The idea of buying a twenty year old BMW M car that hasn’t been started in years, sight unseen, actually gives me anxiety. Who knows what sort of financial horrors await whichever brave (see: stupid) soul that decides to do such a thing. However, in this new video from Auto Alex, we get to see a duo of car enthusiasts that bought an E39 M5 that had been sitting in a garage for four years and, miraculously, it didn’t end in disaster.
Alex’s friends Taylor and Joe bought the E39 M5 without having ever seen it in person. When they finally opened the garage, the car looked mostly okay, just with a few cosmetic issues, due to sitting for so long. Its paint was a bit ratty, it was incredibly dirty, and there was even some moss growing on it. However, after pushing it out of the garage and literally trying to jump start it with two other vehicles and a battery jump pack, it finally turned over and ran beautifully.
OK, so there was some valve tick and a bit of VANOS noise but both were due to the neither having any oil in them for years. Once the car was running, and the oil was circulating, it ran gorgeously. To be honest, that’s a damn miracle because old high-strung engines that haven’t been cared for are never so well behaved. They luckily truck gold.
After giving the lovely green E39 M5 a good cleaning and a little bit of love, it really looked great. Finding such a good car, that had been abandoned for unfathomable reasons, is incredibly difficult to do, and I’m very jealous. However, this video proves that good barn finds are out there and, with a little bit of love, they can be truly special machines.
