It's Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. We've seen 7, 6, and 3 Series 80s BMWs, so we need a 5!

This one has been debadged, so we can't say whether it's a 528e, a 535i, a 535iS, or some mutated gray-market European machine with US-spec bumpers and headlights (unlikely, but you never know). I found this car just down the street from the '57 VW Transporter, the '66 VW Beetle convertible, and the '80 Porsche 911SC, so you know it's a good block for vintage German iron.

In 1987, the list price of a new 528e was $28,330, while the the 535i went for $33,600. That's 53 and 63 grand, respectively, in 2009 dollars, so you'd have had to move a lot of Adnan Khashoggi's Stingers to buy a new 5 series for each of your bodyguards back in the day. These days, the magic of depreciation means that you can afford to do this to an E28 and have beer money left over!

Send an email to Murilee Martin, the author of this post, at murilee@jalopnik.com.