This car has just arrived in a supercar salvage yard in Phoenix, Arizona. It looks fine when you look at it from behind. But it is the front end that made the insurance company label it as a write-off. The M5 has been through fire. No, it is not a metaphor. It has literally been through fire.
How do you like your M5? Well done! That is the most common joke in the hundreds of comments that accompany this post on Instagram. It is, indeed, a bit too well done for our taste, too. And there is really not much left to do with it than sell parts of it. This is what will happen to the car despite people desperately asking to buy the entire vehicle and restore it. This 2001 M5 is not going anywhere like this.
BMW introduced the E39 M5 sedan in 1998 at the Geneva Motor Show, in a period when you had to wait for the motor shows to find out how a new model looked.
The E39 came with the 4.9-liter DOHC V8 engine, and it was the first M5 to get a V8. Codenamed S62, the power plant delivered 394 horsepower (400 metric horsepower) at 6,600 rpm and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque at 3,800 rpm. The redline started at 7,000 rpm. Those were enough to make the car run from a standstill to 60 mph (97 kph) in 4.8 seconds.
More than a quarter of a century after it first rolled off the production line, the model is still labeled as the perfect sports sedan. Some still consider it the greatest M5 of all time. It must be the perfect ratio between size and power. And keep in mind that this was never a lightweight vehicle with that V8 under the hood.
Photo: AZ Cycle Parts
It still managed to strike the perfect balance between the engine and the six-speed manual. A single M5 of all those produced between 1998 and 2003, a Touring variant, was an automatic. But BMW never sold it. All sedans were manuals.
The ergonomics of the cabin, all buttons and analog dials, and the space that it offered. The things it could do while looking like the ideal family car. Everything screams 'classic' about it in pure BMW style.
It was elegant, simple, and powerful. It had all the credentials to be stuck in the minds of the die-hard M cars' enthusiasts, who are a bit taken aback by the multitude of technology that equips the Ms of today.
With all these credentials, no wonder that every once in a while, a BMW E39 M5 shows up for sale with a breathtaking price. Back in April 2021, one such example with very low mileage – 3,157 miles (5,081 kilometers) – sold for $200,000.
Photo: AZ Cycle Parts
Yes, you read that right. Back then, you could almost buy two new M5s for that amount of money, with each retailing at around $103,000. And those would have come with 600 horsepower and would have shaved 1.6 seconds off the 0-60 mph time of the good ol’ M5.
A good old M5 was this one here, too. Until it caught fire and ended up with the entire front end looking like well done toast. It is one of the only 9,992 E39 M5s exported by BMW to North America. If it wasn’t for that crispy front end, this M5 would have been a very interesting item for sports cars collectors.
Now, it is interesting only for those looking for parts for their M5s, which are in a far better condition. Those parts are going to end up on eBay, in listings uploaded by AZ Cycle Parts, a salvage yard specialized in supercars, the largest of its kind in the US. That is where McLarens, Lamborghinis, Porsches, and Corvettes sadly end up.
Some people in the comments below the post ask about the price of the whole car with the sole intention of restoring it. But AZ is not going to sell it like that. Putting such a car back on the road would be complete suicide.
Photo: AZ Cycle Parts
Parts of the car are already on eBay. For instance, the instrument gauge cluster sells for $799 and door sill scuff plates are $149.99. More parts will be listed soon.
"It's not burned, it’s just patina," someone else jokes. Another user says he sees "a little damage on the front." Meanwhile, another user has the exact explanation for what happened to this M5: "Brake lines recall wasn’t done. Supposedly what happened is the brake lines in the engine bay can shear with heat and drip brake fluid onto the exhaust headers. Causes a huge fire."
If that was the case, we can’t possibly tell. What we can tell is that it surely is a bit too crispy for our taste.
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