(First posted 6/13/2014. The story is by Richard Swartz. The photos are from Steve Evans, of his incredibly pristine 530i. So we have a first here, a collaborative effort by two CC readers, who have very divergent aspects of the 530i experience to share. I suspect Richard’s 530i wasn’t quite as pristine as Steve’s, though. – PN)
A 1975 BMW 530i was my first car. I bought it when I was about 15 ½ years old, with lawn-mowing money. The purchase price in 1987 was something like $2500 for a non-running car that was going to need a new head, which seems like about what Craigslist sellers expect for the same thing in 2014.
Because we had an old, temperamental 2-cycle string trimmer for my college-fund lawn mowing business, my father and I had made friends with Jim, the small engine guy at the local garden store. Jim was friendly and talkative, an exception to the gruff lawnmower repair type that used to populate the Midwest. Somehow, it came up that Jim used to work at the local Honda-BMW-Mercedes dealer. He knew a lot about BMWs, but was caught undressed in the arms of the boss’s wife. Or girlfriend. Hence the Homelite gig. Jim said he would be willing to work, shade-tree, on any BMW I could bring his way.
image: bringatrailer.com
I, meanwhile, had read about the BMW M10 and M30 engines ever since I realized that I would be allowed to drive at 16. The specific output was what I admired, since a good 5-liter V-8 might make 150 horsepower, then. I knew I wasn’t going to get my hands on any new car, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to afford or insure one of the great high-compression V-8s of the 60s. I was thrilled that Jim increased the chance that I could get one of the very limited supply of aged BMWs around Topeka, Kansas. (You could say, my ability to do something stupid had been amplified far beyond the grasp of an ordinary 16-year-old.)
After a couple of 2002s that were too rusty to work with, I found the 530i in the want ads. I don’t really remember the previous owner. The car had a straight, solid body, a 4-speed, a cracked head and torn-up Bosch fuel injection. Instead of installing catalytic converters, BMW had used thermal reactors to reduce CO emissions from these cars. As you might guess from the name, thermal reactors didn’t help the car in any way. They caused…overheating. Warped and cracked aluminum heads were expected on early e12s in the US.
image: wikipedia
So, naturally, I bought the thing. We took it to Jim’s garage, probably with my dad’s Mazda B2000 and some rope. I contributed labor, as well as more money, to this E12 insanity. We got the engine out, bought a better head off a guy who must’ve had the only Bavaria in a 50-mile radius, got the pistons out for new rings and rod bearings, and put twin Zeniths my dad patiently fetched from a junkyard 70 miles away on top. (In case you’re not insane, two twin-choke carburetors, Solexenith or Weber, was the standard induction system for the BMW M30 6 from its beginning until the late 1970s; that’s what’s beneath the oblong air cleaner on the rusty Bavaria that you, sensibly enough, did NOT buy.)
image: bmw2002faq.com
One perfect May evening Jim got the carbs right enough to run and I finally reached teenage nirvana, being as I was slow to pick a girl: we drove the car around the block without the muffler attached. The sound was beautiful, like being in your own airshow.
My 2 years with the 530 no-longer i were by no means untroubled. We couldn’t figure out how to wire up the tach in a way that didn’t short something else out. A giubo was spat into the street, which was more embarrassing than costly. I’m sure I’ve repressed all memory of many incidents from that long shakedown cruise, my junior year of high school. But somehow, with help from Jim, my dad, and some patient friends, the 530i was becoming drivable and trustworthy, regardless of its long-run issues.
The main thing about the 530i driving experience was amazing stability and tracking. The car practically demanded that you downshift, get on the engine, and speed up through any curve. Long, looping highway entrances marked 35 were best finished at 75, under the mercury vapor light of the interstate night. Left turn with my right foot? Yes! Second-gear scratch? If you like! Three passengers and the AC (which tried) cruising at 70? Relax, it’s fine.
The brakes weren’t bad, either. I once caught a deer in my headlights, and was able to slow in time that I nudged him off the road with my ugly 5 MPH bumper, instead of taking a hoof through the windshield. And there was no squatting or diving. Once I got some worn bushings replaced, the 4-speed was comfortable and accurate to shift, though the second-gear syncro was one of the long-term issues that meant I couldn’t take my car to college with me. And another thing: the 530i was the first car I ever drove that didn’t generate so much aerodynamic lift as to feel out of control over about 80 MPH.
I’m not sure when it started or ended, but the E12 was part of a time when BMW, at least, really did seem to be about 10 years ahead of the mainstream manufacturers, maybe more. (Now BMW is one of them, no question.) Of course, with the extended e12-e28 run, BMW gave up some of that lead time, but it seems like it was really a long time between 1975 and the time when somebody else made a plain sedan with 180+ horsepower that felt good at 100 MPH. (I have never driven a Mercedes W116, 6.9 or otherwise, so that might be the obvious exception to my statement.)
The 530i didn’t have the indestructibility of a Mercedes, but that engine probably ran a long time, once we got the thermal reactors off it. You could feel the strength and intelligence of the design in that engine, and some of the other pieces we worked on, and you could definitely feel it with the sense of the road through the steering wheel. Anyway, other than rich Americans getting tired of buying 70s and 80s American cars, the engineering in the E12 is a big part of where BMW’s positive image came from.
These old 5s have great style– I don’t remember those taillamp lenses. Was there more than one design during the model run?
Yes there were two taillamp designs, the early “short” ones like on the blue car and then a longer style for the facelift in ’78 or ’79. The mirrors changed too and the hood got a raised section that echoed the shape of the grille. At around the same time a 5-speed replaced the 4-speed manual. FI replaced the carbs and themal reactors around ’77.
Great story Richard!
The 530i had fuel injection from the beginning, hence the “i”. Carbs were dropped on the sixes some years before, for the US.
I’ve heard that when they’re set up right and running correctly, the E12 528i’s and 530i’s are much more faster than the E28 528e’s that came after them. I drove an automatic-equipped 528e one time and was displeased with its utter lack of power.
The eta engine in the 528e was a high-efficiency design that had very modest hp (128), substantially less than the 530i (176 hp), and the 528i (169 hp), and was considerably slower.
Yes you are right, all of the US 530s were “i”s but those early ones were dogs with the A/T, a friend’s dad had one. I think it was when the 528i came out that the emission and driveablity issues were finally sorted out. That’s also when they added the 5-speed. That was a dream car of mine for many years.
Thank you for sharing the wonderful story of your first car Richard. And thank you Steve for providing the photos of a very excellent example of the E12. Great car and a great story.
I’d forgotten how great the interiors were in these cars- no nonsense, but handsome with it.
I adore these BMWs, but never had the pleasure of driving one. BMW hit their height in the 1980’s with the E30 3-series, E32 7-series, and the E34 5-series. A work colleague had an E34 535i, and still regrets selling it.
The 4 cyl M12/M13 block was another cracking engine.In its turbocharged guise, it became the first turbo engine to win the F1 world championship in 1983 in the hands of the great Nelson Piquet. It is said that the engine could generate 1500 bhp, but there were no dynos at that time that could validate that claim.
Great story and great pictures. I’m feeling double envy here.
I am always loving these types of ‘ my first vehicle ‘ stories , this one is similar to but vastly better than mine .
-Nate
Great story. Kids just don’t seem to know they can’t do some things so they do them.
Good story, I always like that “ice-blue” color on Mercedes and BMW sedans, don’t know what the official name is.
The Opel Diplomat V8 would be another plain sedan in those days that felt good at 100 mph. I’ve read on That-Other-Site that the Chevy V8 in the Diplomat came in a special race trim so that it would last on the Autobahn. GM wondered why anyone on earth would want to drive faster than 75 mph because “that would be dangerous”…
At least, that’s what I’ve read in one of the comments in a Diplomat topic.
The Peugeot 604 (introduced in 1975) also comes to mind as a 100 mph feel good plain sedan.
As best as I know, the Opel’s V8 was not a “special race trim”, but a standard 327. Actually, it was a pretty low-output, hydraulic cam version, since it was only rated at 230 hp DIN. That would correspond to about 275 hp gross hp, which raises the question as to whether it was the 250 or 300hp version of the 327.
Either way, these engines were quite capable of running at 100 mph, as plenty of folks did with their Corvettes with these engines. And don’t forget that these engines (in various states of tune) were used in a number of Italian exotics, like Iso and such. These were standard production 327s, and I assure an Iso had no problem running 100 all day long.
Don’t always believe what you read on that other site, despite its name 🙂
Actually, from ’64-’66, the Diplomat used the 283, and starting in ’66 the 327.
I couldn’t resist Paul, I just had to go back to look it up on the other side/site….
It was in fact about the 283 you also mention, and the commenter left a link:
http://www.motortrend.com/features/112_0506_favorite_small_block/
Here’s the Diplomat from the seventies I had in mind, with “modifications from a racing Corvette”, whatever that may mean:
http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/opel-diplomat-b-72-77.302039/
I thought it was at TTAC, which is not always quite the “truth”.
I read that article you linked to, and it did jog an old memory of reading about that the engines for the Opel got heavy duty components. That confirms it. Thanks for the correction.
I suspect most of those “racing components” were what Chevy was using in the top output 283 and 327 engines. The term “Corvette engine” is misleading, as it used a wide range of engines, and they were all exactly the same as those available in the passenger cars, except that the fuel injection system was not.
It does make me wonder about the Chevy engines in the Iso and such.
The Diplomat along with the 327 appeared down under disguised as a Holden, those HKs could easy top 100mph as the Bathurst Monaro proved.
I think the writer means driving 100 mph with a plain sedan for a longer time without sweating like a pig, desperately struggling to keep the family’s car on course. Still feel very relaxed, comfortable and safe like you’re doing half of that speed. Mind you, in the mid-seventies.
Our Ford Fiesta in the late seventies could (almost) top 100 mph, but I’m sure it would have felt so much better in this BMW….
That Opel in locally modified form landed down under with the 327 powertrain and was raced successfully in standard form they were really good engines.
The “ICE” blue is called the Fjord blue. A fjord is a icy river.
Nice article and that sure is a different dashboard than the ones I see today, I like it.
Wow, Steve’s 530i is beautiful. The car in the story started out Pastellblau, and as it was a little faded and crusty we had it painted in a brighter blue that was meant to be similar to Steve’s. (I think Johannes is thinking of Fjord, which may well be Steve’s color.)
My car also had steel wheels and covers, and a tan interior. I love the Alpina-style ribbed wheels…
And thanks, Paul, for orchestrating this. I’ve loved this site for about a year, now. The combination of enjoyment and knowledge is really extraordinary.
Yes Rich, thanks, it must be Fjordblau as the Bavarians say.
(Which makes you wonder if Ford had a color Bjimmerblue)
Mercedes had a similar color, like this W124 from the German TV detective series “Der Alte”. (The Old Geezer)
Mr. Yank Tank here will confess to a brief BMW infatuation in the mid 80s. I have always thought that this series was really beautiful, but we never really saw many of these.
Enjoyable story. There is nothing like a story about a boy and his first car. However, I am still trying to figure out if knowing the ex-BMW mechanic saved or cost you money. 🙂
I really like the First Car concept, and this is a very interesting start. If only I had pics of my auto 81 turd-brown Corolla.
That was a great story, and I’m glad Paul was able to use some pictures of my car. I’d been hoping to see an E12 show up on CC at some point. It’s pretty cool to see my car on this site since I’m a big fan of CC.
My car is a 1975 530i with a 5 speed manual transmission from a later E12. The car was restored a few years back by a prior owner, and it is a blast to drive. An E12 like this wasn’t even on my radar when looking for a second car, but after seeing it online I checked it out and bought it. I think it’s a great example of an affordable classic car.
It is in great shape, and is definitely not something you see all that often. The only other one I’ve seen recently is this E12 Alpina, which was at the Irvine Cars and Coffee a while back. This one made me drool.
In 1979, I purchased a 528i to replace my 1977 320i (which in turn had replaced my 1975 2002). The 528i was definitely a step up, and at that time they were not all that common in my neck of the woods.
I remember waiting a couple of months for delivery, and receiving a last minute call from the dealer asking me if I would be willing to swap cars with the South Korean ambassador. Turns out the dealer had ordered two identical cars, black/tan 4-speeds, with cloth interiors, but one had arrived with a vinyl interior. The Korean ambassador was adamant about the cloth, and I agreed to the swap.
These were the first black 528is in Ottawa at the time, and made an impression. That first summer, I was driving into the city with my brother when I was stopped by the police. I was definitely driving too fast, something that was much too easy to do in this car. I was on my way to drop off by brother at his boat, which he had moored at the bottom of the Rideau canal locks. In Ottawa, the Rideau canal locks are situated downtown, between the parliament buildings and the Chateau Laurier hotel. So the police officer asks me where I’m headed in such a hurry, and without thinking, I tell him I’m on my way to the parliament. He looked a bit startled at my reply, stepped back, and waved me on my way. For a moment, I thought I might get a police escort!
I kept the car for 7 years, 160,000 kms (100,000 miles). The first few years, I stored it for the winter, and vividly remember the pleasure of driving it again each spring. One of the things that struck me was the driving position – it was relatively high, and combined with the low cowl, provided outstanding visibility.
It was not a perfect car. I can confirm the overheating problems, possibly related to the thermal reactor. Strangely, the worst overheating episode occurred mid-winter in a traffic jam, but luckily did not leave me stranded.
However, as I was backing out of my driveway one morning, disaster struck. The engine just died. I had it towed to the dealer, and the news was not good. It needed an engine rebuild, but the cause was most unusual. Turns out the metal plug at the front end of the camshaft had become loose, and fell into the timing chain assembly, and got jammed in one of the sprockets, breaking the chain. Ouch! Of course, my warranty had just expired, but BMW did pay for the parts, while I had to cover the labour. Given that I also had the engine rebuilt in my earlier 2002, I was beginning to lose faith in German engineering, something that endures to this day.
It was my last BMW.
Below is the only picture I have of this car, taken in my driveway. I had visitors that day – that my dad’s Le Baron behind the BMW, and my brother in law’s Buick station wagon behind it. He had trailered the boat from Montreal to enjoy a day on the nearby Ottawa river with my sister and their five kids.
Spotted a 1980 RHD BMW M535i looking forgotten about on a nice houses drive upon village near me To let a 10k car rot like that..
That’s a great story with the cop!
In the late 1970s, I thought the BMW 530i/528i was the best car in the world. How cool would it be have one–let alone DRIVE one! (Our family car also had four doors and a four-speed, but not quite the same….Fairmont 2.3….)
The BMW 5 was quick AND efficient, and had room for four, and looked good. It was THE car.
When it was replaced with the 528e, I was very disappointed in BMW, and I concluded that they were taking advantage of Americans (which they were, and are). What a let-down of an engine, and also styling (the original 5 looks sharper)
That was well before I owned a car, and I had heard of thermal reactors.
Now, showing my age, I think the W123 Mercedes from that era, which was markedly slower, and looks outdated compared to the BMW, was the best car from that era, and with the 2.8 gas six, or the turbo 5 diesel (yes, I know THAT was an 80s variant) is the best car ever made….and if one is patient, so is a 240D manual.
Great write-up…I do wonder why I’m seeing advertisements for Lou Fusz Chevrolet and Tri Star Motors when I live in Ohio. Anyway, I love E12s and E28s…wish I could find a decent one around here. Or an E24, for that matter…
As an aside, I really like driving eta-powered BMWs…you can drive it just like a diesel…low RPMs and just let the torque push you around. My 5 speed 528e’s got 28 MPG in normal driving.
I still have my European 1975 bmw e12 ….. yes the American versions were ugly this is mine I’ve had for 20 years ill never give her up the story of my e12 ie under
bernadette e12 blogspot.com
I stumbled upon your blog post while surfing online. I just bought that car from Steve, what a coincidence!
Very good car
My parents gave me a 1975 530i when I was right out of college. Fantastic car. Best car I have owned. Mine was a 4-speed manual transmission. Orange exterior, black interior. 3rd gear was HUGE on this car. Could probably go 80 MPH in 3rd. It had a definite sporty feel in driving it. It had excellent acceleration, had tight responsive steering. Excellent interior design.
We briefly owned an E12 528i. It was not the greatest experience, or at least not the right car for us at the time. I bought it, about ten years old and 100K miles, from the original owner who had every receipt for meticulous maintenance at a nationally-known independent BMW shop. But still, at 100K miles things start to go wrong. I got pretty familiar with troubleshooting electrical issues as well as sitting in the passenger seats of tow trucks. This was supposed to be our safe, reliable family car to complement our Vanagon and Ford Ranger. Safe, yes. After the 3rd tow truck trip, my wife gave an ultimatum: car, new, Japanese. Bought Corolla, sold 528 to neighbor, whom I saw driving it regularly until we moved. Almost 30 years later, that BMW is still the only “luxury” brand car I’ve owned (Alfa’s don’t count).
My 1976 sedan, which I have owned since near new, was my company car, then bought it when the lease was up. I was going to lease a brand new 528i, then was offered a very good deal on an immaculate car that had just come off lease. By coincidence it’s also Fjord Metallic Blue. With the China Virus it has been over 2 years since my last service, still fine. I am trying to avoid contact. This October will be 3 years or nothing wrong. Practically like a 3 year warranty! And cold a/c!!
According the Road & Track owner survey, the 530i was the most trouble free car they had surveyed since 1970. I have the report.
page 2
page 3
Car & Driver comparison of 4 speed 530i and Trans Am 400 4 speed was interesting. Around the same performance, but BMW edged it in 0-60 mph and top speed.
Not only was the Trans Am slower, it was thirstier and less roomy, with a tiny trunk! It was only right it was cheaper, and made by U.A.W. monkeys!! What a dog of a V8, lol. To think people worshipped that 6.6 liter motor?! Fastest medallion on 4 wheels as I recall. (^-^)
Bill from Auto Naples Florida said his first car was a ’79 Formula 400, he tested a ’79 BMW 633CSi automatic and said it felt faster! Both automatic cars, but the 6 series had its thermal reactors removed, and headers added.
R&T 528i report
page 2 magazine mentioned it had good HVAC!
last page. Was 0.1 second quicker to 100 mph than the Crossfire Vette R&T tried in 1982!
R&T 10 Best List 1975