Narvin Sokasaim's E39 530i
Photography by Narvin Sokasaim
I'm always interested to hear how someone got into a hobby and cars are no exception. I particularly enjoy hearing how people first got interested in BMW's. There's a pretty good chance that there's a nice story involved and usually something relatable to as well. For some it may be because of their first ride in one, or the exterior of a certain model, that perfect growl from the tail pipes or simply all of the above. For Narvin though, it was his older brother Navith who first introduced him to BMW's or any european car for that matter.
Narvin wasn't necessarily an enthusiast from the get-go, but that eventually changed. The 2002 530i you see here was originally his older brother's car. It was their family's first bimmer and Narvin admits that while he didn't really care for it at first, it quickly grew on him. At the time it had the M5 front bumper (as seen on it now), was lowered on Eibach springs and sat on Linea Corse Z2S wheels. Narvin said it was hard not to have some sort of admiration towards the car, especially since he saw it every day. The day came that Navith craved more power and Narvin didn't want to pass up the chance to take the E39 off his hands. So the sedan remained in the family and it received a new sibling in the form of an E46 M3.
After browsing the internet he saw the awesome potential that the E39 chassis had. While schooling himself on everything about the car, he soon learned all about "///M". That was a major influence on Narvin's decision to upgrade his 530i in an OEM+ manner. Obviously, everyone would have their car come with more horsepower if they could, but obtaining high performance just wasn't a big priority for him at the moment. The car takes him back and forth to school and work, so he decided to improve on the aesthetics.
He stiffened the suspension up with BC Racing coilovers (12k/10k spring rates) and E39 Sport sway bars. Over the past couple years Narvin has gone back and forth with adjusting the height of the car. Personally, I think this is the most spot-on that his fitment has looked to date.
Just as he's tinkered with the height, he's gone through numerous sets of wheels too. The current set is Work VS-XX in 18 x 10" et-5 (F); 18 x 12" et+17 (R). The centers are a custom brushed bronze finish done by FLOSS. Hankook V12's wrap the wheels with a meaty stretch of 245 up front and 285 on the rear.
The rear of the car has become one of those butts that you just can't help but stare at while it leaves your presence. An M5 rear bumper with OEM M5 diffuser was added to match the front's aggressiveness and a trunk lip spoiler topped it off subtly. A Magnaflow Quad Tip exhaust, muffler-delete, and resonator delete now give that 3.0 liter a deep throaty sound.
While Narvin is not sure what's in store for the future, I am sure that his car has been added to that list of well-done E39's on the internet that had once inspired him.
