A classic BMW M5, which once belonged to the King of Sweden and has a quarter of a million kilometers on it, has been put up for sale
Aug. 8th, 2023, 08:26 PM GMT Ilie Toma
The first generation of BMW M5, with the code name E28, is already a collector's model, feverishly sought after by collectors, especially if they happen to come across a well-preserved copy. But fans of this model will be even more intrigued about the copy we are talking about today, which belonged to the King of Sweden! It is even about the current king, Carol Gustaf XVI, who is 77 years old now, reigning since 1973, but who, at the time of the purchase of this BMW M5, was much younger, of course.
Given the royal lineage of this car, it is natural to expect that it has had an equally royal technical and aesthetic maintenance. And that means that the figure of 252,000 km covered shouldn't worry us too much, but the king owner was a BMW enthusiast!
In fact, King Gustaf was often somewhat criticized at home in Sweden for being tempted by BMWs as a young man after he was crowned, instead of driving Volvos and Saabs and setting a good example for his countrymen. How can the king make it clear that he prefers a BMW to locally produced cars? were the criticisms of that time. The Germans, however, were proud to write in their press that this BMW had been delivered to the Munich factory for the King of Sweden.
However, the king was not too affected by the criticism and while the protocol cars were Swedish ones, for the pleasure of the soul there were BMWs, especially the M models. And if we think that this M5 was not the only BMW owned by the king , but it still accumulated 250 thousand km on board, it means that the king loved to drive it. After all, at the time of its launch, this BMW M5 was the fastest sedan in the world!
The car was manufactured in 1987 and has under the hood the S38 engine, 3.5 liters in line, 282 HP, coupled to a 5-speed manual gearbox.
Because the king had to have advanced communication methods, two more antennas were installed in the car. And at one point he had also seen the BBS rims, which he loved and considered more suitable for his car. To blend in more beautifully, small gold lines were placed on the body, in the style of the Alpina models.
The interior of this BMW M5 is also kept in excellent condition, even the leather upholstery looks flawless. And here we find a lot of optional equipment.
For example, the sports seats are electrically operated with memory, and the audio system is a Montreux Blaupunkt, with Blaupunkt speakers. The car also has air conditioning, on-board computer, and electrically operated windows.
The current owner, who imported it to the USA and who also changed all the fluids and the necessary checks, says that he has driven it only about 2,000 km. He also sent a letter to BMW to confirm the history of the car and the fact that it has the original factory engine and everything was confirmed.
So now this BMW M5 E28 has been put up for an online auction in the US, which has just over a day to go. For now, the highest bid is $45,500 as of this writing, but it will surely increase the most in the final hours before the auction ends.