We often get cars offered to us that we simply don’t have the space or time for, but when this one was offered up we were very close to handing the money straight over. Once the ‘too many projects already’ reality set in, we decided we’d share the car around and see if we could find it a good home.

This one has been owned by the editor of Performance BMW Magazine (later Total BMW Magazine) since it was stock and has been obsessively lavished with premium care and enhancements – to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds. This makes this a bargain in our eyes, especially for a V8 E39 – perhaps the historical peak of the BMW 5 Series.

Please note that this car is not located at Hack HQ – please contact us with any genuine interest and we can put you in touch with the seller.

Summary (full details below):

1998 E39 540i Auto

130k miles approx.

Current owner for 12 years

5 owners

Stacks of paperwork & invoices to support work carried out

Engine runs lovely – hardly used since last service

Exterior/body:

• Full respray in Nissan Skyline GT-R Midnight Purple 1
• M5 front bumper
• Sport spoiler
• Sport rear bumper
• Hamann RHD aluminium mirrors (very very rare)
• Genuine Hella E39 LCI Angel eye xenon headlights
• Genuine Hella E39 LCI Celis rear lights
• E39 M5 rear arch liners for extra clearance
• Rusty rear sill sections repaired

Chassis:

• Air Lift Performance air suspension
• Eibach anti-roll bars front and rear
• Powerflex poly bushes throughout
• E39 M5 steering box (2.9 turns lock-to-lock instead of 3.5)
• StopTech 6-pot front big brake kit
• Aristo Forged 3-piece forged wheels with brushed rose gold centres, polished flat lips and hidden hardware (OZ Superleggera 3-piece wheels and ACS Type III Racing 2-piece wheels also available separately)

Interior:

• Full retrim in white leather with purple stitching including door cards
• Corbeau RRS low-entry front seats with lower thigh bolsters
• Interior trim sprayed Midnight Purple
• Retrimmed E46 M3 SMG steering wheel with working paddle shift and Storm Motorwerks aluminium paddles with self-illuminating + and – symbols
• Android double-DIN head unit
• Kenwood front door mids
• Kenwood coaxial rear speakers
• Kenwood powered subwoofer
• Custom boot build with twin tanks and twin Viair compressors

Engine:

• Custom exhaust system with remote cut-out valve

Points to note:

• Service book is missing
• Sticky air-ride relay from time-to-time, but working at the moment
• Some rust on offside rear passenger door and offside rear arch
• SORN’d with no MOT