How long did you wait for the perfect e34?

[DGNR8]

I've been in the hunt for about 2 months. Lost out in an auction on BAT even. How long did it take you to find the e34 you were after?

[bigsixe34]

Maybe 6 weeks. Only because I had a very specific car in mind - Black/Black 535i/5spd. Think I ended up paying $4500 for a 1990 with 142k miles.
The game has changed. They were everywhere then(2008). Wasn’t particularly hard at all to find what you wanted.

[dannyzabolotny]

The perfect E34 doesn't really exist for me, at least not for my cheapskate budget. I want an E34 540i6 wagon, which aside from a few very rare and expensive Euro imports doesn't really exist in stock form. So that's why I'm going to buy a 530i wagon and put an M60B44 + 6-speed into it.

[tombo]

For me, it was a couple of years. I was very picky, but eventually found the car in California and had it shipped to Colorado. When I first started looking I kept it within a 500 mile radius and it was only a casual search, so I might have missed out on some cars. At the end I was getting a little more desperate so I expanded to a nationwide search and it took an additional 4 months of searching. My first e34 was bought in 2009 and it was super easy since the car I wanted was less than 60 miles away and only took a few weeks of searching. Now they are WAY harder to find with a clean rust free body, original paint with good clearcoat, and a nice interior. I was planning on swapping most of my go fast bits from my other e34, so I wasn't as concerned with mechanical condition as body and interior. Even with all of that searching the car I bought still needed a TON of little things to make it really nice.

[401michael]

I found a 540 on craigslist and bought it for $800. I was looking for an e38 at the time. happened to come across the car by chance, I didn't really like it too much at first glance through the internet. When I saw the car in person I liked it a lot and it only needed a motor. I looked at cars for about a month until I found it.

[DGNR8]

It's fun to read about your journeys. It does seem like they're becoming rare. I check several sites many times each day. I've almost been impatient enough to look outside of my original specifications to speed things up haha

[katit2]

I was looking for newer 525 with low miles and no rust. Impossible to find in manual but I got 100k miles 94 auto from Cali. Still needed tons of work to get it the way I like. And it’s got horrible paint still.

Took couple month to find. Have 5sp conversion parts but it’s another project

[bennyg]

No such thing as the perfect E34. The physically and mechanically perfect E34 even if its the perfect manual spec 540i will have a very not-perfect price.


Demand for busted old cars is generally low, you should consider cars sold dirt cheap with an obvious issue that the seller cbf fixing that scares off average buyers and put your budget into fixing that up. For example blown autos make perfect candidates for 6 speed conversions.

[katit2]

No such thing as the perfect E34. The physically and mechanically perfect E34 even if its the perfect manual spec 540i will have a very not-perfect price.

Disagree on second part. I don’t see any perfect ones at not-perfect price. I wouldn’t mind paying for one but I don’t see any

[CarterH]

I came across it by chance, I was looking at E36s and E39s but stumbled across it and decided to go see it. I ended up liking it so much that I bought it the day I went to see it. Original paint, original parts (it was still being serviced at BMW) and original everything else. No silly mods and no terrible wheels, it was as if it just came from the showroom.

[Red Shirt KRT]

Bat is where the perfect condition ones will be, unless you find the offchance one on Craigslist.

Good ones are usually a pretty penny or they go really fast.

The cars aren’t super rare unless you want a perfect one there are tons of neglected cars out there.

I will be in the market for an m5 in a few years and hope to pick one up within a year.

Also depends what combo car you are looking for one might not pop up for a while

[DGNR8]

Yeah, the color combo is what's holding me up. I'm looking for a black on black 540 in manual. Found plenty of white and green ones.

[katit2]

Is this one perfect? Plenty of miles, plenty of mods/non-original stuff, plenty of body defects and I see rust underneath(body rust, Indiana car?). $9k and it was sold month ago.
Sagging hedliner.

Not many E34 on BaT, very few. And I didn't see any that really pop at any price. I'm looking at M5s and it seems that difference between 15k and 25k examples mostly in presentation/detailing work.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...-dinan-m-540i/

[JThomp33]

Yeah, the color combo is what's holding me up. I'm looking for a black on black 540 in manual. Found plenty of white and green ones.

I have one - second owner - lots done performance wise, but high mileage and rust here and there.

[DGNR8]

I'm interested to see it if it's for sale. Katit2 - yes, that's the one I lost out on. It still breaks my heart haha

[Red Shirt KRT]

Is this one perfect? Plenty of miles, plenty of mods/non-original stuff, plenty of body defects and I see rust underneath(body rust, Indiana car?). $9k and it was sold month ago.
Sagging hedliner.

Not many E34 on BaT, very few. And I didn't see any that really pop at any price. I'm looking at M5s and it seems that difference between 15k and 25k examples mostly in presentation/detailing work.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...-dinan-m-540i/

That one is an m-sport which is why it went for that much. If that was a normal 540 it would have been pretty cheap I bet.

[DGNR8]

I keep waiting for another to come across BAT. even if it's not an m sport

[katit2]

That one is an m-sport which is why it went for that much. If that was a normal 540 it would have been pretty cheap I bet.

I'm trying to say that price doesn't matter. Fact that there is none _perfect_ available period. 2 this year on BaT and both not perfect.

[Red Shirt KRT]

I mean if you are talking looking like coming off the showroom floor than no those don’t come along very often. There are a lot that are very good examples though.

[katit2]

I mean if you are talking looking like coming off the showroom floor than no those don’t come along very often. There are a lot that are very good examples though.

I am talking about something like this at least. Didn't see E34 like this yet.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1994-bmw-740il/

[DGNR8]

I guess I should have specified. I mean perfect for you. Cost, potions, year, etc.

[katit2]

I guess I should have specified. I mean perfect for you. Cost, potions, year, etc.

For me? I wrote about what I found. It wasn't even close to perfect for me, but it was best I could find at that time. Now it's solid DD car, my daughter is about to take over it. But it needs paint badly. And even though she is fine with auto (just starting) I have swap kit sitting and waiting.

[moroza]

Perfect will emerge from my garage in a few years.

Next-best thing - the perfect start, a black hardtop Touring, even in not-perfect condition - took nearly a decade of casual browsing until a forum member in Canada said he had one. A few months of scheming, a few bus tickets and logistics adventures later (pissed behind a dumpster in downtown Vancouver with the car running next to me because the battery wouldn't hold a charge, then had to get US border patrol to give me a jump start), it's a daily driver with a fully rebuilt suspension and about half the moderate rust problems fixed.

Manual swap coming soon. Diesel swap, steering rack, and sound insulation coming later. Most of the interior and exterior are perfect enough.

Options? It came as a Value Package but now I'd call it a dressed-up stripper: '95 leather door cards with wood trim and chrome door handles, manual heated leather comfort seats, four power windows, a basic radio with aux input, full OBC but CCM delete, airbag delete, rear wiper/washer delete, no SLS.

[theBMWbeast]

I think is easier to build the “perfect” e34, than to look for one. Does anyone really care about factory matching numbers, and bone stock condition, in anything other than an M5 or greater car?
Besides the color, everything else can be changed fairly easily, cost effectively, and timely. Interior swap, wheel changes, suspension work, even engine swaps to an extent, aren’t hard or costly if you know what you are doing. If you have the checkbook for it, buying the “almost perfect” car, then doing/ having the rest done, can make for a world class sports sedan.

I think of my own experience, where by now, with all the money spent on my 535i, I could have just bought a higher mileage M5. But in the same breath, that M5 wouldn’t have a brand new and improved suspension, hard to find upgrades, euro goodies, refreshed motor, or custom interior. For me personally, it would also lack the blood sweat and tears, which to me makes the car truly mine, but that is totally subjective. I can appreciate swinging the other way, and having someone else build the best car you can think of, and it still being your own. Overall, I think in this stage of their lives, no one is buying an e34 because they are a classic bmw, or a concours winning car. They buy it because the car speaks to them, not to show off the other people. They buy it, because they want something to make their own; something with character to be enjoyed. So I say, find the car as close as you can to the specs you want, and fill in the gaps with your own creativity and desires. You’ll come out feeling more invested in the car, and you’ll have exactly the one you want. The wait will most certainly be a lot shorter.
But all in all, this is just my 2c

[moroza]

it would also lack the blood sweat and tears, which to me makes the car truly mine, but that is totally subjective.

This. Though it is a double-edged sword.

I wonder if there's a niche market for a chassis-specific a-la-carte restomod? Would anyone pay me to build them an E34 to order?