E12 525i what's it worth?

[tomTVR]

Been offered a 1977 525i auto with 50k on the clock and in good condition. Guy says £2500 but i thought id i could haggle him down a bit and if indeed the condition is pretty good (not seen it) then i thought i might be a ble to sell it on and make a bit of profit.

Anyone know if these are in any way sought after?

cheers

p.s. id keep it myself but im an E34 man

[M5Dave]

I wouldn't pay anything like £2,500 for a 1977 525i no matter what condition it was in.

The only E12 that's worth that kind of money, or is in any way sought after is an M535i, and even then it would have to be a pretty tidy one.

Edited by M5Dave on Wednesday 21st November 01:05

[carlosvalderrama]

I had an E12 M535i not long ago. Cracking fun, but very different from the normal 5 series of the time.

A good, well serviced, rustless M with around 120k on the clock will go for about 5.5k. I bought mine for 1500 and eventually sold it for just over twice that. But I easily spent the difference in fixing and running it (20mpg).

The regular 5 of that shape is just not very desirable. It's a shame as it's a good motor, but it was just a regular cooking model and compared to the 2002 turbo, 3.0 CSL, M1, and the 635CSi it's just not interesting enough.

Put it this way, do you think people will be clamouring to buy an E39 525Tds in 20 years time?

[Road_Terrorist]

You'd be very unlikely to turn a quick profit on it, especially not if you bought it for $2500. If you got it for £1000 then you might, but they aren't all that easy to sell, the market for something like that is very limited.

[bob1179]

1500 to 2 grand tops.

If it was a 528 or M535 you would get more interest.

Do you have anymore details by the way? I have a soft spot for E12 and E28 5 series BMW's!

They do have a bit of a cult following, I don't think a '77 car will have fuel injection either, as far as I know, only the 2.8 M30 engine came fitted with it. The 2.5 had a twin choke carb (can't remember if it's a Webber or Pierburg jobby).

Three speed ZF auto 'box and about 145 bhp. Still a lovely motor.

[derin100]

Almost any car that old and now so rare will find a buyer if it is in really good condition...And that's the crux of it..."really good condition".

Lots of people think they can or their mate can get one of these sorts of cars for "600-quid" and then "do it up for another 2 or 3 hundred quid." Well, they can't!

Well, let me re-phrase that...Maybe they can but the finished product won't be worth having other than as 'some old banger to smoke around in' until it fails it's next MOT.

I'm currently working on two E28s (a 528i and an M535i) both of which were/are already good examples. Projected 'restoration' costs at the moment in my mind stand at circa between £4-5K...and that's EACH!

And bear in mind late E28s didn't rust like E12s. There are VERY few good E12s still left around (they're nearly a third of a century old now!) and if the one you mention is really that good I'd say it's easily worth more than the £2500 be asked. If it's not really 'that good' (especially in terms of rust) then it isn't because the restoration costs could dwarf that purchase price.

Granted the market will be small but there will be buyers out there for that car now who will pay far more than £2500 for it...if it's really good! And it only takes one buyer!

[tomTVR]

Ill find out more details when i next see the bloke. Hes owned it most of its life and as a farmer its spent most of its time in a barn so you never know it might have hardly seen a drop of rain in 30 years!

It would also be nice to make sure cars such as these have a future in the hands of enthusiasts.