SOLD -- 1987 BMW 535is 5-speed.. 163,000 miles now on this car that will easily go 250,000 without an engine rebuild.

This very fast beauty has been my pride and joy for nearly 6 years as I have lovingly restored and improved her to her present state. Please take a look at the pictures I've posted and read the descriptions for a full appreciation of this fine German automobile.

Contact Info:

Scott Buchanan
Charlotte, NC

In these head-on and angled front shots of the car, you can begin to see the very clean lines of the BMP E28 M5 Styling Kit. This kit does away with the huge U.S. bumpers mandated by the D.O.T. back in the late 80's and really gives the car an updated and agressive profile. BMP sells the 4-piece kit (front bumper/spoiler, back bumper/spoiler, side skirts) for $1120 plus shipping, painting and installation.

I had the kit installed and painted in 1997 at the same time the car was having a complete repaint done of its original Diamond Black Metallic color. There isn't an ounce of rust anywhere on this North Carolina car. Total cost for paint and installation came to over $3000.

You can see the Hella headlights I added to replace the stock sealed beam units (low beams mounted, high beams not yet installed). Factory foglights are also included but not installed in the photos shown. Bilstein HD struts were installed at all 4 corners a few years ago to complement the factory tuned sport springs.

I had the exterior door handles, exterior mirrors, B-pillar, vertical frame piece in rear doors on the front edge of the fixed glass portion, and the bottom of the rear trunk spoiler all painted body color to add to the updated look. All these items were originally flat black from the factory. This really ties all these components to the car.

I chose not to re-apply the factory "535is" badge to the car once the paintjob was complete. I think it's more stealth that way. You may be able to see that I've painted the rear windshield locking strips black. The paint didn't adhere well to the chrome corner pieces like it did to the plastic locking strips. All the chrome is therefore unpainted. The front windshield locking strips need to be painted or replaced.

The factory TRX metric wheels and tires were ditched long ago in favor of TSW Hockenheim R 16x7" rims and BFGoodrich CompTA VR4 215/50-16 tires. My first set of these tires lasted 30K miles. This set has approximately 5K miles on it. By the way, I initially tried 225/50-16 Dunlop D60's, but they rubbed in the left rear. Very mild fender lip rolling has allowed the 215's to fit with no rubbing even when fully loaded.