Late in 2018, BMW Group South Africa announced plans to fully refurbish a rather special 1976 BMW 530 MLE. And now the restoration process has officially commenced, with the local arm of the German firm sharing new images of the project.
The launch event included a special appearance by Walter Mahlangu and Jacob Matabane, two retired former BMW employees who worked at Plant Rosslyn in the 1970s and helped build the vehicles.
As a reminder, the 530 MLE (that’s Motorsport Limited Edition) was exclusive to South Africa, produced as a homologation special in Pretoria to allow the firm to go racing in the Modified Production Series.
The vehicle undergoing restoration bears a serial number of 770100, with matching engine and chassis numbers. The refurbishment process will be led by Luis Malhou (who himself owns a meticulously restored example) of Custom Restorations.
Of course, in 2016, BMW Group SA refurbished an M1 and an SA-only BMW 333i, before moving on to the legendary 325iS in 2018 (although this example of the Gusheshe was sadly soon thereafter involved in a crash).
Check out the gallery above for the latest images on the 530 MLE project and look out for the June 2019 issue of CAR magazine for more behind-the-scenes details…
