Junkyard Find: 1983 BMW 528e – How to Buy a Used Car

As Morning in America dawned during the first half of the 1980s, with finance-industry mavericks shaking down S&Ls while Ford Aerospace did the same to the U.S. Army with its antiaircraft version of the ED-209, BMW was in an excellent position to cash in on newly fashionable conspicuous consumption in the United States. Hitting our shores just in time for this was the E28 5 Series, which was available here for the 1982 through 1988 model years. Here’s an example of the early E28, found in a Carson City boneyard recently.

The MSRP for this advanced Teutonic machine was $23,985, or about $77,139 in 2024 dollars.

That price was for the less powerful 528e; the hot-rod 535i listed at $28,985 ($93,220 after inflation).

The “e” in the designation for this car referred to the Greek letter eta (╖), used by engineers to represent efficiency. This is a stroked 2.7-liter version of the 2.5-liter straight-six, which was rated at 121 horsepower and 170 pound-feet in North American configuration.

The idea was that this engine would provide sufficient torque to be quick enough (by early-1980s standards) in real-world driving while helping BMW meet CAFE requirements.

A five-speed manual transmission was base equipment in the 1983 528e, but most American buyers paid the extra $775 ($2,493 in today’s money) for a ZF three-speed automatic.

The interior was quite luxurious, 41 years ago, but the Nevada sun has given it a bit of rough handling.

We can assume that the interior didn’t look like this until the car reached its fourth or fifth owner.

The detritus buildup indicates years of outdoor storage.

There was no need for BMW to rediscover performance in 1983.

1983 BMW E28 in Nevada wrecking yard.

[Images: Author]

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