They're pretty rare here. I never see any on the street and only about 1 per month in a for sale ad. It's more common to see a e34 in a parted out wrecking ad than complete good condition car.
There's way more e30s and of course e39s about. It's a shame because that's why I had to settle for a e34 the previous owner messed up. They were rarer in Australia because they were $80k for a 525i and $100k for a 535i when new (I haven't looked up the 540i price)
I've been looking at my local BMW club mainly to get in contact with greybeards that might have spare parts. I've looked at their videos and photos. 1 e34 spotted, nearly everything is either newer, or older. Not many people cared enough about the e34 to keep them on the road (which is why most e34 ads are for parts/wrecking)
Saw a '92 525i/auto for sale at the corner store yesterday - dark metallic green (doesn't look like original color), gray interior. Tacky wheels and gold-plated trim. Interior is pretty well shot but the body is straight. 130K; asking $2k. Probably could be had for significantly less. So yeah, they're still out there, but the interesting ones - M cars, Tourings, big engines, manual gearboxes - are pretty rare. Nice thing about SoCal is that the metal bits don't get consumed by tinworm, but the downside is that all the soft parts get destroyed by the sun.
One of the reasons why I gave up on 535s was because nearly all of them for sale were metallic paint with ruined clear coat or main paint too as well. (the other reason was of course was I decided to go for the smaller newer engine). But even if I wanted a 535, there was none for sale with a decent solid colour- all were ruined metallics.
I was lucky enough to find a 525 in a solid colour (white) which normally age well as far as paint. But still, so much work needs to be done.
I often think I was just maybe a year too late when shopping for one. There was way more choice a year ago when just browsing for fun, and even when I bought mine there was plenty of wrecking cars for parts. Things have seriously dried up in just the past 3 months alone so the best time to buy has passed.
Last edited by fo3; 09-05-2017 at 06:19 AM.
When I started looking, I did it with just two things in mind: had to be an E34, and had to be manual... it took quite a while 'cause most around here are auto's, and the only other manuals I found were 535's in very bad shape. Got mine (525 M50nv) the same day the guy listed it on craigslist, and never regretted it! Around this area tho, I've seen a couple of "cousins" : a few E30s, a couple of E24s, and a very trashed E28!
I just looked up the aussie price for the e34 540i, AU$140k. Seems a bargain now that they're only $8-10k now here.
USA price was US$50k (AU$65k ish). Back in those days BMW, the au bmw distributor and dealers seems to always double the price down here which is why they are rarer and manuals are super rare (hardly any buyer gets a manual when paying *that* much for a car, the cost of optional extra 2-3k for the auto option is *nothing*)
Last edited by fo3; 09-05-2017 at 08:59 AM.
I just saw a decent looking 525i in Calypso red in the apartments near my office...sort of wanted to pull in and check it out. Paint looked clean
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Recently acquired an Alpine Weiss II 535i automatic in Chicago! A bit rough around the edges- it was parked and hadn't been started for 8+ months at purchase but has good bones. So far it's gotten a new DME (what rendered it a mechanic special) from a junkyard donor E32 735iL which has gotten it to start. I'm now working my way down the list of consumables while also trying to diagnose the rough idle and get it to run so I can have a nice daily/winter daily. I've done an oil change with 5w-30 and threw in some new NGK plugs, next on the list is a OEM fuel filter then distro cap and rotor. The thing had factory Bosch plugs and barely 3 qts of oil when I dug into it!! Also plan to clean out the MAF, ICV, and TPS with some MAF cleaner before I flirt with option of replacing them. Pics and thread coming soon!
No MAF on the M30, it's a volume meter. Regular old cheap carburetor cleaner will be fine for the air meter and ICV. TPS shouldn't be an issue.
Get the ignition freshened up, wires too, and lash the valves, the idle will probably be fine after that.
Are you in Chicago?
If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue
There are some beater ones around KC I see about every 6 months or so. There is one nice Silver car that has M Pars on it. I used to see it somewhat often, but changes careers and don't frequent the same area at that time of day anymore.
I see mine everyday. I think I'm the only one in the surrounding area that has a 525i. There are a couple of e30s. The neighboring town has a guy who sells BMW parts and he has a bunch of e30s but, the E34s he has are for parts only. Interestingly, he sells the e34 parts to fast for me to get a hold of yet, I see no E34s driving around anywhere.
Extremely rare. As far as I know, there are only two other enthusiast-owned ones in Utah. Even in big cities, I've only seen a handful. The last one I saw was an E34 M5 driving down Constitution Avenue by the Capitol in Washington, DC.
They’re certainly not common enough in the junkyard clearly......where they belong.
Lol and someone saying the E34 is the last pure drivers sedan. You’ve clearly never driven a nice sedan before.
Lol and people thinking the E34 in anything other than WBS trim level will be worth anything.
E34s are tragically awful vehicles that drive horrendously and do nothing performance wise, well.
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I thought you signed off. Civil discourse, eh? So, you were serious then?
If you like your E39 that's great but is no reason to barge into a thread and run your mouth like that.
Sorry if your E34 was a crap example, many are these days as are most of the E39s now too.
Of course anything with the ///M badge is extra, extra special
Last edited by ross1; 01-06-2018 at 01:31 PM.
If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue
E34’s are extinct around here, unfortunately.
Another CCA member has an E34 M5 that I have driven in and druel over, but he rarely drives it, and he is never around.
I have thought about buying one.
Looking for an E39 belly pan , passenger front inner fender liner …
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