Nice e28 535 on Ebay

[VentoGT]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180060714291

Nice looking car locally here--I know the dealer and he is a reputable guy--thought you guys may be interested!

[filip00]

that's E12 looking at the pics, and it can't be a 1988, it's older.

[jbraswell]

uhh thats definately an e28, I had an '88 that was identical to that except 100k more miles. Cirrusblau is such a great color in person, not so much in pictures

[Alexlind123]

I would be willing to bet that that is NOT Cirrusblau. Im guessing its cosmosblau, it has much too little blue in it for cirrusblau.

This, however, IS Cirrusblau.

http://servo.postverket.us/alex/color1.jpg http://servo.postverket.us/alex/color5.jpg

[Alexlind123]

Oh, BTW, that is quite obviously an e28.

[BMWCCA1]

I have three E28s and that's one for sure. They never really made any of them in the year 1988 but since the U.S. was the last market where they were sold while we awaited the E34, they called nearly everything made after about March 1987 an '88. Here, check out what a big 5er Fest looks like:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c378/BMWCCA1/5erFestPanoramicsmall.jpg
And here's mine:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c378/BMWCCA1/5erFest535is.jpg

[filip00]

doesn't e28 have bigger outer lights?
this car selling has the same size lights....

what about this? e12 left and e28 right?

http://www.bmworg.ru/img/cars/e12_misc_sm.jpghttp://www.fahrcar.com/bmw-m5-e28-front.jpg

[Russell]

nice car. Had an e28 5 speed once. Thinking about getting another to go with my e34.

[BMWCCA1]

doesn't e28 have bigger outer lights?
this car selling has the same size lights....I'm guessing you've never seen a U.S. spec E28? H4 lights weren't allowed so we just used 5.75" round quad sealed-beams. Though most have upgraded to at least E-code H4s or even the Euro 7" low beams. I have a set, with the proper grilles and wipers, but the light output from the 5.75" Hellas is actually superior for finding deer in the dark in Virginia. So, what did you think of the bumpers on that U.S. car then? :D
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c378/BMWCCA1/M5Generations.jpg

[Kalevera]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180060714291

Nice looking car locally here--I know the dealer and he is a reputable guy--thought you guys may be interested!
That's a reputable dealer?

Then why is he always screwing people over on the 'bay? I'm not even talking about his feedback.

Not that I'm against arbitrage or anything, but take, for example, the E30 325i turbo he bought last spring for ~ 2 grand. He basically copied the guy's auction text into his own format and listed it for 8 gees. Slick.

[BMWCCA1]

That's the first nice word I've ever heard said about that dealership, including reports from those who live nearby.

And his price is absolutely ridiculous!

[filip00]

bmwcca1 - thanks for solving the problem, i didn't know USspec had different front lights. the bumpers are silly! :D

[BMWCCA1]

DOT standards at the time required a 5-mph crash test with no damage to "safety-related" parts like headlights. They do protect, and they're fitted to two hydraulic shocks to absorb impact and bounce back. Three shocks on the back bumper, as I recall. You think that looks stupid, you should see them on a poor little 2002!

[filip00]

my car also has 2 shock absorbers, and the e30 i had before also had it. we just have better looking cars here in europe :P and yeah, without the limitations too :P :D

[BMWCCA1]

my car also has 2 shock absorbers, and the e30 i had before also had it. we just have better looking cars here in europe :P and yeah, without the limitations too :P :DYes, and you can thank the U.S. regulations and the size of our BMW market for that, too. Early E30 Euro models did not have bumper shocks. Later ones did, probably about the time the U.S. models got the more-Euro-looking body-colored plastic bumpers. Euro E28s never had bumper shocks.

[Bruce Kennett]

or at least in part. when a hydralically-suspended citroen is parked and goes to sleep, it eventually settles down on its suspension and gets much closer to the ground. so in that case the bumpers are no lionger within the stringent requirements of the DOT spec. there were other factors that had them leave in the early-70s, most of them regulations that were just way too costly for them to make.

another regulation that gets me is sealed beams. in the 60s and 70s the citroen DS and the jaguar XKE both had beautifully faired headlights, very aerodynamic. in the case of the citroen, the inner (high beam) lights were connected to the steering so as you went around a corner those lights illuminated the road toward where you were turning the car. but the DOT (probably with GE money calling the shots) insisted that the cars had to have sealed beams instead of their standard-issue lighting. not only did it ruin the aerodynamics (glass fairings not allowed) but it created a great place for rust to collect. and now look around: almost all new cars have aerodynamic glass fairings.

bruce

[93 525 Paul]

Those regs killed Citroen...there were other factors that had them leave in the early-70s,
bruce

No argument that the US imposes tons of silly regs that benefit no one - but regs killing Citroen? I always thought the one and only factor was fugliness. My bad.:p

[Denton]

Never heard a good thing about that dealership.

[BMWCCA1]

another regulation that gets me is sealed beams. in the 60s and 70s the citroen DS and the jaguar XKE both had beautifully faired headlights, very aerodynamic. in the case of the citroen, the inner (high beam) lights were connected to the steering so as you went around a corner those lights illuminated the road toward where you were turning the car. but the DOT (probably with GE money calling the shots) insisted that the cars had to have sealed beams instead of their standard-issue lighting. not only did it ruin the aerodynamics (glass fairings not allowed) but it created a great place for rust to collect. and now look around: almost all new cars have aerodynamic glass fairings.Rust on the body? That's not the sealed beam's fault. Actually, the sealed-beam regulation was because reflectors tended to rust out much more quickly if the bulbs were removable. Water would get in the reflectors and trash them, diminishing the light output. Sealed beams were cheap and durable if not as effective in lighting the road. The regulation actually only said the bulb and/or reflector couldn't be exposed and Cibie had an H4 bulb inside a glass envelope that met the U.S. regs but wasn't all that popular. It might have been their Z-beam. And, of course, now we have much better lighting laws, and even allow headlights that track with the steering wheel (BMW, and others)...finally! But I'll tell you, those aerodynamic faired headlight housings are mostly crap and the plastic gets so cloudy the lights are nearly useless. I have them on my kids' E36 318ti and my Chrysler van. Absolute junk. The E36 in the rest of the world has glass covers, but not in the U.S. And the E39 Fives are just as bad.

[filip00]

what do you mean, in the US the cover over the lights isn't glass? what is it, plastic?

[VentoGT]

WOW--I had no idea that Bimmer Classics had such a sordid reputation here--I will be sure to pass that along to the dealer...I have had 3 friends buy cars from him with no issues whatsoever at great prices. He is a friend of a friend of mine, and the people I have referred to him have had nothing but good things to say of their experience. I didn't want to disguise the fact that I knew the selling dealer when I posted the original auction...anyone have specific issues that they can share with me? I'd be happy to pass any disgruntled issues along to them...

[BMWCCA1]

what do you mean, in the US the cover over the lights isn't glass? what is it, plastic?Yep, at least on E36 and E39. I haven't checked any others recently. Big upgrade here has always been Euro lights on E36 cars. Oddly, our U.S. E36 headlight assemblies were made in the U.S.A., shipped to Germany where they were installed, and shipped back in competed cars. What a waste.

[shrike071]

...anyone have specific issues that they can share with me? I'd be happy to pass any disgruntled issues along to them...

Well, I bought one of their cars. Although I don't feel like I was ripped-off, I DO feel like the car was mis-represented and if I was an out of state buyer who got the car from eBay - I would have been super-pissed once I got there to get the car I "won". He 'forgot' to mention in the auction that the entire exhaust system was rotten, that NOTHING in the rear hatch worked, that it was missing parts to the rear wiper system, the headliner was shot, that the tires were completely shot, and that the SLS was destroyed and non-functioning. His auction only painted the car as a puff of a 525iT with high miles. I won the auction and zipped over since I live about 20 miles away and promptly beat him up on the price enough to where I took the car home. Now, after almost a grand, some blood, some cussing and a lot of beer - the car IS a puff of a 525iT - but it sure as hell wasn't when I got her home.

(I am purposely not mentioning the transmission acting oddly when it's cold for fear I may jinx it into failure....)

The body and paint are near perfect and the car does run like a champ. Although with 160k on the clock it does blow a little smoke in the AM after sitting overnight. ..but so do I, so how can I complain?

Oh - and they lost my title paperwork and my temp tag expired 2 days ago...

If anyone here is interested in that car - please post here so one of the locals can go over there and check it out for you.