No US E34 was sold as a '96 MY car, as they are not OBDII compliant. E39s started as MY 1997s. There was no MY '96 5 series car in the US.
The youngest E34 I've ever seen was sold in 3/96 and had a build date of 11 or 12 of '95. Probably was an olympic edition 525 -- a horribly stupid mistake of a car with bad looking wheels and a dumb logo on the dash.
best, whit