When he bought a used BMW E28 M535i sedan a decade and a half ago, Englishman Colin Baker had a simple brush-up in mind for it, but got a little carried away and ended up with a work of art.
BMW had a paint option called Amethyst Metallic in its palette in mid-1980s, but Baker found it slightly off. Being a car painting professional, he mixed in a bit of ultraviolet to create a unique, vivid and deep color that looked best juxtaposed against some natural gold – this is when Baker had his ‘Eureka!’ moment.
He began by putting some fine gold on the turbocharger that he put under the hood. The 5-Series used to be naturally aspirated, but forced induction worked well and extracted around 500 horsepower (373 kilowatts) from it. Inspired by the success, the tuner now plans to add another turbo – also gilded, of course – and raise the power another notch.
Little by little, precious metal continued to make its advance along the exterior and interior of the BMW, landing on the nostril grille bezels, wheel hardware, headlight frames, side skirts and many other details. Baker even went as far as to make air-ride suspension work with the E28 despite there being no ready aftermarket solution, and re-trimmed the cabin with Alcantara all by himself.
Interestingly enough, the entire project has consumed only a moderate amount of gilding so far – something the talented customizer estimates at £6,000 tops. Having spent 16 years of his life working on the sedan, he will not part with it for any money and instead intends to pass it down to the next generation.