New E39 wagon owner

[Vard66]

New to E39s, not BMWs or estates.

Hey guys.

My name is Chris, but for ten years everyone (including my own mother) has called me Vard, so Vard I am.
I'm an ex-Rover nutter, (well, sort of, if the RIGHT Vitesse turned up I'd be hard pressed to say no still), having owned four 820s (3x T16T, 1x N/Asp), one 827, a 420 GSi Turbo, a 416, a 216 GTi TC...

26, Nr Swindon, Wilts.

I've been on the forum for a couple of years now, but not active as such. I joined back in 2012 when I was wrist-deep in a 530i --> 540i conversion on a mate's E34 manual touring in the snow; on the hunt for information.

Since then, I've had another Rover 800, albeit not a turbocharged one, a Rover 420 GSi Turbo project (that never took off), a Volvo 850R, which I loved, and a Mk4 Astra, which you may consider boring, until you see this photo;

4559095.jpg

For the story behind that, please feel free to visit the blog at www.3unwisemen.wordpress.org.

Anyway, this weekend just gone I traveled halfway across the country to see, and subsequently buy this;










'01 525i M Sport Manual. She's not perfect, there's a few things that need sorting - new badges front and back on the way, new N/S fog light surround on the way, fixed the two little rattles in the gear knob and arm rest so far, needs a new external temperature sensor, along with the missing undertray it should be clipped into, little things like that.

Anyway, I'm apt to have a myriad of questions over the next few months, so I'm hoping this turns out to be a helpful and engaging community. Look forward to contributing, if I can.


Vard.

[restlessbimmer]

Nice ride! It looks well maintained.

[SpeedsterBek]

Nice find.
you'll have a better luck with posting in e39 subforum.

[MIMI1]

Nice is that JapanRot?

[victoriabmw27]

Nice looking car, congrats

[Vard66]

Thanks, she's alright - a bit scratched here and there, some lacquer peel on the bumper and tailgate, couple of dings here and there - nothing huge. No rattles inside either, now that I've prised the gear knob and arm rest lid open enough to shake the broken clip tongues out.

Imola, MIMI1. A touch darker than Japan I think.

Spent a good 8 hours cleaning the paintwork on Sunday, so much tar. Even all over the roof, which is just befuddling. Gonna take some serious polishing to cut back some of the deeper scratches - had a couple of passes over the N/S wing but I think it's time to get a buffer and learn to use it to correct some/most of these scratches.

I'm knocking about in the E39 subfora most of the time too, SpeedsterBek, but just wanted to say hullo in a more general sense.

[AusE39er]

Nice Wagon.

Looks like they got that Vauxhall to the right off the army or something, lol.

[Vard66]

I rollered it after it got back from the rally. Decided I'd rather drive something olive drab than something with four different coloured panels on it like I'd made an effort to make it into a stupid looking harlequin edition, as I replaced the O/S rear door after putting my arm through the glass, the N/S mirror because it was smashed somewhere in Russia and the tailgate after the plastic strip fell off it in Kyrgyzstan, revealing a rust hole the size of my fist.

The snorkel was because we weren't sure if we were going to be fording biggish rivers in Far Eastern Russia at the end of summer. Turned out to be a wise move though because it kept the intake away from all the sand.

It's been stubborn for two years. I've beaten the living Christ out of it, firstly on the Mongol Rally, and afterwards greenlaning and generally driving it like it's invincible. Yet it's refused to die.