1995 BMW 540i Demo Car - An Introduction
I purchased this car in original condition in 2018 from an absolute E34 guru. Nick's first car had been an E34 M5 and he still has that car today. This white over parchment 1995 540i 6 speed had been his daily driver for two years, and he'd brought the maintenance up to task. I was ecstatic to finally be able to buy a project car. I fell in love with the character of the car immediately as Nick let me drive it following him in his M5; the 6 speed, V8 exhaust note and response, a small-ish footprint, no modern assists. It's frenetic but wrapped in an unassuming sedan body. It wants to be in a car chase and driven at the limit constantly, while having beautiful V8 torque for cruising.
As I started looking into the modifications available for the car and catching up on maintenance I was lucky to connect with Heritage Motorworks. Danny is a walking BMW encyclopedia and knew exactly what the car needed to tailor it to my tastes.
I wanted a sleeper that was built for serious driving. Classic, understated styling, and subtle winks to the capability we were about to unlock. From the get go I could tell the car had massive potential and incredible character. It was exactly what I hoped for in a classic BMW.
I was able to start with a period correct set of BBS RC300 in 18x8.5 ET13 thanks to Greg from Angry Ass. I followed wise advice and we started the build with the suspension. I'll save the details of that first round of modification for the next post!
Thanks for joining me as we begin this journey on Achtung! I can't wait to share the progress the car has made over the past few years along with community features of other amazing builds. - Cole
