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The value of E36 M3s has been much debated over the past few years, with detractors snickering and deriding every asking price and speculators suggesting their worth is many times the average selling price. While it’s true you can find cheap E36 M3s, the question remains – where is the market going on these cars? The result of their relatively low value for such a protracted period means that today there just aren’t the glut of good examples that there once were, so when a really nice one comes along, now too do the bids. Case in point – today’s 1997 Coupe. A quick search of my local Craigslist ads suggests I can buy one of these for $6,500. No, actually, I can buy four of them, all for $6,500 (or less). So why would I pay more for this one?
I still remember the magic of my first ride in a M5. Although my father would end up owning one and still does, it was not the E28 like his that started my love affair with the inline-6 equipped super-sedans. Rather, it was a then-new 1991 E34 model that provided me a ride I was not quite fully prepared for. Coming from a background of family Toyotas, you can imagine the difference when full-throttle was applied to the legendary S38B36 motor on an onramp. It felt, quite literally, like we were taking off. The E34 never seemed to gain the traction of the E28’s appeal for many enthusiasts, but for me, it’s the model I love more. That ride remains the only time I’ve been in an E34 M5, but having spent many years getting to drive the family’s subsequent ’95 525i, every time I got behind the wheel I dreamed that awesome twin-cam M50 was its bigger brother. The market still hasn’t awoken to these last-of-the-handbuilt, last of the original M88 derived cars – a shame, considering how superlative they are in many senses. But when one pops up with only 15,500 miles on the clock, you better believe I took notice:
