Yesterday I flew up to San Jose to pick up my new ride. For the past couple of months I've been in search of an older BMW, most notably an E28. Throughout my search across the net a few really nice ones slipped through my fingers, which made me very frustrated. Sure I could have gone for a beat up, worn out E28, but I knew patience is a virtue and timing is everything. Sure enough, last monday this E28 popped up on Autotrader, it was way to clean to pass up, so I emailed the owner, made arrangements and everything fell into place perfectly. Now I have a really nice E28 that I will enjoy for many years to come.

The car is a Silver 1986 535i with an unbelievable 122,552 original miles.The man I bought it from was the third owner when he bought it in 1994. He meticulously maintained this car. All of the maintenance and mods were done by Dinan up in Mountain View, Ca, he took it there this past Wed. to have them do a final check on it and they said this car has many many years left on it and that it runs like new. Last year Dinan replaced all of the A/C components and replaced the radiator and thermostat, no overheating problems for the car or me . All of the mechanics work perfect in this car, from the sunroof to the power seats, ever thing performs flawlessly. Bilstein shocks and Eibach lowering springs with a rear sway bar were installed to beef up the suspension. It sports some Borbet wheels and brand new Yokohama 205/55/16 tires (by brand new I mean the owner had Dinan put brand new tires on when he took it to them last wed., awesome!). Performance wise it has a B&B cat back exhaust with a Dinan performance chip to kick up the hp. Exterior has an IS front airdam with Hella foglights, plus it sports an IS rear trunk spoiler to add some style. It's a silver color and the paint is in pretty good condition but will need some love; nothing a good claybar/wax job won't fix. The interior is in good condition for a 25 year old car, plus it came with some sweet VDO gauges to boot. That's it, this is my new car and I'm really excited to have found one in great condition and the price was....well..let's just say I should be in jail for such a steal .

Here are some pics:

 

she is a beauty!

congrats!

 

Wow, looks super clean. Congrats!

I love older high-end cars that have been very well maintained.

 

nice looking car. whats the history beind these? why so excited over an old bimmer?

/idiot

 

Thank you!

Thanks!

Me too and this one has been maintained very well.

Personally I have always loved older German cars. When I was 5 years old my Dad bought a brand new 85 Carrera which was amazing to me, plus in 88 he bought a 328 that I loved riding around in too. But its odd, I've never owned a German car until now; probably because I've been into Japanese imports since I was 13 . I wanted a little project fun car that was a little more unique with older styling and the E28 has that for me.

 

Nice! Love the old bimmers. My dad had an white E28 back in the day. Id love to own an E30.

Not sure if you mentioned, but is it manual?

 

Thanks!

I forgot to mention that, yes it is a 5 speed manual.

 

Nice, my family and friends are really into German cars. Something about Japanese cars that just clings to me and I just cannot let go.

 

Great find.

Guessing the car was repainted at one point? Front half doesnt seem to match the rear half...

A buddy has a E28 M5 with bbs wheels... damn i love them. Then again my love for the E24 is much stronger.

 

Congrats dude

I like older German cars too.... no, forget that, I like all cars. But pertaining to older German cars I wanted to pick up a W140 S-Class coupe..... but only heard horror stories about them There's just a certain thing about BMWs new and old. They're like Hondas, not particularly fast but they just feel very balanced and satisfying to drive. And those old big body Benzes feel like land yachts.

 

5 speed 535, very nice. My mom had a e12 and a e28 (one of the cars that I learned to drive on). I keep thinking some day I'll be in one again.

 

Thanks!
I still love the Japanese imports, I just didn't want one as a little project car.
I think this was the find of the century , well to me it is anyway.

Yea, the driver side front fender is a little darker than the rest of the car so I'm assuming it was damaged in the past. I really wanted a black one so this may be some justification into repainting the whole car, but we'll see.

Yea I've already been scouring the net for a nice set of bbs', Stanceworks.com always has people getting rid of Style 5's, so I'll probably scoop up on some there now that I have my car. Here's my inspiration, the infamous Jules/Rusty car (RIP).


Thanks!
Older Bimmers are like tanks, I've come across some guys who E28's have 300,000+ miles on the motor . Why does it seem that the newer German cars are so unreliable? Guess all the old engineers must have died.

Yea I did not want an automatic, no thanks!
There very inexpensive, but just make sure to get one that was well maintained. Plus, having patience and not jumping on the first one that comes around is key to finding a good, reliable vehicle.

 

Madcaps, I had a white (with red leather interior) 535i myself-beautiful body style. I put front and rear spoilers on it (painted the same color as the car). I think it was the best looking body style ever.

 

Yet another addition to BMWZine....

What a find! Congratulations on finding an older car in such good shape. These were certainly the shiznit when they were new. 1986 was my frosh college year, so I remember them fondly....

 

Congrats!

 

Holy beautiful.

 

I almost bought a white one (it's probably still on Autotrader.com) but I really was holding out for a black one. But like I said, this car was in way too good condition to pass up, so I sacrificed color to have a machine that performs well and the price was also unbelievable.

I love this body style, it looks like it's going fast without moving.

Thanks! Yea I feel really lucky to have found one in this condition, it was destiny for me to have this car .
Thank you!

Thanks! I everytime I see her.


On a side note, a member on mye28.com told me the color is called Bronzitbeige-Metallic, that's a mouthful!

 

I drive by a local tow yard that has one of these for sale. I think I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow.

 

Congrats man!

What do you have in store for it? I personally don't think it needs much

 

I am so jealous of you it's not even funny anymore.

I've started to take a liking to old cars, and this is the kind of thing that I'm now into. Cars from the threshold of modernness that still have plenty of character. You're going to be having a ton of fun with that car.

 

Sweet ride

 

Do it!! These cars are sweet!
Thanks!

What do I have in store for it? Uhh...stuff N things .
Ahh.. don't be jealous and just go get one yourself , we can be the first to start an Acurazine E28 crew .
I know I'm going to have great fun in this car for many years to come.
Thanks!

 

great looking car. It's amazing what luxury used to look like.

 

This car is freaking awesome.

^I've had 3 e30's and loved them...never kept them long enough but eventually I'll get one that I'll keep.
There she was

 

Thanks!!

Very nice!!

 

How is the interior? I've got an 87 e24 in the driveway and the dash seems to shrink daily.

 

oh em g'z

 

Very nice.... Good to see some of the old cars being picked up.

 

Very sweet. Congrats on the purchase!

 

Very nice, those things were the absolute shiznicks back in the day and they are still a great steer 25 years on.

You really did get a good one too from the sound of it, I mean regular service at Dinan? Seriously? That can't be cheap and shows serious devotion.

I say repaint in original color, keep it true to its origins. A color change would devalue it.

Well done!

 

Leather dash?

 

^ - Yes

 

Nice find. Great looking car!



Terry

 

What drew you to the E28 over other older cars?

BTW... nice job taking a pic at 85 mph haha

 

Nice find...my Dad had pretty much that exact car (even the color) back in the day and I've been fond of BMWs since. My favorite was the E24 (6-series). The 1986 635CSi was ridiculously awesome...



And I probably would give my right nut for an M6...

 

The interior is in pretty good condition, no tears or anything, the leather has some scratch looking marks on the seats, but that's normal, other than that it's flawless. The dash is near perfect, actually I think it is perfect.



Thanks!

Thank you much!
Thanks!

Yea, I feel pretty lucky to have found one that was this well taken care of. The guy took it to Dinan two days before I picked it up to have a final inspection done plus he had them put all new tires on, who does that!?! Great guy and I feel fortunate that he sold it to me.

I was considering repainting the whole car, but the bronzitbeige-metallic is really growing on me, maybe because I don't see any other cars that color :shrug.


Timing and patience got me this car . Thanks!

I've been following your project and I can't wait to see the final product. A definite inspiration of how with a little time and patience (and money) you can take something old and turn into something new, better than new! When I was buying this car I thought about your thread and how you said when you're buying an older car that someone has owned for many years, you're not only buying a vehicle but a piece of the previous owners memories and experiences that they had with the car (something along those lines). As I was driving away, I could tell this car meant a lot to him in the sixteen years that he owned it. The first thing I did when I got home was email him thanking him for allowing me to buy this beautiful car and that I have some pretty big shoes to fill in caring for it. But I assured him that I'm up to the challenge and the car is in good hands. Having this mindset makes the car buying process much more intimate and rewarding, that's how I felt anyway.

I was considering a 64-67 El Camino () as a project car and even maybe an E30. But with my price range the El Co would have been too big a project and headache to deal with as of now. And the E30's seem to be more prevalent than E28's and I wanted something I rarely see, plus I wanted a German Sedan and Mercedes wasn't an option . There is something about the older Bimmers that I have always loved as a kid, but just never owned one until now.

It was on the 5fwy in the middle of nowhere while using the cruise control, no traffic, no problem.

I did consider an E24, but as I stated I wanted a Sedan. Great looking car though!

 

Just thought I'd restate that you got an awesome car

BTW have you considered getting OEM BMW mesh wheels? The wheels on it now look great, don't get me wrong, but I think original BMW wheels would flow with the classic style of the car better.

Oh, and centre-mounted exhausts FTW

 

 

I have a black one, interior needs some work (I'm lazy) but otherwise runs strong. You serious?

 

No, I'm quite content with keeping both of my testacles

I was just saying that I've been over that car since the 80s...fix yers up man, it's a classic!