The E12 Version Of The BMW 5 Series

The BMW 5 Series first made an appearance in 1972 when it was manufactured in Munich & Dingolfing, Germany & was given the code name E12. The 5 Series was designed to replace the 'Neue Klasse' (new class) mid-sized sedan and was named the 5 Series because it was BMW's fifth new class platform to be designed.

Although the E12 version of the 5 Series was released in 1972 in Munich it still was not available for the American market until 1975. The later models of the E12 produced for the American market were built for luxury and contained other features such as leather interiors, wood trim, electric power windows & even air conditioning.

The E12 5 Series was manufactured at the BMW plant in Munich until 1981 but due to the high demand for the E12 in the South African market the 5 Series was exported to Rosslyn, South Africa in a kit form to be assembled at the BMW plant there too. Manufacturing the E12 5 Series continued in Rosslyn until 1984, although the rest of the world had already been exposed to the newer E28 version of the 5 Series which became available in 1981.

There were many available models of the E12 5 Series, these included the 518i, 520i, 520, 525, 528i, 530i & the M535i which totalled to 722,435 E12 models that were produced across the world between 1972 - 1984. The M535i was produced in 1979, it had the 3.5L M30 in-line six cylinder engine that produced 218bhp, it was the only official BMW Motor-sport designed E12 model of the 5 Series.