OEM radio faceplate is missing but that doesn't matter because the amp and speakers are not hooked up. The original wheels have a peeling issue and will need to be refinished, but at least they are true. (I have an extra set of BBS RS 090 wheels that I might leave on the car...) A/C is said to be R134a, but it doesn't work and I'm going to have to open it up anyway, so it will be R134a and very cold when I'm done. The exhaust is a frankenstien of parts, some of which say TOYOTA! The car runs well, shifts well and drives like it is on rails, but a compression/leakdown test after I purchased it shows one marginal cylinder so the engine will require at least a valve job. For me, that probably translates into new rings, seats, guides, bearings and seals, or a complete rebuild, top and bottom. That's OK, though because at 224k miles, a rebuild is due. There are many other small things wrong with the car (seat switches, mirrors, a fusebox wiring issue) but most are easy for me to fix. The RNM price was $16k. I paid about $19k for it. I will have a lot of sweat equity in the car, plus at least another $20k by the time I'm done with it. But it will be almost as new. I had the car inspected before I bought it, of course, but they can't see everything. Fortunately, I got exactly what I paid for and pretty much what I expected.

I may have been much luckier on the 2nd (reference) car but I won't know for sure until later this week. I reached out on this BB with a WTB and got a couple of responses. One car was listed on BAT back in 2015 and was actually the first E28 M5 BAT ever listed. I had the car inspected. The images and report came back pretty much identical to the BAT auction detail from 2015 and the car only had a few thousand more miles on it since then. It looked really, really good as that BAT seller had done a top-down refresh on the car. Paint, interior and engine compartment are excellent. Mostly original sheet metal (I think one fender might be a replacement), zero rust. All gooahjez and switches work including the sunroof. BBS RS 090 wheels with nearly new (but 2014 date code) tires. All very good. But the car has no air (is still R12) and an E36 radio that is hooked up but doesn't work. I'll be running a compression/leakdown test tomorrow. There is a small "bounce" in the drivetrain, which could be a guibo, mounts or something else, and I hear a slight whine when driving it that I think might be wheel bearings. The exhaust is original but there is a heat shield rattle at about 1100 RPM. There is a small shake in the engine at idle, which to me means there may be a valve seat issue or an injector or two, but I will know for sure tomorrow. (A perfectly running, fuel injected BMW 6 should have zero shake.) This car also has roughly 225k miles, so a valve job would be due anyway if it hasn't been done recently. I do not yet have all the maintenance history paperwork on this car as I just took delivery of it on Thursday. I paid roughly $25k ($10k more than the 2015 BAT price, but it sold once since then) for this car and it was worth every penny. I'm prepared to put some sweat equity and another $10-15k into it to make it pretty much perfect.

So there you have it. Two cars, two prices and a nearly complete rundown of the issues those cars have. Somebody else said a sub $20k M5 is a project M5. I'll adjust that to say that will get you a running project M5. I'll also say that one way or another, $40k-50k is a reasonable number to spend on a very nice E28 M5 if you are starting today. You either spend that gradually as you restore the car yourself, or you spend it all up front, trusting that the critical work to restore the car was actually and correctly done. Depends a lot on how handy you are and how patient you are. In general, if you see rust or any hint of rust (even if you can weld), at least pause, but probably run. Most other things can be addressed and, even if the parts are NLA, can probably still be resolved. The single greatest thing about BMW, besides the cars, is the community and everyone's willingness to help. I've owned a lot of other brands of cars, but no group can keep a car on the road like the BMW owners group can.

Take care,

Scott

[fred633]

Was $4,600 a good deal for a 1988 BMW M5 from a tow yard in Kansas City? The VIN is WBSDC9308J2791417 if anybody knows anything about it. Also found online the name Barbara Zmiewski if that helps any.

[tschultz]

Can't really go wrong for that price, but that exhaust pipe sure sure raises some questions.

[wkohler]

Gee, I don’t know. Was it?