The new BleedsBlue moneypit: GD62389 '92 M5 3.8

[okmike540i]

Looks fantastic on the turbines! Hope you can bring it to TexFest this year (and let me drive it...)!

[BleedsBlue]

Welp, the last posts in this thread ended on such high notes, I've had misgivings providing an update. But we are closing in on a year and long live the forums. I still have the car and it has never driven better, although I read the signs the universe beamed into my eyeballs, and sprung for a dedicated track car. That has allowed me to rethink the M5's purpose and caused a minor reversal in the direction I was going with the car, back towards street comfort. Any real plans have taken a backseat since April of 2024, however...

The big oopsie (followed by the smaller one)
I've made my peace with it and don't make a habit of dwelling on the past, but what happened a month after my last thread update was a bit of a perfect storm (literally, I guess). For the skimmers out there, the M5 got hammered in a hail storm, parked in my in-laws' driveway.

It's hard to understand how I could have avoided this scenario - nature, as she is often prone to do, called my bluff. We had our old driveway, front porch, and some other front yard concrete torn out; a new driveway and front porch were being laid. So for several days, I had almost no parking beyond my single-bay garage (taken up by something more valuable) and what I could fit at my in-laws. Even the street parking at my house needed to be kept open for the dumpster trailer, concrete truck, etc.

This is only relevant because my house was caught in the same hail storm, but the cars stashed there each came up with ~8-12 total dings, for the entire car. Sadly for the M5, which proudly took a driveway spot of distinction in front of my in-laws' garage, their neighborhood (less than 2 miles away) got absolutely hammered. For comparison, there is a cheeky little early model E34 535i in my back yard, totally unprotected. I can't find a single dent on the damn thing. Talk about the butterfly effect...

To break up the wall of text, here are two (very sweaty) photos I took in July of 2024, with hail damage, after I moved out of my storage unit. Storage prices in Austin are getting out of hand, and the correct answer is less cars, not more storage. Survival dictated looking past the hail damage and just driving the damn car, and when it comes down to it, I'll borrow a phrase from CaneDVM: I am still in lust with this car. I love it. I took it to a local car meet and absolutely no one cared about the hail. Sure, it sucks, but anything can be fixed.





I have yet to take a photo that actually captures how dimpled the M5's body panels are. It just doesn't come through on a dark color, particularly with my iPhone and lack of skills. But it's pretty comprehensive, to the point where starting with a junkyard hood and trunk lid would certainly be more efficient than doing body work on the existing panels. I cannot understate the effect this event had on my car guy psyche, particularly given the timing after the M5 was finally back on the road - at seriously high cost (the new 280). This period certainly represented absolute rock bottom for my enjoyment and fulfillment of the car hobby, although it served as the Archimedean point I needed to reverse course, downsize to a sensible level, and remember what I love about cars.

At the time, I still had the aforementioned storage unit, purely for carcaine - the big stuff like wheels and tires, transmissions, etc. The track car had been living there until called upon, but in May of 2024 I pulled that car out and sent it to finishing school with our friend Jacob up in Fort Worth, so I could actually take it to the track. The shine now completely worn off of my M5, I opted to stash his dimpliness in my storage unit for the summer. The hail damage was the largest reason for this, but secondarily the clear coat started to fade on the hood (in a tiny spot, but still); and thirdly, in the 12+ months the car sat without a transmission, the R12 leaked out and the A/C stopped blowing cold. Double dangit! That R12 blew frigid.

A couple of factors led to the next little oopsie, but I've shared enough already. Long story long, I crimped the passenger rear fender trying to squeeze the M5 into the storage unit. I was mostly being lazy and not moving enough stuff, so the approach angle was bad. Some light body work will be needed on the rear fender itself, but what I scraped was primarily stucco, so I avoided serious damage. It was just the cherry on top at this point, obviously. I don't think I actually have a photo of the scrape damage.

Well, now what?
Next steps (or even a step) have been hard to gauge, but I finally bit the bullet and took the M5 to a high-level (Porsche dealer-certified, PPG-only) body shop. They are scoping 1) the hail repair 2) the passenger rear fender scrape and 3) repairing some classic E34 rust creep (bottoms of the doors, and sills - both are early stages but now is the time to stop the advance). As many of us know, good paint itself (like the materials, not even the labor) is pretty expensive these days. I am not expecting this to be cheap. The front and rear bumpers will probably be resprayed, the front due to rock chips; the rear because it has been repainted poorly at some point in the past, and they failed to paint the lower trim in the contrasting Sterling Silver. Not cool.

I might pass on some of the repairs, depending on how dearly each part of this project will cost. The car market is soft, and E34 M5 values are unpredictable in the best of times. I absolutely loathe the idea of parting this car out, but the fact remains that - counting the $6,000 contained by the newest 280 transmission in the world, hanging underneath - this is basically a perfectly driving $20,000 parts car. So continuing to use round numbers, if I spend $20,000 (that I don't really have allocated for this, btw...) getting the car perfect, I would need to sell it for at least $40,000 for that to make sense. Which is a number that does not make that much sense to me. And yes, I watch BaT.

The fact remains that I need to downsize my rolling scrap pile (7 total vehicles, 5 being old/projects), so if I can't figure out a palatable way to move this M5 on, I might keep it and try to divest of the other jalopies. Then I could either fully fix the cosmetics later, when I have the capital to do so and the long-awaited, never materialized E34 M5 boom occurs; or I could find a tasty E34 Touring and make (more accurately, pay someone else to make) a DIY M5 Touring for a lot less than a real M5T costs. We will see.

Well, that's where this car has been. All comments, thoughts, and support - very appreciated. Back to the grind.

[dannyzabolotny]

I'd say just hold onto this M5 and enjoy driving it even if it's cosmetically imperfect. Euro 3.8 M5's aren't exactly common in the US, you know! Just gotta stop thinking about it as an investment and just dump money in and enjoy it.

Sell some other stuff, that's what I'd advise.

[theBMWbeast]

I'm here with my own e34 some days, it seems the cost and scope of work is never ending. I think you need to gauge where your passion is and go full force into that. Any money spent at this stage of the game, will never be realized in a future sale. So if you truly lust after the car and the experience still, divest some of your other projects and get a roadmap going for where you want to be with the e34 and when.

If financials are important, the e34 is not the chassis to continue to dump money into. I'm preaching to the choir on that one. So either drive it and enjoy the experience as it sits and as it looks, or cut your losses and perhaps revisit at a later time with an even nicer car.

[Johal E32]

I would say keep driving the car with the battle scars. The car market seems a little bit soft right now, and unfortunately E34 M5's still don't have the true love and appreciation they deserve.

If you find a really nice touring, I think that could make for a cool swap. Otherwise, just hang onto the car and enjoy it for what it is.

[danespann]

Man, it's rough to hear the hail damage story. Always something that seems to pop up out of nowhere.

I'd say just keep enjoying the car as it is until the paint goes. Seems to still present alright and really allows you to enjoy it more worry-free in the meantime.

Turbines look incredible as always.

[BleedsBlue]

Looks fantastic on the turbines! Hope you can bring it to TexFest this year (and let me drive it...)!

Shoot, I didn't mean to ignore this, Mike! I ended up being out of town for TF last year, and I'm not sure I can make it work in 2025 - might depend a bit on the venue. I haven't had much opportunity, but I am never too guarded with the keys to this car. Especially now that every body panel is ruined

I'd say just hold onto this M5 and enjoy driving it even if it's cosmetically imperfect. Euro 3.8 M5's aren't exactly common in the US, you know! Just gotta stop thinking about it as an investment and just dump money in and enjoy it.

Sell some other stuff, that's what I'd advise.

I mean, you are exactly right - it was an investment, and now it's not. But I need one of those t-shirts I've seen recently that says "buy art, not cars". You give me a good reminder here to just drive the damn thing.

I've still got some cool parts for it. And to really fly in the face of investment, I'd love to take this car back on track in cooler weather. That would give me an excuse to mount those KNPs that no one on Earth wants to buy...

I'm here with my own e34 some days, it seems the cost and scope of work is never ending. I think you need to gauge where your passion is and go full force into that. Any money spent at this stage of the game, will never be realized in a future sale. So if you truly lust after the car and the experience still, divest some of your other projects and get a roadmap going for where you want to be with the e34 and when.

If financials are important, the e34 is not the chassis to continue to dump money into. I'm preaching to the choir on that one. So either drive it and enjoy the experience as it sits and as it looks, or cut your losses and perhaps revisit at a later time with an even nicer car.

It's fair to say that E34s are still stuck in the purgatory of "Man Maths" value, IMHO. Even the clean, low-mile cars (regardless of model or trim) still lag comparable alternatives. That's always been part of the beauty of this chassis, though.

I am going to take your advice on the roadmap - I am obviously familiar with that concept from the rest of my life, but somehow I have been a fairly disorganized car guy, within the hobby. With 5 project cars, and now more real life responsibilities than ever, I have reached a breaking point. Good advice.

I would say keep driving the car with the battle scars. The car market seems a little bit soft right now, and unfortunately E34 M5's still don't have the true love and appreciation they deserve.

If you find a really nice touring, I think that could make for a cool swap. Otherwise, just hang onto the car and enjoy it for what it is.

This is the safest option. Agreed.

Man, it's rough to hear the hail damage story. Always something that seems to pop up out of nowhere.

I'd say just keep enjoying the car as it is until the paint goes. Seems to still present alright and really allows you to enjoy it more worry-free in the meantime.

Turbines look incredible as always.

I have other wheels for this car, but I just can't get away from M Systems.

For those of you that knew my white car: the high mileage on the chassis, bad paint, unoriginal interior etc, all contributed to the most carefree E34 M5 motoring possible. What is really keeping me up at night is this B38 car started clean, and I let it get it ruined.

What's done is done, and I really should come to terms with yet another cosmetically ruined E34 M5. But dammit, dude.

[dannyzabolotny]

For those of you that knew my white car: the high mileage on the chassis, bad paint, unoriginal interior etc, all contributed to the most carefree E34 M5 motoring possible. What is really keeping me up at night is this B38 car started clean, and I let it get it ruined.

What's done is done, and I really should come to terms with yet another cosmetically ruined E34 M5. But dammit, dude.

I feel the same way about my 540i, it's picked up a whole bunch of cosmetic damage in my ownership because there's so much crap on the roads in Arizona, along with all the rocks everywhere. The previous owner had repainted the whole front clip and installed a new M-Tech bumper a few years back and it was pristine when I drove it down from Canada, and now there's a big scuff on the bumper, a crack on one part, and the little vertical slats on the lower grille are all broken so I'm sure it'll start sagging soon. The hood and nose panel are full of deep rock chips now too. I'm surprised the headlights and foglights haven't shattered yet, that's happened on every E34 I've owned for more than a month.

Stuff happens when you drive a car, that's just life.

[a777fan]

Ugh. Yes. Economics and cars. The heart says that it doesn’t matter, but at the end of the day, the brain can’t always quite get there.

Do what u can to silence your brain. My most effective tool: if you let this one go… when would you have the chance to own another?

Sometimes thats not enough, but sometimes it is

[BleedsBlue]

I'm biting the bullet - the quote for a glass-out respray on top of fixing dimples, fender scratch, lower door bubbles, etc was reasonable given the current insane cost of paint.

The irony here is that once refinished, I almost certainly need to sell the car. But that is how everything in my life goes, I fix things up and when they are at their nicest condition ever, I sell haha.

I would rather share where the car is getting repaired, than the dollars and cents: Podium auto body, a Porsche-certified shop that only uses PPG. Their core business is definitely all modern cars and insurance claims, but they also have a solid rep within the enthusiast Porsche community down here. The owner was kind enough to give me a tour last year, and talk with me about how they also do old cars and restorations, and I feel completely comfortable in his hands.

This is my first rodeo (luckily) needing to completely refinish a car cosmetically, so the shop is really holding my hand, which I appreciate. They're also letting me come in and do some disassembly myself, which always helps. It'll be a good chance to tidy up some failing or bothersome areas on the car, like redoing the headliner and ditching the modern BMW knock-off shark fin antenna on the roof...

I'll grab some pics as often as I can!

I feel the same way about my 540i, it's picked up a whole bunch of cosmetic damage in my ownership because there's so much crap on the roads in Arizona, along with all the rocks everywhere. The previous owner had repainted the whole front clip and installed a new M-Tech bumper a few years back and it was pristine when I drove it down from Canada, and now there's a big scuff on the bumper, a crack on one part, and the little vertical slats on the lower grille are all broken so I'm sure it'll start sagging soon. The hood and nose panel are full of deep rock chips now too. I'm surprised the headlights and foglights haven't shattered yet, that's happened on every E34 I've owned for more than a month.

Stuff happens when you drive a car, that's just life.

This is the truth, and you can't fight it (without totally ruining your enjoyment of the car, at least). I learned this lesson secondhand when a buddy of mine had his E36 M3 repainted right after we graduated high school (maybe '09). He couldn't help but fret over his (at the time) huge investment, but by about the 2nd rock chip he realized he had to chill

I think the insanity of a hail storm is that a lifetime's worth of damage occurs, often in front of you, in a matter of minutes. I will never unsee that...

Ugh. Yes. Economics and cars. The heart says that it doesn’t matter, but at the end of the day, the brain can’t always quite get there.

Do what u can to silence your brain. My most effective tool: if you let this one go… when would you have the chance to own another?

Sometimes thats not enough, but sometimes it is

I absolutely agree with that tool, and have deployed it in the past time. In this case, I am flipping the tool: I don't really need this car while I work from home, with a toddler; and (famous last words) E34s remain more attainable than other generations. So I hope to weasel my way into a B38-powered Touring (I don't care if it's a WBS car) when our kid(s) are out of car seats and I need a family and dog hauler that is fun to drive.

By then, E34s will probably skyrocket in value but that will be a toll I'll gladly pay

[Jason5driver]

Speaking from someone that is older ... lol .
Don't sell .
I have had cars throughout the years that I thought it was no big deal to get rid of at the time .
But now , really wish I still had them , and the bonus , the car's worth now is soooo much more ... lol

[bimmerd00d]

I'm biting the bullet - the quote for a glass-out respray on top of fixing dimples, fender scratch, lower door bubbles, etc was reasonable given the current insane cost of paint.

The irony here is that once refinished, I almost certainly need to sell the car. But that is how everything in my life goes, I fix things up and when they are at their nicest condition ever, I sell haha.

I would rather share where the car is getting repaired, than the dollars and cents: Podium auto body, a Porsche-certified shop that only uses PPG. Their core business is definitely all modern cars and insurance claims, but they also have a solid rep within the enthusiast Porsche community down here. The owner was kind enough to give me a tour last year, and talk with me about how they also do old cars and restorations, and I feel completely comfortable in his hands.

This is my first rodeo (luckily) needing to completely refinish a car cosmetically, so the shop is really holding my hand, which I appreciate. They're also letting me come in and do some disassembly myself, which always helps. It'll be a good chance to tidy up some failing or bothersome areas on the car, like redoing the headliner and ditching the modern BMW knock-off shark fin antenna on the roof...

I'll grab some pics as often as I can!



This is the truth, and you can't fight it (without totally ruining your enjoyment of the car, at least). I learned this lesson secondhand when a buddy of mine had his E36 M3 repainted right after we graduated high school (maybe '09). He couldn't help but fret over his (at the time) huge investment, but by about the 2nd rock chip he realized he had to chill

I think the insanity of a hail storm is that a lifetime's worth of damage occurs, often in front of you, in a matter of minutes. I will never unsee that...



I absolutely agree with that tool, and have deployed it in the past time. In this case, I am flipping the tool: I don't really need this car while I work from home, with a toddler; and (famous last words) E34s remain more attainable than other generations. So I hope to weasel my way into a B38-powered Touring (I don't care if it's a WBS car) when our kid(s) are out of car seats and I need a family and dog hauler that is fun to drive.

By then, E34s will probably skyrocket in value but that will be a toll I'll gladly pay

dang dude, long time no chat! still running the bronze stars i got from you on the MSport. fighting an e31 840 in my garage...while working from home...with 2 rr classics, a C10, LR3, and a defender on deck. stop selling the toys people

[dannyzabolotny]

Why not just get it painted... and then keep it? Money will always replenish if you keep working, but nice Euro 3.8 M5's don't just fall from the sky.

[BleedsBlue]

Speaking from someone that is older ... lol .
Don't sell .
I have had cars throughout the years that I thought it was no big deal to get rid of at the time .
But now , really wish I still had them , and the bonus , the car's worth now is soooo much more ... lol

I have also been there, although in one case the universe saw fit to return the car to me later - which was awesome. I know I can't count on that in this case...

dang dude, long time no chat! still running the bronze stars i got from you on the MSport. fighting an e31 840 in my garage...while working from home...with 2 rr classics, a C10, LR3, and a defender on deck. stop selling the toys people

That's awesome! We are considering a cross country move, so if there was ever a good time to downsize the toys, it's now - to avoid renting a semi truck to carry everything LOL

Why not just get it painted... and then keep it? Money will always replenish if you keep working, but nice Euro 3.8 M5's don't just fall from the sky.

I really can't afford to; meaning, the money I'm putting into the paint and body work, I need out later this year. The good news is the car truly doesn't "owe" me anything, so whatever it goes for I can and will be happy. This really was not a nice example (other than being mostly intact, and mostly good paint) when I got it, so I can also rest easy knowing I've set the car up to live happily with the next owner (Danny Z style )

Truly, the next E34 I buy will be a touring, simple as that.

[BleedsBlue]

Well, that escalated quickly. Confirmed this car had been repainted already (I suspected), and the damage was extensive enough to warrant a glass-out respray. I stopped by to pull some interior headlining pieces and the parcel shelf for refinishing. She should be ready for paint in another week or two. I supplied a junk yard hood, but they are popping out the dents in the trunk panel and fenders (the latter were not too bad). Though I never would have resprayed the whole car without the hail damage, I'll be glad to have some of the warts removed. It'll be hard to let go of the car afterwards (duh).

[ffrizzo]

Glad that you still post about your car on this days. It's absolute fabulous your journey with the car.
And I here to make a inquire is this bentley manual you shared on this post has information about the S38 engines? I am search over the internet for information about torque specs about those engines and couldn't find much information. ANd I am doing it because I just put my hands on M5 with S38b36 but this was neglected and need some love to bake to the glory.
So if you can share which bentley is this I will try to search for this to buy

Thanks,

I hear all of this. Loudly, lol. We're getting to that age/life complication where sometimes we just need to outsource! Or at least I keep telling myself that, and not following through (see below)...

Thanks, Bentley!

[BleedsBlue]

Glad that you still post about your car on this days. It's absolute fabulous your journey with the car.
And I here to make a inquire is this bentley manual you shared on this post has information about the S38 engines? I am search over the internet for information about torque specs about those engines and couldn't find much information. ANd I am doing it because I just put my hands on M5 with S38b36 but this was neglected and need some love to bake to the glory.
So if you can share which bentley is this I will try to search for this to buy

Thanks,

Unfortunately, this is the "regular" E34 Bentley! It is missing the M5 and S38 stuff.

[BleedsBlue]

Bad pic, but, is pic

[thomas824]

Sharing is caring. Anything to gain some popularity around here again.. Calendars used to do that. Maybe a 2026 Calendar of top 12 e34 photos. Not sure who used to run that.

[BleedsBlue]

Sharing is caring. Anything to gain some popularity around here again.. Calendars used to do that. Maybe a 2026 Calendar of top 12 e34 photos. Not sure who used to run that.

That's a great idea! I used to love those forum calendars.

[Jcbe34]

Bad pic, but, is pic

That is a bad pic!

Can't wait to see it done. Have you gotten a estimated finish date? Are they re-assembling or are you going to do it?

[danespann]

Even with a bad pic, its great to see progress on the car. Moving along quickly by body shop standards.

[BleedsBlue]

That is a bad pic!

Can't wait to see it done. Have you gotten an estimated finish date? Are they re-assembling or are you going to do it?

They were actively working on it when I dropped by (to pick up another hail-damaged car they fixed), otherwise I would have asked to get in the booth. I literally thought "I'm gonna get crap for how lazy this pic is"

They'll be done in May for sure.

I discussed doing R&I on what I could with the shop, and they were very accommodating. The issue is that last month we moved out of Austin a couple hundred miles away for the summer, so the logistics would have been a pain. In for a penny, in for a pound...

Even with a bad pic, its great to see progress on the car. Moving along quickly by body shop standards.

Thanks Dane. They've even slow-rolled it a bit to help me afford to pay in increments. I'd love to work with them again.