BMW 5 Series E34 M5

The E34 took the original recipe and made it richer. Built from 1989 to 1995, it kept the hand-built approach and the M1-derived straight-six, now called the S38, growing it from 3.6 liters and 315 hp to a 3.8-liter, 340-hp version in 1992. Each engine was assembled by a single technician at Garching, the sort of detail that makes people go misty-eyed at car meets.

It also did something no M5 had done before: it came as a wagon. The E34 M5 Touring arrived in 1992, and with only 891 built it is now among the rarest M cars going. It is the direct ancestor of the M5 Touring you can buy today, proof the super-wagon idea is older than most people assume. Owners also remember the E34 for its turbine-style "throwing star" wheels, designed to feed cooling air to the brakes and to look terrific while doing it. They are, in my opinion, the best OEM BMW wheels ever.

This was the last hand-built M5 and the last to run a version of the M1's engine, which gives it a real sense of send-off. Heavier and plusher than the E28, it stays old-school in the ways that count. It is the M5 a lot of collectors reach for when they want the analog era at its most complete.