5k: 1987 BMW 635csi L6 – Minty clean
The e24 BMW 6-series was a luxury coupe available in several trims; basic CSi, maniac M6 and luxury L6. When new the L6 cost almost as much as an M6 and combined the standard 635Csi automatic power-train with a supple full leather interior to create a US only cruiser for rich Americans. Today L6s are quite inexpensive and this 1987 BMW 635 CSi L6 is available for $7k in Los Angeles, CA via Craigslist.
The e24 chassis is quite a dynamic looking car and still turns a few heads to this day – although the US spec bumpers make it look less like a shark and more like a beta. We think the e24 will eventually turn into a sought after classic, but today the prices for total junk, decent drivers or showroom pieces are very fair. As a bonus these cars are reliable and early fuel injection means they are easy to fix!
The L6 uses the standard 635 CSi engine/trans – a 3.4 liter M30 inline 6 making 208 horsepower and 225 ft-lbs of torque mated to a 4 speed automatic. It doesn’t sound like much, but we’ve driven a few 535’s equipped with the same setup and its not fast by modern standards, but its got enough torque to get sideways and quite a few of these cars were equipped with limited slip differentials from the factory.
The interior was covered from top to bottom in the finest dead cow skin found in Bavaria. Even after many years of use by sweaty fat dudes wearing wife-beater undershirts – this car’s interior looks great, minimal cracks and wear. Our favorite feature is rear seat cooler located between the rear seats that could be used to keep your beer cold during a long summer road-trip. Just keep a lookout for smokey when you cross into a ‘dry’ county.
We really think you could do much worse than an L6 if you are in the market for a depreciated automatic highway cruiser. The 80s BMW build quality on their high end cars was only matched by Mercedes-Benz at the time and these cars will at the very least maintain their current value if not appreciate.
See another slushbox equipped luxury GT for sale on the cheap? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
~ 630's are among the most beautiful grand touring cars ever built. i remember seeing one sitting in a showroom with an M1. i was shuddering, my knees went weak and all blood flow was redirected. what a moment it was, seeing those two in the "flesh" for the first time!
Replacing the bumpers and corner markers with Euro pieces do wonders for the E24's looks. The fog lights look a bit cross-eyed in the head-on photo (maybe next time they could have addressed that before they take the photos). From what little we can see from those very marginal photos, it looks to be in good shape overall though.
The black on white color scheme sort of works here, but only because it's the L6 model. I haven't sat in an L6 for a while, but remember the leather is *everywhere* on these. Very nice here, but probably miserable if you had to rehab it. I never understood why BMW didn't offer that interior with a proper manual transmission. Manual transmission buyers don't like nice interiors?