BMW 5-Serie 520 (E12)
There are cars that mean nothing to you—until you get behind the wheel. The BMW E12 was that car for me. I grew up with Alfa Romeo in my blood: a grandfather who ran the dealership in Alkmaar, a 33 Sportwagon as my first car. I never expected a Bavarian saloon to stop me in my tracks. Then one day I drove one. Nothing dramatic, nothing fast—just Alkmaar to Bergen along those narrow lanes through the dunes.
And somewhere between the Egmonds and Bergen aan Zee, it clicked. The E12 doesn't shout. It whispers. And if you listen carefully, you hear something truly special.
The E12 was the original 5 Series. Full stop. Everything that followed—the E28, the E34, the E39, that legendary E60 with its controversial headlamps, today's digital cockpits with more screens than Mission Control—it all started here. In 1972 the first E12 rolled off the line in Munich, and BMW had, in one stroke, created the car that would define the sports saloon. Not an S-Class rival, not the luxury-on-wheels approach Mercedes favoured, but something of its own. A car for people who preferred driving to being driven.
Paul Bracq penned it—the same man responsible for the Mercedes 600 Grosser and the BMW Turbo concept. The E12 introduced that signature Hofmeister kink in the C-pillar, a detail that has appeared on every BMW saloon since. The nose was sharp, the flanks taut, the proportions just right. Not a gram too many, not a line too few. Functional beauty, you might call it.
The 520 was the entry-level model, though that label hardly does it justice. The M10 four-cylinder was a proven powerplant—the same foundation that would later make the 2002 Turbo a legend. No V6 bluster, no straight-six romance, just an honest, mechanical engine that did exactly what you asked. And in 1978, when this particular car was first registered in Italy, that was precisely enough.
Italy, then. Picture it: February 1978, somewhere in the south—Naples, judging by the paperwork we have. An Italian buys a pure-white BMW saloon. Not an Alfa, not a Lancia, not a Fiat. A German car. Back then, that was a statement. This E12 spent nearly three decades in Italy before crossing the Alps to the Netherlands in 2006. Somewhere along the way, it received a level of care you rarely see.
The 520 offered here is—and I choose my words carefully—a time capsule. Chamonix White, that cool, almost clinical shade that suited 1970s BMWs so well. The interior in blue velour, original, intact, with that unmistakable seventies texture you simply cannot find anymore. In 2018, Alewijn's valuer awarded top marks across the board. Concours condition. Bodywork, interior, mechanicals, originality. Everything.
I have seen a great many valuation reports in my time. Most are exercises in diplomatic language. This one was not. The assessor wrote simply: "This car is in absolute as-new condition." No caveats, no qualifications, no fine print about "considering its age" or "for a car of this era." Just: as-new.
The suspension is new. The dampers are new. The brakes are new. The tyres—Vredestein Classic 175HR14—are new. This is not a patina car, not an "honest wear" example you have to see past. This is an E12 the way BMW rolled it out of the showroom in 1978, only nearly fifty years later.
And then there is the colour. Chamonix White is often underestimated. It is not the dull white of a fleet vehicle, not the pearlescent excess of the nineties. It is a pure, bright white that accentuates the E12's lines perfectly. Paired with that dark-blue velour interior, you get a combination that is timeless without being retro.
Driving an E12 520 is a lesson in restraint. The 116 bhp do not feel like 116 bhp in the modern sense. They feel like exactly enough. The steering is unfiltered, the gearbox mechanical and precise, the chassis taut without being merciless. This is driving as it was meant to be, before electronic nannies took over. You steer; the car follows. Simple. Honest. Satisfying in a way that is hard to explain to anyone who has only known modern cars.
The E12 never became the collector's darling that the 2002 did. Perhaps because saloons are inherently less glamorous than coupés. Perhaps because its successors were too good. But that is precisely what makes this example so remarkable. While everyone was chasing E30 M3s and 2002 Turbos, this 520 sat in a garage somewhere, shielded from the elements and the ravages of time.
Sometimes I wonder where all the beautiful cars have gone. The answers are usually dispiriting: rust, accidents, neglect, the crusher. But every now and then, one surfaces that escaped them all. One that has survived nearly fifty years in a state that borders on the impossible.
This is one of those.
Key features
- BMW E12 520, built 1978
- First registered in Italy; in the Netherlands since 2006
- Chamonix White (original colour)
- Blue velour interior, fully intact
- M10 four-cylinder, 116 bhp
- Alewijn valuation 2018: concours condition in every category
- New suspension, dampers and brakes
- Vredestein Classic 175HR14 tyres (new)
- Full documentation present
- Margin-scheme vehicle
Full insight into the papers our assessment is built on. Carfax vehicle history, service documentation and paint thickness report — page by page.
