Ok, this is slightly off-topic today... but I have a reason. ;)
I have seen this car parked at a BMW specialty shop about 1/2 mile from my house. The shop is owned by a young fella who went to school with my sons, and whom I have met on several occasions, including one time that I just popped in to have a look at his newly opened shop a couple of years ago. Really nice kid named Brian.
Over the past couple of years, I have had a couple of car-related conversations with a professional friend through my job about a BMW she and her husband have owned for years. She was going to get rid of it because it wasn't running, and they didn't need it. She told me it was a 5 Series, but, since I was an E21 and E30 guy at the time, I wasn't very interested.
A few months later, when driving by this local shop, I spied the car pictured above in the lot. I didn't really look at it very closely, but I did notice that it sat there for a long time. I ran into my friend again, and she mentioned that that was in fact her car, and that the shop may buy it to restore it. Hmmm. This piqued my interest. Why would a BMW shop be interested in restoring an ordinary '80's 5 series?
I ran into Brian, the shop owner, at a BMW Dinner shortly thereafter, and that is when I learned the full story: this was no run of the mill 5 Series! It was an M5!
Day um.
Had I known this two years earlier.... that M5 might now be sitting in MY garage! Shoot.
Not really though, I suppose. If I had bought that car at that time, it would have very likely been ME living in the garage WITH the M5. :) Besides, while I don't recall her exact asking price, I think I thought at the time that it was a little pricey for a car I wasn't that interested in the first place, and sort of dismissed it. I had no idea that it was an M5 back then. Double day um! :)
So what is all the fuss about? Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:
The BMW M5 is a high performance version of the BMW 5-Series executive car built by the Motorsport division of BMW. Beginning production in 1985, the first incarnation of the M5 was hand-built utilizing the 535i chassis and a modified BMW M1 engine, being the fastest production sedan in the world at the time of its introduction...... With a total production of 2,191 units, the E28 M5 remains among the rarest regular production BMW Motorsport cars – after the BMW M1 (456 units), BMW E34 M5 Touring (891 units), and the BMW 850CSi (1510 units) .
Modified M1 engine. YIKES! I mean... Check.
Big-Time Missed opportunity for me. Check.
And Mate.
Day um. Oh well. C'est la vie.
:)
Enjoy, while I eat my heart out. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YQKOsDi5HsU
http://jalopnik.com/why-the-original-bmw-m5-is-still-a-sleeper-demon-511196246?utm_campaign=socialflow_jalopnik_facebook&utm_source=jalopnik_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M5
This is Brian's shop in Niantic, CT.
Baurspotting will do a followup to this story at some future point, to see what the status of this M5 is, and what progress has been made on the restoration.
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