This book tells the complete BMW 5 series story, in the pre-Bangle classic era, covering e12, e28, e34 and e39 models, the enthusiast cars that invented the modern sports sedan and created BMW's ultimate driving machine image. Follow the evolution of BMW's middle child through the decades in all major markets. Marvel at the mystique of BMW's motorsport and exotic tuner cars reaching the 180mph milestone on V8 power. Consider BMW's phoenix-like rise from the ashes of WWII, regaining its sports, luxury reputation, and powering on to become the ultimate business machine under chairman Eberhard von Kuenheim. This new paperback edition features 22 new images, and new information about the genesis of BMW Motorsport GmbH and its early cars. Marc Cranswick has been writing on the subject of classic high performance German cars for many years. He has been involved with BMW since the e12 and e21 were current models.