E12 M535i

Author
Discussion

RicksAlfas

13,355 posts

243 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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Great looking car. Glad you've done the number plates. Not sure about the steering wheel!

Alfred Pina

183 posts

74 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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RicksAlfas said:
Great looking car. Glad you've done the number plates. Not sure about the steering wheel!
The M1 steering wheel is much better, but the Nardi wheel was a birthday present from when I owned a 2002 about 8 years ago. So I wanted to show willing driving
As mentioned, it's a joy to hold / use - it just stands out a bit rolleyes

Jhonno

5,762 posts

140 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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Love it! Huge fan of the E12!

scottos

1,139 posts

123 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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That looks awesome! Been for any spirited drives out in it on some twisities? I always imagine these older things to still be pretty good in relatively standard form!

Alfred Pina

183 posts

74 months

Wednesday 31st August 2022
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scottos said:
That looks awesome! Been for any spirited drives out in it on some twisities? I always imagine these older things to still be pretty good in relatively standard form!
Of course. The handling isn’t the best, though. Needs to be stiffened up a lot to get the best out of it. I have been looking for thicker ARBs and coilovers but there is hardly anything available for the e12.


Kawasicki

13,041 posts

234 months

Thursday 1st September 2022
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Lovely car.

Leins

9,422 posts

147 months

Thursday 1st September 2022
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Fantastic car, I love these

Alfred Pina

183 posts

74 months

Friday 2nd September 2022
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Sometimes when you own this type of car it’s easy to forget how special they are. I took it on a family holiday last weekend and that’s when I noticed how much love there is for a pretty, old BMW. Many mistake it for an e28 or call it an M5, but appreciation is given by all.

Alfred Pina

183 posts

74 months

Monday 5th September 2022
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This update should have been part of the previous one, but I got bored with pistonheads' archaic ways of uploading photos.

The final pieces of faffing with trim was in the boot, where I had some plastics missing



And making one good front grill from 2 bad ones. One had dented chrome, but the other had broken clips


One of the things I always like to do when buying a new car is a fresh service, just so I know what grade of oil is in there and I can drive it confidently knowing I am not doing any damage. I actually left this a bit longer than normal, having already covered circa 200 miles in it.

It turns out, the oil filter housing on the M30 is a PITA to get sealed up correctly. It has a bolt-through design that allows you to easily seat the housing slightly off-flat, which then allows oil to gush out when you turn it on.

Luckily, I was aware of this issue as my mate warned me. So I took extra precaution when assembling the filter, checked that it looked seated correctly and was nipped up snug.




The sump plug was a DIY job made up from a nut and bolt. Fortunately, I already had a new plug and washer to replace it.


All said and carefully done, I started it up and checked immediately for leaks....


Bugger. I still managed to misalign the filter housing biggrin
Luckily, I was looking for this straight away so no issues came of it, but after that picture, a further 1l of oil was lost all over my garage floor.

Air filter also changed



Additionally, I gave the underside a spruce up by attacking with wire wheels and protecting with Bilt Hamber UB and Bilt Hamber Cavity wax for the sills and chassis legs. I haven't got loads of pictures of this, but here are a couple of prep and waxing








This one is just to show the wax dripping out of the drain holes. Satisfying knowing that its internally protected.



Edited by Alfred Pina on Monday 5th September 12:05

Alfred Pina

183 posts

74 months

Wednesday 7th September 2022
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Ian's 530 MLE is for sale as the holy grail of e12 loveliness. I didn't expect it to be worth more than a B7 Turbo but in the same breath, I understand, with its racing and M division history.

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-spottedykywt/u...

Chunkychucky

5,942 posts

168 months

Thursday 8th September 2022
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Alfred Pina said:
Ian's 530 MLE is for sale as the holy grail of e12 loveliness. I didn't expect it to be worth more than a B7 Turbo but in the same breath, I understand, with its racing and M division history.

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-spottedykywt/u...
Lovely car, will have to see whether it sells at that or if it sits around for ages for a fair idea of its value - can't recall one being offered on the open market before, not in Western Europe anyway..

Alfred Pina

183 posts

74 months

Friday 16th September 2022
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Nor me, though I can't say I've been looking for one over the years. One certainly hasn't laded on a plate like this.

The M535i still has a humble story to it and they aren't built in big numbers so it's still in it's own little club - which I like.

Here is an original ad for the 535i amongst some faffing from me removing a seat to see if there is a way of reducing the seat height - there's certainly room for improvement!


[url]

This last one is just a snip of the sight I see when I open up the garage door smile|https://thumbsnap.com/EBraa3gK[/url]

_Neil_

1 posts

17 months

Wednesday 5th October 2022
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Hi everyone. I hope you won’t mind a newcomer butting into this thread, but I’ve only just discovered it.

This M535i was my dad’s car in the 1980s and 90s.

Before I go on, I suppose I ought to explain how I found this thread. My children are very enthusiastic about cars and often ask about the vehicles my family had when I was their age. Fortunately for them, there’s generally a lot to tell them as my dad was a huge enthusiast of pretty much anything with an engine. He worked in the motor trade (the family business was a garage in Dorset, which my great-grandfather helped start in the 1920s), raced a bit when he was younger (hill climbs and the like), and owned various motorbikes, boats and cars throughout his life. He even had a pilot’s licence in the 1970s and 80s.

When I was very young, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, he owned two cars: a white Range Rover and a dark blue 5 series BMW. Both had private numberplates on them (it was the eighties – people thought that sort of thing was impressive back then). I never knew what the cars’ original numberplates were.

In the mid-to-late 1980s, if I remember correctly – and I should say I was young, so I probably don’t – he bought the M535i from a friend of his, who had had it from new. He transferred his private plate on to the new BMW and the old one was sold. I never knew the M535i’s original numberplate either.

He loved that car. It was something special, kept for weekends and longer trips – and seemingly endlessly tinkering with in his workshop at home. I remember roaring down country lanes at over 100mph, I remember falling asleep on the back seat late at night, I remember so many journeys, so many conversations with him: that car was a huge part of my childhood and a huge part of my relationship with my dad. He died in 1996 at the age of 54, when I was 18. I haven’t seen the car since then.

Over the past 26 years I’ve often wondered what happened to it, but assumed it had rusted to bits and been broken up for parts. Fast-forward to last week and my children were asking about my dad’s cars, so I googled “E12 M535i” to show them a picture of one. I then found Miles’s advert (https://www.hpcclassics.co.uk/product-page/1980-bmw-m535i-e12).

It looked like my dad’s old one.

Exactly like it, in fact – just as I’d last seen it, over a quarter of a century ago.

However, I didn’t know the original numberplate. Could it actually be his old one? I thought it was pretty unlikely that it actually was his, but I also knew that very few right-hand-drive versions had been made, so if there was one in this colour then there was a chance that it was his. Wasn’t there?

Surely not. I dismissed the idea.

However, yesterday, I saw the webpage was still open on my phone. I looked at the pictures again and – I don't really know why – emailed Miles, saying how much I’d enjoyed seeing them. To my surprise, Miles soon replied, saying he’d passed on my details to the new owner – Alfred Pina as he seems to be known on here – who emailed me later on. Coincidentally, he’d received the original service history in the post yesterday, shortly before hearing about me from Miles. His email included a picture of a registration document with my dad’s name and our old address on it.

Amazingly, it was the same car.

Now, finally, knowing the original numberplate at last, I started googling until I found this thread, which I’ve now read in its entirety.

So – if anyone’s read this far – from a nostalgic fortysomething who hasn’t seen this car since January 1997, a huge, huge thank you to all of you who have looked after it and put so much effort into restoring it. I know you obviously weren’t doing it for me and you certainly weren’t doing it for my dad, but I do know he would have approved enormously.

It’s lovely that it’s given so many of you so much pleasure over the years, and I hope it continues to be loved and looked after by whoever owns it in future.

Cheers,

Neil

Oh, I should add that I’m afraid I don’t have any pictures of the car in its prime, but I know there were some when I was younger, so the next time I visit my mum I will see what I can find. I can’t promise much – she moved house a few years ago and threw out a lot of old stuff, including a load of old photos – but if I do find anything I’ll share it with you all.



Edited by _Neil_ on Wednesday 5th October 11:25


Edited by _Neil_ on Wednesday 5th October 11:25

RicksAlfas

13,355 posts

243 months

Wednesday 5th October 2022
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thumbup

scottos

1,139 posts

123 months

Wednesday 5th October 2022
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Thats got to be one of the best first posts on Pistonheads, awesome stuff!

Chunkychucky

5,942 posts

168 months

Wednesday 5th October 2022
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Well done finding the thread Neil, and great history of the car thanks for sharing cool

I saw the car my dad ran as his dealer demonstrator back in 1981 a few years ago, some chap with the BMW Car Club was meant to be restoring it, however i've not seen anything of the car for 4+ years now frown