A bit late to the angel eye party: 2001 M5

[BLINGMW]

I dig it, nice find. When shopping E46 or E39, and want a manual, and non silver, grey, black, you're pretty much down to unicorn. I'd probably keep the M pinstripe too. :thumbup:

[Beej]

When shopping E46 or E39, and want a manual, and non silver, grey, black, you're pretty much down to unicorn. I'd probably keep the M pinstripe too. :thumbup:

Ha, I just used the word unicorn about it with a friend. It certainly felt like that during the search, but the fact that e39's were all manuals helped compared to the e60/e90's.

I don't really care about rarity in the "zomg, 1 of X cars" sense, but it's nice not to see your twin come and go on the road every day. That said, I was curious about how many of these cars there were.

Apparently there were 9992 M5's imported into North America. 248 were Alpine White, 73 of those had Caramel interior, and 59 of those were "Complete" leather. Caramel for the MY2000 (the other 14) cars had "Extended" leather, and after that they were all "Complete."

themoreyouknow.jpg

If anyone knows of any good no-drilling front plate holders, I'm all ears. I'm not really down with the tow-hook bro offset mount.

[davej]

that's an amazing pick up man! along with the rest of the fanbois, i love everything about it, and +2XP for picking it up 1/2 way across the country.

what's the fine for no front plate tickets?

[Goodspeed]

Congrats on the purchase! I'm not a huge euro-car guy and love them to death, and I know I'm not alone. True legend.

If anyone knows of any good no-drilling front plate holders, I'm all ears. I'm not really down with the tow-hook bro offset mount.

Just came across this on another forum:

Ok guys,

Like a lot of you I hate having to have a front plate. Living in Texas they will pull a car over like mine in an instant without one. Having my car at shows there was no way I was mounting a permanent plate. I believe I found the remedy. I bought a plate frame from the following company: http://www.d-splayplate.com/

I've used it numerous times with just the two suction cups but decided to modify it a little for even more support. On the bottom I added a ABS brace with one of their extra suction cups they send. Now the damn thing is like glue. I have driven it in the rain and had on the car for multiple days without issue. Best part is you hit the release tabs on the three suction cups and it pops right off. Hope this helps the guys that like having a removable plate.









Shane

[WRXtranceformed]

Ew a license plate holder held on by suction cups?? If they are anything like the suction cups for my radar detector I would definitely not trust that thing to hold up over the long run!

[Goodspeed]

Methinks if you're on the highway you're just helping to force the cups to stick, but if your daily commute features a lot of crappy surface streets, this probably isn't the way to go. It'd be cool if they had the twist-lock style cups like on GoPro mounts.

[HAULN-SS]

It'd actually be cooler if yall just lived in a state that didn't require that bullshit. igh:

[Evan]

My CX-5 has never had a front plate mounted, no tickets.

however cops love to pull over my Lotus for it. go figure.

I would think that the M5 is nondescript enough to the common eye that you could easily get away with no front plate (as long as you dont street park it anywhere)

[Evan]

btw, any plans for those black strips on the bumpers and doors?

[Beej]

Ha, that's funny on the Lotus vs. CX-5. I made it 6 months with my e46 before getting pulled over, and then I just bought the bracket and put it on - but the holes were already drilled, so it was less painful than this virtually new bumper. The plate/bracket will protect from some parallel parking marks - my e46 bracket has clearly been backed into a few times - so maybe it's not so bad.

I think you're right on the M5 not really being a huge cop magnet, too. I'll probably give no-plate a whirl for a bit.

btw, any plans for those black strips on the bumpers and doors?

Yeah I'm grab a beer, set up a chair, and admire them. I love the contrast. Painting them would be like painting the trim all e36 guys wanted to do in the late 90's. Paint matched looks kinda dull to me.

[WRXtranceformed]

Maybe something like this:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.skenedesign.com/FPBracket/index.shtml">http://www.skenedesign.com/FPBracket/index.shtml</a><!-- m -->

[*insertusernamehere*]

btw, any plans for those black strips on the bumpers and doors?

Yeah I'm grab a beer, set up a chair, and admire them. I love the contrast. Painting them would be like painting the trim all e36 guys wanted to do in the late 90's. Paint matched looks kinda dull to me.

:bow: :thumbup:

[HAULN-SS]

I roll without a plate on my MCSS..have only gotten a warning once but if I got tickets I'd chalk it up to the cost of doing business

[JustinG]

Tow hook license plate mount

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-14365-no-holes-license-plate-bracket-e46-e39.aspx">http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-14365 ... 6-e39.aspx</a><!-- m -->

[Senor_Taylor]

Why are those mounts so expensive? Even ones for Miatas are like $50. Jake and I made ours for less than $10.

[JustinG]

Because BMW, because Turner Motorsports.

Similar stuff is on ebay for $35.

[WRXtranceformed]

FWIW I didn't run a front plate on my STi and never got pulled over once. Unless you are getting harassed a lot I would chalk it up to a cost of doing business. You could always keep your second plate in the car with you and tell the officer the mount fell off or something if you get pulled over

[JPolen01]

Unless you are getting harassed a lot I would chalk it up to a cost of doing business. You could always keep your second plate in the car with you and tell the officer the mount fell off or something if you get pulled over

I know a few people that do this. If you pulled their criminal history you will see about 5-6 no front plate tickets. How much is it in VA?

[JustinG]

Like $90 a pop.

[WRXtranceformed]

So glad I don't live in that awful police state anymore. We also don't have to run ugly city and county stickers in our windows here. County property taxes are tied to your yearly inspection and renewal through an online system. So you get a tax bill every year but you can't pay it until you get your inspection. Once you are inspected and taxes are paid, you get a small (1"x1") sticker in the mail that goes in the right corner of your license plate and indicates the updated year.

There's no reason for all of that bureaucracy in VA other than to fleece its citizens of more money and help meet ticket quotas.