A beautiful example of the 507 built recently sold for $77,000
Many people are under the impression that the best BMW e34 ever made was the M5. The truth is that there was another car on the market that had performance that put the M5 to shame. In fact, it was the fasted production sedan in the World at the time of its introduction.
Built by a company that got their start with textiles, Alpina built BMWs that were exclusive and fast, very fast. Alpina started working with the 1600 and has since then pretty much worked with every model of BMW since. Alpina is to BMWs, what RUF is to Porsche and what AMG used to be to Mercedes Benz.
The B10 Biturbo started as a BMW 535i. Upon its arrival at the Alpina factory, the M30 engine was rebuilt replacing the stock pistons with forged Mahle pistons. Two Garrett T25 water-cooled turbochargers were added as well as a Bosch variable boost control with a range of 0.4 to 0.8 bar that was controlled using a knob next to the driver’s seat. The result increased the performance of the M30 engine from 208 horsepower and 225 pound-feet of torque to 360 horsepower and 384 pound-feet of torque. To handle the added power, a strengthened Getrag 290 5-speed manual transmission was specified to handle the additional power.
In addition to significantly increasing the output of the M30 engine and upgrading the transmission, Alpina modified the suspension system adding springs and anti-roll bars of their own design. Bilstein shocks were used on the front axle and automatic load leveling units by Fictel & Sachs were added on the rear.
The braking system was also updated with large 13.1 inch discs that were larger than the 12.8 inch rotors found on the E34 M5. Carried over from the BMW 535i were the Michelin MXX tires as well as BMW’s Automatic Stability Control system.
Alpina reported a 0 to 62 mile per hour time of 5.6 seconds accelerating all the way to 180 miles per hour. While not impressive by today’s standards, this was almost thirty years ago and was performance comparable to the Ferrari Testa Rossa.
The B10 Biturbo is the model that put Alpina on the map. It was the company’s best-selling model to that point with 507 examples produced between 1989 and 1994. This is significant because one could buy two BMW M5s for the price of one B10 Biturbo.
Fast forward to 2016, and the car has become highly sought after by collectors. The car you see here recently sold on Bringatrailer.com, a collector car auction site for $77,000.
I expect that the prices of these cars will only increase as people become more aware of their pedigree. Additionally, look at the prices of E30 M3s and E28 M5s in recent years. The only direction for prices to go is up as far as I am concerned.
