Press "Enter" to skip to content

This site contains Ebay partner affiliate links, which may earn us a commission at no additional cost to you.

First production 1992 BMW M5 Touring for sale

$_57 (6)

M5 tourings command a lot of attention on this side of the pond, regardless of generation. I’ve seen an E61 M5 in person thanks to some clever license plating, but only pictures of the E34 and dreams of the prototyped E39. Some clever chap bought this E34 M5, the very first produced, from the original owner 6 years ago and had it professionally imported to the US. Clearly someone with an eye for that kind of provenance cares more than a little, and a high-quality repaint from top to bottom along with a reskinned interior show the lengths he was willing to go to make this a prime example. No matter how much rebuilding happens, you can’t turn back miles, but an engine and transmission replacement means it has more like 150k than 220k. You’ve got a few years left before E34s are legal to import, and you’ll never get a chance to buy the first Touring.

$_57 (4)

Year: 1992
Model: E34 M5 Touring
Engine: S38B38 3.8 liter inline-6
Transmission: 5-speed manual
Mileage: 295,000 km (~ 220,000 mi)
Price: Reserve-on auction, $40k Buy-It-Now

Click for more details: 1992 BMW E34 M5 Touring on eBay

$_57 (2)

I am the proud owner of first M5 touring ever produced. I imported it from Germany and had it federalized by Barry Taylor Enterprises in Richmond, Ca. Here’s a link to the world wide M5 Touring Registry :http://www.bmwmregistry.com/models.php?id=25, my car is at the top. BMW made 891 Tourings and never brought them to the USA. I have owned my car for 5 years and it’s time for a change. If you are looking at this ad you know how rare and special these tourings are. Here’s a link to great information on the E34 M5 http://www.bmwmregistry.com/model_faq.php?id=12

Here are pictures from Germany before I bought the touring:
http://euromcars.com/gschultz/04-09-07/

History:
In the beginning of 2007 I stated to browse the German car site Mobile.de for an M5 touring. I saw my car and had my friend who runs euromcars.com go and check it out. It turns out the car is the first M5 touring to be built. There is some dispute with my car’s vin ending with BL01001 and there’s a BL 01000 but the experts in Germany insist that mine was done first. I purchased the car and had it federalized by now retired Barry Taylor Enterprises. He had been in the car importation business for over 45 years. It took until the middle of 2007 for me to get my car. I bought the car from the original owner.

Condition:
Exterior- I had a complete paint job in ’08. I just had the hood, roof, bumper, and grille re-sprayed. It had picked up too many stone chips. The wheels were refinished 2 months ago. I just installed all new euro bumper strips. It looks pretty good. The front bumper was bead blasted down to clean plastic and painted. The body shop felt this the best way to make it like new.

Interior- Very clean, I’ve had all of the seats recovered with good leather. It gets a ton of complements. The only modification I’ve done was to change the radio to a later BMW CD43 unit with Ipod connection. The iPod cable is near the parking brake. The FM had died in the original. I have replaced the rear window blinds and the rear dog net. I just purchased one of the last sets of OEM black floor mats. The dash is clean with no cracks. The door cards aren’t perfect but I’ve seen much much worse.

Since I’ve owned it I’ve replaced:
Valve adjustment just completed
Fuel pump and CPS
The brakes were replaced the first year I owned the car
Radiator replaced first year
Alternator (February)
PS pump
2-EDC shocks, ordered from Greg at Concord BMW (Great guy)
A/C compressor, has been converted to R134. It blows cool but not cold.
Front steering components
Very recent drive shaft rebuild including guibo and center support bearing.

I have just passed strict California smog inspection. It burns virtually no oil. A fellow E34 M5 owner came by and asked me to start it up while cold. He was utterly amazed at how smooth it idled. We tried to balance coins on the plenum. This phrase is used a lot but I would truly drive this car cross country without fear.

I bought the car with 295,000 kilometers and it now has approximately 369k or about 220,000 miles. It had a factory engine and transmission replaced in Germany at about 100k kilometers. With 220,000 miles it’s not ready for a concourse but it’s in very good condition.

$_57

This is a definite unicorn and the owner knows it. The cleanliness inside and out is impressive and when stacked with first-born history, it’s a serious counterbalance to the mileage. He’s going to a get a very nice price, and someone else can have an ///M trump card for the shows without worrying about driving it.

-NR

11 Comments

  1. Kelly Bonds
    Kelly Bonds December 4, 2013

    As much as I love the car, not interested in paying the unicorn premium.

  2. Pavel Vasilev
    Pavel Vasilev December 4, 2013

    Amazing car, and pretty cool that it’s the first ever produced. I should have recognized it right away. Owner knows his E34s.

    I am sure Greg S blew a lot of money on federalizing it back in 2007. I am not sure I will ever pay that kind of premium – Saliya from euromcars have had them going for much less.

    NR, this is a S38B38 not B36. All M5 tourings were 3.8.

  3. Pete
    Pete December 4, 2013

    Federalized Euro M5 3.8 sedans seems to sell around $20k. I would pay a small premium for a touring as they were never offered in the US. So $25k for a nice touring. Now deduct $5k for the mileage. I attach no value for it being the first produced, the last one produced would be cool though…In 3 years and 27 days these cars will be very easy to import. In the meantime buy a nice US M5 sedan and 530iT ($20k total outlay).

  4. Pavel Vasilev
    Pavel Vasilev December 4, 2013

    Exactly, in 2017 these tourings will be in the low to mid $10k.

  5. SAL
    SAL December 4, 2013

    BMW produced only 891 M5 Touring Models from 1992-1995, if you could find any for sale in Europe, it would cost you minimum $17,000-$20,000 to purchase it….Plus Transportation and Federalization will cost another $12,000, then comes the repairs and restoration costs $$$$$$$$$….

  6. Pavel Vasilev
    Pavel Vasilev December 4, 2013

    SAL, you know there are other ways to import to the US – that is through Canada. And EU to Canada. http://www.willz.ca/importing.htm

    To address the sourcing issues – http://suchen.mobile.de/auto-inserat/bmw-m5-touring-e34-frahier/186380943.html?lang=de&pageNumber=1&__lp=1&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=3500&makeModelVariant1.modelId=46&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&minFirstRegistrationDate=1990-01-01&maxFirstRegistrationDate=1995-12-31&negativeFeatures=EXPORT

    Took me 2 minutes to find one. They are out there. This is ~$15k. Throw in another $5k for having it at your door.

    And one should buy a car that doesn’t need restoration and repairs too. Or it better be real cheap then.

    In a nut shell, to the right person the price is right! Yes, at 40k you can have it tomorrow and enjoy it right off the bat, almost brand new.

  7. SAL
    SAL December 4, 2013

    Pavel,

    my price quote of “$16,000-$20,000” was established after I did a quick search on mobile.de. BTW, I located this particular M5 Touring in Germany, made the deal and helped Greg Import it along with my 1994 Individual M5 Touring in 2008, even if you bring to Canada, you still have to Federalize it since it’s not 25 years old, and California has its own Emissions certification standards…me and my buddy own (11) E34 M5 3.8 models including (2) Touring (1992 & 1994)…The Last 1992 M5 Touring I sold was listed for one week and sold for asking price of $26,500

  8. Pavel Vasilev
    Pavel Vasilev December 4, 2013

    Sal,

    Exactly what I said in my first comment, after Kelly – “Saliya at euromcars has them for less than 40k”. I know the car you are talking about that sold for $26.5k. I keep a very close eye on the E34 market 🙂 And I know of Greg from bf.c

    On a side note, one of yours E30 M3 Diamantschwarz is here in Houston and I see it on regular basis – the one you sold to Chris H.

  9. Lou Farragno
    Lou Farragno December 4, 2013

    1st rule of selling a car that is overpriced. Park it next to a plane of some sort.

  10. UrSDriver
    UrSDriver December 4, 2013

    Do you really blame the guy for swinging for the fences with the premium? I think he deserves an award for taking one the most rare and significant modern classic BMW’s ever and driving it 220k while maintaining and reconditioning it at such a high level.

  11. MDriver
    MDriver December 6, 2013

    I get the premium for the Touring….not the fact that it was the first built…just my opinion.
    That said, I was under the impression that all touring got the 3.8 340HP motor?
    EAG has a individual Santorini Blue touring/lotus white interior….I would pay 50k for that..LOL

Comments are closed.