BMW 520i 1975 News

Heaney described the car as "stunning metallic brown with matching chrome, and her allow shoes sparkling". Very poetic. But his partner at the time told him not to touch the car as it'd be too expensive to run."I did the opposite and I bought her anyway," he says."I was looking for an old Benz or something European. I'm an interior designer; that's why I like cars with classical lines. It has a beautiful shape with a shark nose at the front and a short back. They were designed by hand back then and these days they are designed by computer, I think."Heaney bought the car in 1992 for $7500 and has insured it for $10,000."But I'm thinking of getting it insured for more because they are becoming really rare," he says."These models are like hen's teeth; the model that every one has forgotten. It was a daily driver for a while, but then I realised it was rare when I did some research, so I decided to keep the mileage down. It's done 200,000km. They are significant as they were the first 528s to begin the very successful 528 models today."The E12 began in 1972 as a four-cylinder model replacing the 1500/200 series. It was known as the "new class of cars" targeting the American market. They arrived in Australia in 1974 in small numbers."They only started becoming popular in the 1980s. In the '70s they just brought it in to test the waters so there are not many around at all."Heaney calls his BMW Bernadette after a 1980s movie the name of which he can't recall. It features an evil Chrysler called Bernadette."The guy called his car Bernadette and he was in love with it, so I thought Bernadette the Bee-Em sounded good," he says.Bernadette had a small role in the Underbelly TV series."I'm on the cars commercial register and they were looking for cars made in the '70s," he says. "It's in the same condition it was back then, so they chose it, but they cut the scene and you can just see a little bit of it in one of the shows."In 2003, Heaney returned from a six-month overseas trip and picked up Bernadette who had been in the care of family members."But she was not exercised," he says."While driving merrily down the freeway with the music on and a bright sunny day, windows down, I heard a noise. I looked at the bonnet and saw steam coming from all directions."Bernadette coughed and spluttered to a terminal halt."Everybody said it's too expensive to get fixed and she's old, parts are hard etc, etc."But just like when he bought the car against his partner's advise, Heaney had it fixed and reckons it's now good for another 200,000km and another 29 years.BMW 528Year: 1975Price New: $15,000Price Now: $10,000 (insured)Engine: 2.8L, 6 cylinder, double-barrel carburettorBody: E12 four-door sedanTransmission: ZF three-speed auto.