1979 BMW 5 Series - 5 3,5i Motorsport-Ausführung

Extremely rare 5 Series in Motorsport specification

Most powerful version with 3.5-litre engine and 218 hp

Converted by hand at BMW Motorsport

Extensively and comprehensively documented history

Restored to an outstanding standard

Just four owners from new

Certified by BMW

In May 1972, BMW founded its subsidiary, BMW Motorsport GmbH. The name said it all. A team of 35 employees was assembled under Jochen Neerpasch and Martin Braungart. Their initial task was straightforward: BMW was to compete in motorsport with a more professional works effort. With men such as Paul Rosche and Alexander von Falkenhausen, there was no shortage of technical expertise, and with the 3.0 CSL the young outfit rather quickly demonstrated what it understood by the word Motorsport.

At much the same time, a new BMW saloon appeared. The E12 replaced the Neue Klasse in 1972 and was the first BMW officially designated as a 5 Series. Paul Bracq’s clean, elegant body established a design language that would resonate for decades: long bonnet, short rear deck, a driver-oriented cockpit and those twin headlamps up front that would soon become almost as much a BMW trademark as the kidney grille. The 5 Series was certainly sporting enough to begin with, and the Motorsport GmbH evidently saw potential for rather more.

From 1974 onwards, individual E12s were diverted from regular production at the explicit request of customers and sent to BMW Motorsport. Initially, 525 and 528 models served as the basis, followed later by the 528i. What emerged were the M3.0, M3.0i and M3.3i, joined from 1979 by an M3.5i. All were built to order and converted largely by hand. Only in 1980 did the M535i follow as the final evolution, produced in a small series.

Anyone who has never heard of these cars is in good company. Yet viewed with the benefit of hindsight, they are of fundamental importance – both to BMW and to the image it would go on to cultivate. For here, in the mid-1970s, BMW Motorsport was already experimenting with the very recipe the company would spend decades perfecting: take a perfectly sensible four-door saloon and transplant into it the mechanicals of something considerably faster.

The engines were initially sourced from the E3 saloons and later from the large coupés of the first 6 Series. BMW Motorsport generally paired them with five-speed sports gearboxes and shorter-ratio rear axles with limited-slip differentials. BMW quoted outputs ranging from 180 to 218 hp for these Motorsport versions, with top speeds of up to 222 km/h.

From the outside, they remained remarkably discreet. Large alloy wheels, a deeper front valance and twin exhaust pipes provided clues for those in the know, but hardly amounted to illuminated advertising. Anyone pulling up alongside one at the traffic lights needed to look rather closely.

Those who preferred a little more theatre, however, could have their car with war paint in the form of rally stripes and spoilers front and rear. Since the 2002 turbo, such things had become very much the fashion. Inside, matters became rather more obvious. Bucket seats – supplied by either Scheel or Recaro – and a Motorsport steering wheel left little doubt that this E12 harboured rather more serious ambitions.

The crucial point, however, was the overall concept. BMW did not simply install a larger engine. The cars received matching drivetrain and chassis components and were individually built. These Motorsport 5 Series were therefore no ordinary production BMWs. They came directly from the innermost circle of the company.

The surcharge for the conversion was substantial. Production numbers were correspondingly small. No precise records survive for the number of 3.5-litre Motorsport 5 Series built during their brief production period from 1979 to 1980. There can only have been a few handfuls. Even the 3.3-litre version amounted to fewer than 900 cars over six years, according to BMW.

The M535i was presented in 1979 and entered production in April 1980. This time, the M appeared where we still know it today. The M535i is regarded as the first series-production car from BMW Motorsport GmbH. The earlier Motorsport 5 Series had provided its blueprint, while performance remained equally impressive. Beneath the bonnet was still the 3,453 cc straight-six producing 218 hp.

Where the earlier Motorsport 5 Series had effectively been sold from under the counter, the new M535i was actively promoted. A further 1,410 examples were built before the new E28 generation arrived in 1981. And with it, from 1985, came the first M5.

Therein lies the real significance of the Motorsport models. BMW Motorsport had realised that there was still room between an ordinary mass-production saloon and a sports car. Quite a lot of room, in fact. All that was required was to fill it with a suitably powerful engine.

This 5 Series is one of those cars converted by BMW Motorsport. Born as a humble 525 with a sunroof, according to BMW Certificate No. 1105 it was sent to the Motorsport department before delivery to be transformed into a 3.5-litre projectile. Its original service booklet records the complimentary pre-delivery inspection on 5 July 1979, and a week later it continued on its way to the BMW dealership in Darmstadt. Its first owner, from Riedstadt, registered the car on 18 July, and by 2 August it was already back for its first service at 980 kilometres, carried out by the BMW dealership of Helmut Melk in Griesheim.

The original German Fahrzeugbrief lists every modification carried out by the Motorsport department in meticulous detail. Curiously, however, the model designation itself is given simply as “5”. Understated though that may sound, its first owner was evidently not entirely averse to attracting a little attention. The Polaris Silver paintwork was decorated with striking stripes in the colours of the Motorsport department. Spoilers at both ends also made it fairly clear at first glance that this was a saloon with something up its sleeve.

With owners number two and three, the Motorsport 5 Series remained around Riedstadt and Griesheim until it was taken off the road in the summer of 1993. Only many years later did its current owner discover the sporting BMW and realise just how rare a machine stood before him. Buying it proved the easier exercise. Restoring it was another matter.

Not because the starting point was poor. Quite the opposite: it was remarkably good. The real challenge was satisfying the owner’s own standards. No easy task when one happens to regard oneself as a perfectionist.

Looking at the Motorsport 5 Series today, one can only respect what its owner has achieved. The result convinces down to the smallest detail. Countless hours of meticulous research went into the project, and only masters of their respective crafts were permitted to lay hands on the BMW. For the duration of the restoration, the word “compromise” was simply removed from the vocabulary.

The result is a unique BMW whose very existence remains unknown to most people even today. Search the manufacturer’s own website and you will look in vain. Yet within the first few miles, it becomes obvious that the men who originally built it knew a thing or two about making fast cars.

The Motorsport 5 Series were the product of a small circle of people in the know. Hand-built, rare, expensive and fast.