Bitter Sweet Ending

[Ajcanadian]

Here is my 2002 BMW 530iA. It used to be my pride and joy. My favorite and my father’s. I spared no expense in maintaining this car.


My family is originally from Bangladesh. The tax system on cars there is INSANELY high, for example a 1.5l car it’d have 450% in tax/duty if that wasn’t enough we also had a 5 year import rule. You couldn’t import anything 5 years older than the current year. Like in 2017 the oldest car you could import was a 2012. So, it is pretty ridiculous. Owning a high end car there was nearly impossible. Only the influenced richie rich could afford high end cars such as BMW’s/Mercedes Benz and stuff like that.

My dad’s father (grandad) has been a Benz fanatic. He owns a boat load of them. Talking about boats, my father is a Captain of Ship. He’s been a Captain in a Cargo and a Car carrier. This will play a very big roll later on. Since, my Grandad has been into Benz. The influence of German cars rubbed on my dad. Although every German car my grandad owns is atleast 25 years old.

Back in 2000 when I was about to be born. My dad was signing off from Canada. Back then, his ship was coming from Germany to Canada. He has always been a car-nut probably because of his father. He always checked the gems that were in his ships. Since, it was 2000 he went down and saw a BMW. Not just any BMW it was an 00 M5. To make it even more special it was Avus Blue. Now, Avus blue was only in production until February off 2000. And it was May-ish when he landed in Canada since I was born in May 22th, 2000. Therefore, according to my guess it had to be one of the last Avus production cars.

However, my dad thought that car was very appealing and knew he wanted to own one. In 2013 we moved to the U.S. and he wanted a BMW. And he bought something a lot “practical” our 2002 530i.

This car is a 2002 530iA painted in Sterlinggrau Metallic over a Black leather and vavona wood trim which has minimal cracking where the CD player is. This car was passed down to me in 2016 when I got my driver’s license and he got a 2011 E70 X5 35i X drive Sport. That car is one of a kind and to top it off it only had 32k miles, now 34k.

Anyways after getting the 530, I have done a lot of work to it. My car has been maintained meticulously. It was a BMW demo car. At first I thought it was a loaner car but I had the second owner’s phone number and spoke to him and later found out it was a demo car. He kept the car from 2004-2012 and let me tell you he had spent over $15,000 in maintenance from Midwestern BMW. I got him number from the service record. The third owner had done things to it when they broke same with my dad.

But, when i got the car. I wanted it to be perfect. I even bought a beater car for the winter and also bought a set of BBS Style 42s. It was another E39 530iA with 217k miles that had no mechanical issues. I sold it to a “Friend” that damaged the car very badly. He put auto zone “stop oil leak” to prevent the vanos seals from leaking and what not. I had all the rust fixed. Had the front bumper repainted and hood. I wanted it to be perfect. I got a new Vanos unit from Dr. Vanos. The valve cover gasket was done, entire cooling system refresh, Front suspension overhaul and let me tell you only OE supplied parts were used. I was very close making it brand new but like any E39’s there’s always SOMETHING wrong. The transmission at 160k miles was tired so it started to slip. Then I lost reverse. Sourced a used one with 200k miles that slipped later on. And recently, I just got another one for $800 with 130k miles and that’s shot too. Although it has a warranty and I paid $700 to a shop to install it. I’m not fighting for any warranty claims. I’m too much in the car and it’s not worth at this point.

But, as far as the 530 it’s time I keep it off the roads. This car is basically in storage mode. I hooked it up to a battery tender and added fuel stabilizer and let it sit. It’ll sit for 10 years at the least.

I have been too attached with this car and can’t let someone else own it or part it. I know it's just a old 5 er but it's my first car and my father's first BMW. Like my friends call it the "OG 5er" I just can’t get rid of her. She's given me a lot of smiles and taught me how to work on these cars. I just can't part ways neither can my father. So, we’re just gonna have it sit and sometime later when I graduate from College I’ll build it eventually. I will do that just to satisfy myself. I'll drop an S50 and 6 spd swap it.

Remember how I told you, “My father wanted to own an E39 M5?” Well, I’m on a hunt for an E39 M5.