E39 + E21 sold... Enter the E60 - Planet5 lives on!

Managed to shift the E21 last weekend for practically what I'd spent on it, so it's nice to get money back for hard work. It's also given me a wad to spend on my next Beemer and I have fancied an E60 5-series for a while now, so when a lad at work offered a grand for the E39 I decided to have a look for a newer 530d. On a good day on eBay I reckon the E39 could fetch about £1,200, so letting it go for a quick sale at £1k is fair does. I met him today and we did a nice, quick deal. There was no real reason to let the E39 go, everything still works and it has never really let me down, service costs have been next to nothing, but I have had it just over 3 years now and the only justification I can give to upgrading is pure E-number snobbery.

The 530d that I've found this week is a 2004 E60 on a 53 plate, so one of the earlier ones, but still benefitting from the full HID lights and facelift. As with its predecessor, it's an SE with a full BMW service history and 120k miles. It's also mint, but this time it's got full black leather and a silver M-sport interior, as well as a few other sporty bits. I had hankered after the full M-sport car, but they are still commanding 6k+ and I got this for a song, so I guess I can buy and fit M-sport bumpers at a later date, as I said I would with the E39, but probably won't get around to once I've settled into it, even though a guy in Warrington says I can have a purple front M-bumper for £100 if I collect, so just maybe. It does have upgrade wheels, but rather than M-sports it has the 18" (I think, maybe even 19s I forgot to ask) wheels from a 7-series, which look rather nice and a bit different.

I am off to collect it tomorrow, from the east-coast of Essex no less. I managed to get the train ticket booked in advance for just £36, that's all the way from Liverpool Lime Street to Euston, the tube to Liverpool Street and then a regional SE train to Manningtree on the Essex coast, which is a ridiculous discount. The car is already paid for via instant bank-transfer, the first time I've done that buying a car, so when the guy meets me at the train station all I need to do is sign the log book and I'm away, plus I won't need to carry any cash with me. That's if he meets me at the station at all that is, but they're a reputable seller and I received a receipt of purchase on Friday, so it seems all legit so far. The only down side to my cheap train fare is that it won't be a super-quick Virgin train to London and will take over 3 hours instead. The departure time is also 8am, but at least this gets me into Essex for half one in the afternoon and that gives plenty of time to do the 270 mile drive home, which I'm sure will fly by.