“The car was the first in the line of ‘ultimate driving machines’ and I can promise that it lives up to the name. It was at the time one of the fastest production cars that you could buy.”

– Ludlow classic car enthusiast Ed Havard

SPRING is the time of year when the dust covers come off vintage and classic cars up and down the country.

It is an exciting time for people like former Ludlow councillor Ed Havard.

Ed, aged 59, has been a car enthusiast all of his life and his favourite machine was truly in at the birth of a motoring legend.

His pride and joy is a 1981 E12 5351 BMW, which was the first of the 5 Series cars that remain a standard-setter for executive motoring.

BMW has just launched its latest 5 Series and, as part of the publicity, borrowed Ed’s car, which has just been returned from a dealership in the north of England where it was used as part of a product launch campaign.

“I had known the car from new and brought it when it was just 18-months-old,”

said Ed, who ser ved for a number of years on the now defunct South Shropshire District Council.

“The car was the first in the line of ‘ultimate driving machines’ and I can promise that it lives up to the name. It was, at the time, one of the fastest production cars that you could buy.

“At one time, it was my main car but now I only use it occasionally and in 30 years it has done just 92,000 miles.

“But it is still taxed and insured and when I want to give myself a treat, I take it for a drive.”

The car has a six-cylinder 3.5 litre engine with a fuel injection system that in its day was ahead of its time. It also has features such as power steering which, although common today, were unusual back in the early 1980s.

Ed believes that only a few hundred examples of his car were made and they were very much aimed at the executive market.

“It is a long time ago but I think I paid about £18,000 for the BMW, which was a hell of a lot of money for a car back in 1981,” said Ed.

The car is associated with high speed, rapid acceleration and executive motoring but not frugality and so is not so well suited to an age when petrol is £1.20 a litre and people seriously worry about exhaust emissions and climate change.

“There is something special about a vintage car and my BMW is a ver y special machine,” said Ed.

“I have always loved cars and transport. My father worked for a long time for Midland Red and my mother was a clippie on the buses, so perhaps it is in my genes.”