Electric Red/Japan Red Manuals

[Aubergine]

Hi All,

I wanted to post this info so that someone, somewhere can find it when they go to search one day. Over the past two years I have pieced together what I believe are the only 3 native (factory original) Electric Red/Japan Red E39 manual tourings in the US. Below are the serial numbers and a blurb on each car. Since this is one of the rarest specs for a touring I thought it best to share with the group. If you know of others, add them in! As of right now, all the cars seem to be MY01.

GD50118 - This is the touring my family has. It seems to be the earliest production (Dec 2000) and was leased new in Southampton, NY. The car had leatherette but now wears a full beige either interior with comfort seats. We are the 3rd owners and the car has around 160K now.

GD50185 - BaT featured this car back in 2016 when it was on CL in CA. It had 195K at the time and a commenter mentioned a Salvage Title. This is the only one of the three with the Sport Package. At the time of writing, CarFax reports that in May 2018 this example had 229K miles.

GD50217 - The 'Marlboro Touring' was optioned with Nav and DSP, along with the usual Premium Package, but no Convenience Package. This car seems to have started in Texas and then ended up in the NY/NJ area. It had air suspension installed and was adorned with Marlboro livery graphics. In 2016 the car was in a front end collision and the frames rails were bent beyond repair so the car was totaled out and his since been parted out. It had approximated 170K miles at the end of it's life.

[jp5Touring]

Pretty cool well done, do you know or were in contact with the owners ?

[TexasTouring]

Cool post, I like the interesting E39 colors. Have any pictures of your red wagon?

Also, a long shot, but do you happen to have any data on the # of Slate Green E39 Tourings?

[mateo8]

Cool post, I like the interesting E39 colors. Have any pictures of your red wagon?

Also, a long shot, but do you happen to have any data on the # of Slate Green E39 Tourings?

TexasTouring I think this may help on production numbers and colors:

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...option-codes-)

[jp5Touring]

At " The Vintage" this May I did see and meet the owner of a factory Japan Red Slick Top with a 5-speed, I think it had cloth interior.
He was from Tennessee iirc, I might have his phone number. Will have to look.

When I was at the BMW Museum checking things out,two employees came over from some offices and quiz me about mine, they wanted to go check it out but didn't have time.
That was pretty cool I thought.

[Aubergine]

Pretty cool well done, do you know or were in contact with the owners ?

Other than the previous owner of our's and the 'Marlboro Touring', sadly I do not.

Cool post, I like the interesting E39 colors. Have any pictures of your red wagon?

I will post a few. The car has lead a pretty pampered life but still has a little CC failure beginning on the roof.

Also, a long shot, but do you happen to have any data on the # of Slate Green E39 Tourings?

I do not, unfortunately.

At " The Vintage" this May I did see and meet the owner of a factory Japan Red Slick Top with a 5-speed, I think it had cloth interior.
He was from Tennessee iirc, I might have his phone number. Will have to look.

When I was at the BMW Museum checking things out,two employees came over from some offices and quiz me about mine, they wanted to go check it out but didn't have time.
That was pretty cool I thought.

It seems like there are more Japan Red tourings than I imagined. I saw your car At The Vintage but always seemed to miss you. Try again next year? lol

Seriously though, I just found out there is a manual Japan Red/Black Slicktop in the Portland, OR area.

[jp5Touring]

It seems like there are more Japan Red tourings than I imagined. I saw your car At The Vintage but always seemed to miss you. Try again next year? lol

Seriously though, I just found out there is a manual Japan Red/Black Slicktop in the Portland, OR area.[/QUOTE]



Sorry I missed you, We had a blast, I have a room there already. I plan on bringing this in the Spring,

[Aubergine]

It seems like there are more Japan Red tourings than I imagined. I saw your car At The Vintage but always seemed to miss you. Try again next year? lol

Seriously though, I just found out there is a manual Japan Red/Black Slicktop in the Portland, OR area.

Sorry I missed you, We had a blast, I have a room there already. I plan on bringing this in the Spring,


[/QUOTE]
I will keep a lookout! Probably coming in an E28 or E34 next year. We'll see!

[Mike WW]

I'm not sure which red, but a buddy of mine has a Red, slicktop, manual 528it. An 00. I think it's low mileage. He got it from the original owners who special ordered it, obviously with it being a slicktop.

[mateo8]

I'm not sure which red, but a buddy of mine has a Red, slicktop, manual 528it. An 00. I think it's low mileage. He got it from the original owners who special ordered it, obviously with it being a slicktop.

With that car being a special order from the original owners, would this make it a "BMW individual" car? If not, what did it take to make a BMW an "individual" car?

[Aubergine]

I'm not sure which red, but a buddy of mine has a Red, slicktop, manual 528it. An 00. I think it's low mileage. He got it from the original owners who special ordered it, obviously with it being a slicktop.

Ask him for the last seven digits of the VIN. I would be very curious to know more!

[Aubergine]

With that car being a special order from the original owners, would this make it a "BMW individual" car? If not, what did it take to make a BMW an "individual" car?

Well, a car in an 'Individual Color' verses an 'BMW Individual Car' are two very different things. BMW Individual Colors were available by special order (outside of the brochure colors) for an added cost. These remained as standard cars, aside from the color. There is a Dakar Yellow E39 528i in SF currently for sale that fits this profile.

Full BMW Individual Cars are highly uncommon in the US and usually have special exterior and interior colors with a variety of high equipment. The average price was/is $5K-10K above a standard model. These cars almost always have 'BMW Individual' door sills.

[Island Grown]

I'm not sure which red, but a buddy of mine has a Red, slicktop, manual 528it. An 00. I think it's low mileage. He got it from the original owners who special ordered it, obviously with it being a slicktop.

That would be interesting to see... I wonder if he'd ever part with it