E24 Six Series - Future Classic?

So did I until a blind woman in a Corsa pulled out in front of it :-(

mesh

It's a desireable classic right now! Wonderful car. Much nicer looking than almost anything they're made since.

Their values are already held up a little by this possibility.

Other cars which have had and to some extent retain this mantra (in the UK) are the MGB, XJS and Triumph Stag. Despite this their values have never really climbed that much above the second hand value of any decent second hand sports coupe in good condition. E-type Jag, Gull Wing Merc' - now you are talking.

An important difference however is that an 1985 BMW 635 remains a good car and a decent drive, so providing it is maintained and the electronics don't die you should have many years of highly enjoyable motoring in it.

The wheels were likely upgraded to get rid of the dreaded TRX tires. You're lucky it was done for you to save you the expense.

As far as being a classic, it already is. But that's not going to cause it to appreciate in any great measure any time soon. If you're driving it semi-regularly it's still going to go down in value or perhaps if you're lucky stay the same. Mint mint mint low mileage examples are getting pretty decent prices but still aren't causing any kind of collector buzz. Maybe in

10 or 15 years, but your same dollars would earn you a lot more in other places in that same time frame.

Keep it because you like it, drive it because you love it. It's not an investment, it's a cost, with a benefit -- your driving enjoyment.

-Russ.

It already is a classic. Your real question is will it dramatically increase in value anytime soon. I would say: probably not, especially since there were a fairly large number of these produced and yours is not a particularly low mileage example of the breed. If it had 20k miles on it I would say yes, but with yours, if you'd like to get something newer I don't think that this will be one of those situations where you'll be kicking yourself later.

YMMV,

-Fred W

I have a '83 633, so I guess mine is two years more classic. About the same description (except for the BBS's, '83's didn't come with the dreaded TRX's) of mechanical condition and appearence. I just drive it on sunny weeknd days and enjoy the looks it gets.

I feel they are a great looking car but not much to plan on as a retirement asset. I'll never sell mine unless some idiot offers me twice what it's worth, at which point I'll go buy another one on the open market and pocket the difference.

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What's the problem about [Michelin] TRX's apart from the cost and lack of alternatives (only Avon). At the time they out performed many other tyres and were safer if punctured at high speed. I had them on three different

735i's and the did very well apart from one new one that got a screw in the sidewall about a week after fitting.

My current 740i has a regular wheel size so a wide choice of what to fit, and the tyres are about half the price.

BTW I live in Manchester England, where legendarily it rains a lot - so now I have Uniroyal on the grounds that I am far more likely to [unintentionally] find the limit in the wet than the dry.

You've answered your own question right there. "the time" was 20 years ago at least. That's one helluva long time in tyre development terms. A lot has been learnt about tyre design in that time.

Now you may well think... but the cars they get fitted to are 20 years old as well with 20 year old power outputs so what's wrong with fitting 20 year old tyre technology to them as well? And to a degree that would be a reasonable question but in the last 20 years, driving standards of the general populace have arguably decreased, traffic has dramatically increased, road quality has probably in most places declined as well. In short, even if you only have a 20 y.o. car with 20 y.o. power you still need more grip today than you did 20 years ago to travel in the same relative safety.

FWIW I changed my 15 y.o. TRXes on my M535i last year with Yokohama AVS ES100's and the change was dramatic to say the least. The TRXes I had were okay in the dry but diabolical in the wet. The Yokies are so good by comparison that the car now feels positively underpowered. And the Yokies were < half the price of another set of TRXes.

That reflects my experience also I think. TRX may have been fine at the time, but we've come sooo far. Besides, I would never saddle a BMW with just one tire all year round anyway, no matter how good it is. Summer Performance and Winter Snows for me, thank you very much.

-Russ.

A car with the big ugly 5mph bumpers won't ever become a classic. The E9 CS coupes have more classic styling than the E24 6-series while offering similar accomodations and will always have better value.

The body-colored 5mph bumpers sticking way out from the car is definitely a dated 80s look, whereas chrome is much more classic.

But they are a great place to sit while on a picnic.

If you like it why get rid of it. Never enough BMW's in garage. Mine has

200K+ on it. Did not buy for investment, but because I love the lok of the car. I get all kinds of comments about it. One woman thought is was a new car. It looks that good. I have a complete new suspension, except the rear sub frame bushings.

As for the ugly 5mph bumper sticking out. Remove the shocks, and remount and it will look much better.

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 17:48:59 +0000 (UTC), "R. Mark Clayton" wrote: >What's the problem about [Michelin] TRX's apart from the cost and lack of >alternatives (only Avon). At the time...

For yuks, I tried to find a TRX tire to purchase.. Couldn't do it. That'd be a problem, right there.

I have a TRX as my spare, with similarly sized 16"s on the car, and its always entertaining when I have to put the 'vintage' wheel on. Driving becomes much more 'exciting'. Smoke-show is right...tires have come a long way in 20 years, to say the least.

"Where's that squealing coming from?" "What happened to my traction?" "Are we going to die?"

cds

You know, some of the blame we (me included) assign to these tires might be because they're so old. I wouldn't be surprisedif the ones I was running on were 15 years or more in age -- probably a lot harder than new at that point.

-Russ.

You should get rid of that old tire.

I finally tossed the Factory Original Spare in my car when it was more than

10 years old. If I have a flat in the trunk, I don't need the spare to become the weakest tire on the ground. Rubber and polyester get old and rotten, and should be rotated out of service after a decade of riding around in the trunk.

From now on, I'm goign to write the year of a spare on every one I put in a car. I have no clue how old the one in my E30 is, nor do I for most other cars I've driven, other than assuming they're factory.

-Russ.

Tire rack has them. $211 for Michelin TRX in 220/55VR390 size.

-Fred W

The michelin spare in my E30 is 15 years old and looks brand new. I don't think tires that are not exposed to UV will degrade very rapidly.

Well, there may be differing opinions on this. Rubber primarily "rots" in response to UV. Since a spare tire never sees light of day it may not be in such tough shape after a decade as one might imagine.

Many cars have the space saver doughnut tires. I don't know of too many folks that replace these on a regular basis. They are only for emergency use anyway so you wouldn't expect to be power-sliding around corners with the spare mounted anyway...

YMMV,

-Fred W

I paid $199 for a full set of Khumo Estca 711 in 225/50R15 and their performance is far superior to TRX tires in 3 seasons. So hypothetically, That leaves me $633 for a new set of rims, I can choose from a handful of brand new alloys at about $400 per set. That leaves me $233 to buy a full set of snow tires for about $200, and $33 to go find some used steelies in a junkyard someplace.

Wow, what a 4-season difference I have over the old TRXs! And twice the tire life. And I can get a replacement after a blowout in the corner tire shop.

-Russ.