Description
Purchased by me on 19th October 2015 and after eight months of hard work, every evening & weekend, this very special E12 M535i was finally completely restored, well apart from the air conditioning, that took a further 18 months to get right.
It has had 6 owners prior to me, one of those where the car remained in storage with Tony BMW, unused.
Whilst i cherish the E12 and am very fussy about the car, it's no garage queen and it does get used, The first MOT in my ownership was in June 2016 with 132202 miles recorded, it now has 139500, trips to Cornwall and the Isle of Wight as well as more local use attending shows. In the time I have owned it, I was only let down with teething problems, initially I had not replaced the fuel tank and it kept dragging up dregs from the tank, that was an expensive fix in the form of a new fuel tank, it has never missed a beat since.
Here is the list of work carried out to restore this very rare and iconic example to it's former glory and testament to why this nearly 45 year old car is totally reliable:
Body work:
New outer wings.
Rebuilt inner wings.
Inner sills rebuilt.
Part new boot floor and spare wheel well (E28 doner panels)
New rear panel (between lights).
Rebuilt boot and bonnet scuttle gutters (Under the seals).
Front and rear floor pans (E28 doner floor pans with correct alignment of flutes)
Three replacement E12 doors, initially I tried E28 doors but they simply don't fit correctly.
Replacement boot lid.
Complete respray in the correct non metallic black following extensive preparation.
Mechanical/ Electrical:
Cylinder head rebuilt with new guides and oil seals.
New custom made 6 branch exhaust manifold.
Stainless steel performance exhaust system (Not Loud).
New engine mounts.
New Servos.
New brake/ clutch master cylinder.
Fuel injectors sonically cleaned
New Fuel tank.
New radiator,
Refurbished/ renewed brake calipers.
New H&R springs with Bilstein B6 shocks.
Refurbished deep dish Marle alloy wheels.
Original tool kit fully replenished with genuine tools.
Front & rear lights replaced.
Wiring loom inspected, repaired where necessary and re-wrapped in fabric loom tape.
New AC condenser (from BMW Egypt).
Fully rebuilt AC compressor.
New AC fan.
All new AC pipework.
Interior:
Correct black cord seats (driver's seat professional repaired with new material, outer bolsters only).
Passenger and rear seats were perfect.
Replacement genuine E12 carpet.
New period style Kenwood blue tooth stereo.
I have owned many classic BMWs over the years including several E3's, two e28 M5's (Nrs 172 & 164), two E28 M535is, two E28 525es and several E30s. This E12 M535i is among my favorites, it feels nimble and sure footed with performance similar to the E28M5, less power but fantastic torque with the added advantage of being much lighter. I still own two E3 2500s and a mechanically modified E28 528i, with an e39 530d as my daily, I guess you could say I like BMWs!
The extensive restoration has been completed for nearly nine years and the car remains in excellent condition, the only area requiring attention is some minor bubbling that has started on the driver's door skin, low down (not the door shell itself) that is all.
So after all this work, why part with it? That's simple, a BMW E3 3. 0si that I sold perhaps 20 years ago is coming available, the car I never should have sold. I restored the 3. 0si at great expense in my ownership, it was immaculate, unfortunately it isn't anymore, requiring full cosmetic restoration and so I need the space and funds to buy it and restore it.
Why buy my E12 M535i? Honestly, you will never find another one like it in terms of condition & specification. I MOT it every year regardless of the 40 year ruling, it is still a fast car 220BHP and needs to be safe, it is road tax exempt. I have a file full of invoices, the original M1/ M535i sales brochure and copies of all V5 ownership details. If it's an e12 M535i you are after, it doesn’t get better than this. UGO 443W has an agreed classic car insurance value of £65000. My E12 M535i story.
The 1st motorsport saloon car and launched alongside the BMW M1 with a production run only from April 1980 to July 1981, this is Nr 138 of 450 RHD cars produced for the UK market, this particular car was ordered by Andrew Lloyd Webber manufactured in November 1980 and registered for the road for Mr Webber in December 1980. I have proof of the full provenance of the car including the registration document showing his full name and London W1 address. For a gentleman of considerable means, he must have really loved owning the car, it was with him for some seven years before he sold the car to his recording team "The Creme Group." Not only is it quite unusual to find a factory spec black e12 M535i, this one was embellished with:
Electric sliding sunroof.
The big rubber boot spoiler was ordered with no identification badging, even the BMW roundel was a deleted.
No brash motorsport stripes.
Air conditioning that has now been fully recommissioned and working perfectly.
All four windows are electrically operated.
It has the optional deep dish 7j Marle 14" alloy wheels.
Very unusually and certainly never seen before by me, the interior front & rear door pull are matching in style as opposed to having the standard half round pulls in the back.
Rear head restraints.
Mr Webber ticked every box and added some of his own boxes for good measure. The car was supplied by Parklane BMW. This must have been, what is all too often referred to these days as the ultimate sleeper, in this case it really was.
The Creme Group owned the car for several years and it stayed in London area for some time before going through another couple of owners in Oxfordshire. It was kept in storage for some 17 years and eventually purchased by the well known (In BMW circles) Tony Chamberlain (AKA Tony BMW). I purchased the car from Tony on the 19/ 10/ 2015 nearly 10 years ago, as he just had too many projects on at that time. My story with the car started there.
The Viewing:
I had travelled to Northumberland from East Sussex to view this car, a 750 mile round trip, it had better be worth it. When I arrived, I was greeted warmly by Tony and marveled at a number of E12 M535s as well as an E28 M5 that he was restoring with close attention to detail. UGO 443W (Nr 138) was looking sorry for itself with extensive restoration required.
Undeterred, the deal was done and by October 2015 it was trailered down to me in East Sussex. As UGO was carefully unloaded onto my driveway I can remember my wife's words "You have spent your money on that!" as she disappeared back into the house in disgust. Now like most ladies, she is not one to admit she was wrong, on this occasion she has to.
