Does anyone know about this mythical gold trim package option that BMW offered for the E34? I have found some record of it existing but not much else.
My 89 E34 535i was ordered through the Special paint program (S490) in Malachite Green Metallic and supposedly has the "gold trim package" to boot. I know it exists but nothing about it.
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"gold" plating bright trim was done by some dealers hoping to improve their margins. Mostly seen on Cadillacs and such often accompanied by a faux convertible top and Vogue whitewalls.
I can't imagine the Germans doing this.
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
I've never seen anything about a gold trim package before and even a quick search didn't reveal anything. If you have the VIN handy, search it here and it should list any options the car has
https://www.bmwvin.com/
Gold on green was a fad in the early-mid 90's. RealOEM shows no gold trim, so it may well have been a dealer-added package. Is the window trim gold too?
Slightly off-topic, a 1995 Olympic Edition 525i showed up yesterday in a PicknPull near me. Is anything on it worth anything?
Last edited by moroza; 12-12-2017 at 09:31 PM.
There was no factory gold package. It was a dealer thing (having nothing to do with BMW)
If I recall right, it has:
Unique door sills that should say "Olympic Edition"
Beige leather seats with dark green piping
A small badge inside the car saying "Olympic Edition" and what number the car is
Unique wheels (don't quote me on this, I've heard it does but also that it doesn't)
I briefly owned one. All cars were(Boston?) green with parchment interior having green piping and rear head rests. Unique door sills and a passenger side dash plaque with Olympic rings and "Atlanta 1996". Which has led some to think their car was a '96. The wheels were 16", I believe style 16s.
No gold bright work.
Last edited by ross1; 12-13-2017 at 07:40 AM.
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
When I did the VIN search not much came up. It wouldn't even pull up the actual color the car was painted in. I ended up having to call BMW AG to have them pull the actual paint code. As far as the paint the VIN look up just showed S490 special paint program. So the VIN lookup missed a few options the car had. I have a "trouble ticket" with BMW to find more about the car. It does have a few other options that were dealer installed. It has a suoer cool late 80s Escort radar detector. From what I can tell there are a few other E34s running around with gold trim.
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Here is a look at the gold pin strips. I will try to upload a picture of the radar detector. It is actually built into the dash. Cool little quirk.
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Mike
93 M5 3.8 Sterling Silver/Black (euro)
94 M5 Touring Madeiraschwarz/Black
80 745i (project)
83 735i / 5 speed (euro)
86 745i
Just for the record I am doing what I call a mild restore. The car is in fantastic shape overall and was treated wonderfully. But it still needs things here and there and that is why this all started.
BMW AG was kind enough to set up a meeting with the general manager of the dealer where it was delivered to. What they told me is that he can pull the records on the car. From there he is supposed to work with the regional sales team (isn't customer facing) to find out as much as possible.
My problem has been trying to find replacement gold trim for it. So that is a part of what they will be doing. Since the car is apperantly rather unique I am keeping it stock and how it came from the factory and or dealer.
Does anyone know more about the special paint program or how to find production numbers for specific colors? I have seen it done with other cars so I assume it is possible. I may be able to get those records once I have the meeting.
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Any more ideas?
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We've shared our thoughts about the gold trim already. Did you meet with the selling dealer?
BMWNA ought to be able to provide a paint code but beyond that I doubt they will share your enthusiasm for finding other information.
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
"Sonderlack" was very often just a normal paint color but in a year that it was not offered. For example, I've seen sonderlack 1985 E24's in Henna red, when Henna red was only officially offered through 1984. In that case you can guess what color it is and use that paint. If however, they actually did mix a one-of-a-kind custom color, there is NO record of that anywhere and you are completely out of luck. You will just need to have a paint store match it.
Well the meet with BMW went well found out some cool stuff. They were actually very helpful and provided as much information as they could muster up. I do now have a copy of the original window sticker. So what was found out is that Gold Trim Package does exist but it was probably a dealer installed option offered at the time. So if you consider that aftermarket I am not sure. The escort radar detector was also probably offered by dealers as a dealer installed option that was able to be built into the dash like mine is. The car was specially ordered in that color for a customer by request and was built in Munich West Germany. We are still working on dealer installed options offered at the time. They are still also working on getting production numbers for the cars under the special paint program.
What has surprised me the most is the continued willingness of BMW to help me find the information I have been looking for. They are still working with me to finish finding the rest of the information. I am also surprised they kept a copy of the window sticker. So yay BMW thanks.
There's no BMW part number for a gold trim piece, so yes, it's aftermarket. You could call it "original", but you can't call it "factory". This was very common practice in the 80's. Hard to imagine dealers modifying brand new cars these days.
I'm not really sure if it's actual gold plating, but anything they did then you can redo now. You can even buy new pieces and have them done in gold if you want it really nice.
Car dealers love to load up cars with high profit add-ons in house. You'll notice that on your car's Monroney label, the mandated by law "window sticker", there is no gold trim. There would have been a separate label listing all of the add-ons. Rust proofing, paint sealers, pin striping, alarms, faux convertible tops, different trim applied for "special editions" particular that dealer, etc. They know no bounds and any ginchy add-on you can think of was and is still tried.
The prices of these cheap accessories(the "bush" is what they called it)were hugely inflated on the sticker in an attempt to fool a buyer into thinking the car was being heavily discounted.
Big domestic luxo barges were the ones most often overdecorated this way, think of your Jersey shore types. Gold chains for the car so to speak.
German cars saw less of this, with chrome plated alloys and chrome wheel arches largely replacing fake convertibles.
Trust me, your car didn't roll out of Dingolfing wearing gold badges.
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
I got a copy of what I will call the window sticker. (Has the port it came through, production day, delivery location). You are 100% correct it didn't leave Germany like that and that the gold trim deal and radar detector where popular add-ons. The fellow that is going to be doing some minor paint restoration said the same thing you did about it being popular dealer installed options. So at some point I guess you could have told the dealer no no I want gold and radar detector. Pretty nifty
As far as S205 still don't know a whole bunch about it. I know it was offered for the M5.
I too have the gold trim package on my 1990 525i. But mine has a gold pin striping down the side and the car is black. I assume these came stock with the telephone in the center console and my car had another odd device that was on the driverside pillar and admittedly I ripped it off on accident... I have to get my head gasket fixed and some body stuff fixed along with steering so this should be interesting.
The E34 and E32 and E31 were never offered in Boston Green. The E36 yes. Can't tell you how much I hate when people ask about my car, "that Boston Green?" The only green, (non-special order) the US-Spec E34 and E32 were offerered in, were 2.... Iceland Green then Oxford Green. Not one person in the 11 years I've owned my E34 guessed Iceland Green. Way too much focus on the 3-series.
I love the color of the OP's special-order green. Vaguely reminds me of Cypress and Agate of the early 80s. Green was gone on normal-color US BMWs from about `83-`89. We had one of the last, a `81 320i in either Cypress or Agate.
I've seen Gold trim packages on 80s movies, music videos and tv shows like Miami Vice... mostly Mercedes. Yes, mighty Mercedes.
OP/Driftastik, I applaud you for preserving this car: the wheels, stock-amber turn-signal lights, really work with this color.
Last edited by E28E34; 10-10-2019 at 02:00 AM.
my mom had a camry in the late 90's and I remember she got the GOLD PACKAGE lol... It was considered fancy
<img src="https://ibb.co/D76PKCx" border="0" alt="">
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