Introduced in 1988, the BMW E34 was the German company’s answer to the 1980s trend for aerodynamic design.

it had a drag coefficient of just 0.30 despite maintaining the hewn-from-granite Teutonic looks that have made its E28 predecessor such a success.

It was a strikingly handsome car and a highly desirable one, especially when equipped with one of BMW's silky smooth six-cylinder petrol engines, which were considered the very best in the world at the time of its introduction.

The E34 was an incredible success. Desirable, stylish and extremely well put together, it was the best executive car in the world in its day. Today, it's an up and coming modern classic with an increasingly strong following.

The difficulty these days is finding a good one, because the car’s inherent strong build quality and superb engines meant that many of them were driven into the ground.

This example survived such a fate due to the unfortunate passing of its owner and from 2007 until January this year it's sat unused in his garage. The vendor acquired the car last month and has spent quite a bit of time and money getting it back into road legal condition for its next owner.

This is a very late example of the E34 first registered in August 1996, by which time its E39 replacement was already on sale.

It was supplied knew by Attwood BMW of Slough and in 1999 was purchased from a BMW specialist in Surrey by a German national, who traded in his 1991 Ford Granada in order to acquire it.

Over the next eight years, he covered over 100,000 miles in the car but from late 2007 was unable to drive and the BMW was parked in his garage where it remained until January this year, when it was sold to the vendor via a probate sale.

In the past few weeks, the BMW has been recommissioned and details of the work carried out are included below. It passed an MOT with no advisories just a few weeks ago and it's now offered for sale in good working order and ready to go.

There’s quite a comprehensive service history with this car, which documents extensive levels of care from its first registration in 1996 right through until it was parked up in late 2007. The service book is stamped all the way through, and there are also several independent receipts for mechanical repairs as well as consumables such as tyres and batteries.

The vendor carried out much of the recent work himself, so there are no bills to document what was done, but it's obvious from looking at the car to see the work that's been carried out.

One of the biggest problems when buying any E34 is corrosion, as although they were extremely well made the fact that even the newest ones are over 25 years old means that rust is often a problem. That's not the case with this example, which is remarkably solid.

There are a couple of small bubbles on the sill top inside the driver’s door shut, but there's no corrosion to any of the panels, nor is there anything alarming underneath. There’s a small piece of plastic trim missing from the near side front wing and one wheel centre cap needs replacing, while there are areas of the paint that have faded and would benefit from some cosmetic attention, but overall it's a really straight and solid example. 

The metric alloy wheels are all in good condition, including a full-size spare, and the tyres are all bedecked with a decent amount of tread.

One thing that will really sell this car is the condition of its interior, because quite often the driver’s seat in a cloth-trimmed E34 is completely threadbare.

Despite covering over 160,000 miles, that's not the case with this one. Indeed, the driver’s seat is one of the best we've seen in a cloth-trimmed BMW of its era, with minimal wear.

The same can be said for the rest of the interior, which features optional wood veneer inlays and a gloriously retro mobile phone, which comes complete with the SIM top up card -though we suspect that this no longer works.

The car also has air conditioning, but the vendor hasn't attempted to re-gas it so has no idea whether it works or not.

The 2,494cc straight six is one of the all-time classic BMW engines.

Since returning the car to the road a few weeks ago, the vendor has been using the BMW as his daily transport whilst his Range Rover has been in the garage, and he reports that it's great to drive.

He's carried out quite a lot of work on the car, including new fuel lines and a new fuel pump, along with a brand new radiator, gearbox rebuild and a comprehensive service. 

Finding a really good E34 is getting increasingly hard, which makes this example well worthy of consideration. The most important thing is that it's in structurally excellent condition, but in addition to that it also has a fascinating history file that shows that it was looked after throughout its life before it was parked up.

The vendor has taken great care to ensure that it returns to the road to be enjoyed by future owner, and you'll struggle to find one that’s more solid or original than this. With some minor cosmetics and some fettling, it’ll be a truly superb example.