The Restoration Of A South African Racing Legend
BMW 530 MLE
BMW 530 MLE – A Restoration Of A Very Rare Homologation Special
Jalopy
May 06, 2020
The 530 had seen better days, but was verified as the genuine article
The Car As Found
To meet homologation requirements, BMW needed to sell 100 of the 530 MLE
With only 110 of the Type 1 made in 1976 and 117 of the Type 2 in 1977 they were never in great supply
Very few survived the 70s and it took years of searching to find one
Car 100 was originally owned by racing driver
and the racing 530 MLE’s team manager Peter Kaye-Eddie
Restoration took a year. Luckily the car still had its original engine, so it still had matching mumbers
The MLE was a great example of
‘What wins on Saturday sells on Monday’
For the 1976 Modified Production Series the MLE achieved Fifteen wins from 15 consecutive starts
The car was built quite differently to a standard 530. Hand drilled pedals, manual windows and no air conditioning
Externally the bodywork was hand drilled to save weight and the engine was a modified 3.0 litre six
The 530 MLE Produced 147kW (197bhp) and 277Nm (204 lb/ft)
Performance was good for the time.
0 – 100km/h (62mph) in 9.3 seconds and a top speed of 129 mph
Even though the 530 MLE was little known outside of South Africa it was very important for the early development of BMW M cars and worth saving
It wasn't just Munich that produced M series cars