Any interest in or selling advice for 535iM

[Paul in NZ]

dont know Matt but all the best...as many bimmer nut type forums as you can find I guess....

[Matt P]

Oh, I know it has been a long long time since I've posted here. My life has been rather chaotic since I've sold my M5T to say the least.

The short story is this: I'm very unexpectedly considering selling my 1990 535i 5-speed and I'm looking for advice on how best to do it to get a fair price (for both parties) and find it a good home.

Would it be ok to start by placing the for sale listing here in this forum? And where else would you recommend that I list it for sale at? I would prefer to find a local buyer which means close to Dallas/Austin/Houston for me.

Why I am selling at this time:

I was originally planning on keeping it a few more years and using it mostly for my weekly commute between Dallas and Austin. During the last couple years, I've had problems with my left foot. First it the planter fascia, and a lot of pain, and then it healed but ankle pain developed which later impacted my left knee. I just chalked it up to middle age breakdown. But I just spent the last 4 weeks driving an automatic, one in a rental car, and three in my wife's old E39 540iT to sort it out after being t-boned last year and many months being lovingly repaired (quite a story on its own, bottom line was not a single used or non-oem part, lovingly repaired the painstakingly correctly way).

What caught me by surprise was how much better my foot has gotten while I gave up shifting. So I am making the decision to give up driving a stick shift in the interest of maintaining my body, now over 40 years out of warrenty. Instead of selling the E39 540iT, I'm going to take it my daily driver and maybe in a couple years I'll get something with paddle shifters.

Quick description of the car.

12/89 build date (1990). Black/Tan. 250K miles. New Blanton 5-speed @ 150K. Dinan Chip. Recent 60gb Empeg Am/FM/MP3 Stereo Head unit and Alpine/MB Quart sound setup. No other modifcations. Maintained liked you would expect from a guy who imported a M5 Touring

[RobPatt]

...no disrepect intended and only applause on the M5T earlier..but...

I may be interested. Love the E34 in black, mine is, but the M50TU A/T... may like to "upgrade" to the 535 5spd.

What's the mx (maint) situation... sachs suspension or stock? Thrust arms? Headgasket? Valves?

Can't promise I'd by of course at this point... but what's the ballpark fair price you're thinking?

Again, asking 'cause it'd be a nice upgrade, although it does have 100K miles more than the ride I'm in now....

Cheers.

Oh, I know it has been a long long time since I've posted here. My life has been rather chaotic since I've sold my M5T to say the least.

The short story is this: I'm very unexpectedly considering selling my 1990 535i 5-speed and I'm looking for advice on how best to do it to get a fair price (for both parties) and find it a good home.

Would it be ok to start by placing the for sale listing here in this forum? And where else would you recommend that I list it for sale at? I would prefer to find a local buyer which means close to Dallas/Austin/Houston for me.

Why I am selling at this time:

I was originally planning on keeping it a few more years and using it mostly for my weekly commute between Dallas and Austin. During the last couple years, I've had problems with my left foot. First it the planter fascia, and a lot of pain, and then it healed but ankle pain developed which later impacted my left knee. I just chalked it up to middle age breakdown. But I just spent the last 4 weeks driving an automatic, one in a rental car, and three in my wife's old E39 540iT to sort it out after being t-boned last year and many months being lovingly repaired (quite a story on its own, bottom line was not a single used or non-oem part, lovingly repaired the painstakingly correctly way).

What caught me by surprise was how much better my foot has gotten while I gave up shifting. So I am making the decision to give up driving a stick shift in the interest of maintaining my body, now over 40 years out of warrenty. Instead of selling the E39 540iT, I'm going to take it my daily driver and maybe in a couple years I'll get something with paddle shifters.

Quick description of the car.

12/89 build date (1990). Black/Tan. 250K miles. New Blanton 5-speed @ 150K. Dinan Chip. Recent 60gb Empeg Am/FM/MP3 Stereo Head unit and Alpine/MB Quart sound setup. No other modifcations. Maintained liked you would expect from a guy who imported a M5 Touring

[Matt P]

...no disrepect intended and only applause on the M5T earlier..but...

I may be interested. Love the E34 in black, mine is, but the M50TU A/T... may like to "upgrade" to the 535 5spd.

What's the mx (maint) situation... sachs suspension or stock? Thrust arms? Headgasket? Valves?

Can't promise I'd by of course at this point... but what's the ballpark fair price you're thinking?


Again, asking 'cause it'd be a nice upgrade, although it does have 100K miles more than the ride I'm in now....

Cheers.

I don't have my repair file handy, so I'm going off the top of my head.

For years I had it maintained by BMS in Ft. Worth, then as I moved east, by Classic BMW in Dallas (now Plano).

Two mechanical issues with car at this moment that I know of.

1) Need to reseal the duck(?) valve on the back of the engine and adjust the valves while you're at it. The leak is not bad, but the rest of the engine is tight and dry. It just came off of an inspection 2 a couple weeks ago, but we had adjusted valves about halfway between now and the previous Inspection 2, and knowing this would be coming up, we omitted that part since we'll have it open anyway.

2) It's going to need new front shocks in 10-15K miles. We priced OEM and it looked to be much cheaper to just put a Dinan Stage 1 kit on (less than $1k for the parts). That was our plan (There is one service rep at Classic who is as much of an enthusiast as anyone here, and he and I plan stuff on my cars months in advance and preventatively), which I made before discovering that driving an automatic helped my foot pain so much.

That's it, unless you want to replace the rear door panels which are staring to separate (and have been unfortunately subjected to small children on rare occasions). Headliner doesn't sag because it's been replaced. LKM module has been replaced. Cooling system parts get replaced at first sign of a leak. Door lock and electronic control modules - replaced as needed. Engine gasket starts to seep, it gets queued up for replacement. Oil changed at twice the computer/inspection interval for much of the time I've had it. (I think I missed one or two). Redline MTL only for the 5-speed.

I dropped a couple grand rebuilding the front end maybe 18 months ago. Suspension is in fine shape. Dropped a couple more on the A/C and wiring. I didn't worry about it, I just did whatever was needed.

It's clean but it is old and used as a regular commuter. It's not a show car, but you'd be hard pressed to find one that you will give you less grief in the next year if you drive it a lot.

I'll get my file on it this weekend and build a repair history summary. I will probably cry when I see how much I spent.

My target price is $3500. I have not researched the market yet to know if that is asking too much. If so, I will adjust. I have no delusions that it deserves top dollar. Just something that is fair and indicates it is in very good mechanical shape.

Hope that info helps.

[BMWCCA1]

I'm at least ten-years your senior. Suffice it to say I now qualify for the Senior Citizen discount at my local grocery store. I feel your pain, but I'd rather move to the country and avoid the stop-and-go than give up my stick-shift. Oh wait, I already live in the country!

[Ross]

Eighteen year old with a quarter mil miles, $3500? Ain't gonna happen I'm afraid. I wish it could, as I'm in essentially in the same boat mileagewise with my '89.
I'd love to be wrong on this but some of the prices I've seen a few people here asking for elderly BMs seem nuts. All remain for sale, so....

[Matt P]

I hate the idea of giving up shifting for myself, but the reduction in foot pain has been really noticeable. I've reached that point in my life where I understand that some things may never work as well as they did when I was younger, and taking care of myself has gotten a lot more important.

However, I have found some minor consolation in 282hp, 325 ft-lb (294 ft-lb@ 2000 RPM) and a factory sport package.

[Matt P]

Well, if $3500 is nuts, even for all the mechanicals being sorted, then I'll go for less. Perhaps I should put it on eBay and just let the chips fall where they may.

[Super90]

Matt, drop me a private message. I'm in Dallas.

[Ross]

I think ebay is probably a worse place as it's impossible to demonstrate the difference between a properly sorted car and all the other trash offered.
It's been my experience that cosmetics and mileage mean more to most buyers.
Perhaps you can find someone who appreciates what it costs to fix one that's not up to par.
I wasn't inferring that your price was nuts, high perhaps, not nuts. There have been some others asking near double what you ask. Looks as if you are getting some play though so perhaps an appreciative audience here.