Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Back at the end of 2023 I took a look at a stellar Oxford Green Metallic E39 M5. A stunning color combination, it also rang in with just 30,000 miles and an $80k price tag. Ouch! Today’s car is equally impressive as it was ordered through BMW Individual in Velvet Blue Metallic. Wow! If you were curious, just 58 out of the total 20,482 E39 M5 produced were ordered in this shade. 39 of them were left-hand drive, and it’s claimed to be one of only three in the US in this shade.
To this point, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen the E39 M5 referred to as the “first of the robot-builtsâ€. Sound ridiculous? So does dismissing a car because it was produced in mass quantities. While the original run of 4- and 6-cylinder M-cars got the trend rolling, there are quite a few who’d argue that the recipe of the super-saloon was better achieved in the third generation M5 rather than the first two. It was still very understated, yet with nearly 400 horsepower and instant torque it was quite a bit faster than the prior generations had been. It retained the ability to demolish back roads, keep up with super cars, and bath its occupants in luxury. Despite not being assembled ‘by hand’, it was also the last of the “analogue†M5s, with limited computer intervention and interface. And, they only came as manuals. This certainly sounds like a recipe for success.
It was. BMW sold nearly 10,000 E39 M5s in North America – triple the combined total of the E28 and E34 models. So there should be a lot of really great examples out there to consider, and there are. Today’s car has moderate mileage and comes from early in the production run, but it still looks great and won’t cost you an arm and a leg – both of which you’ll need, since it doesn’t drive or shift itself:
It must take some herculean self control to care for a E39 M5 with this sort of mileage. It’s not as though you can hop…
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