33 BMW 635CSI

We’d all dearly love an E9 BMW coupé, but over the past decade they have roared out of sight and firmly into junior exotic territory. As a result, values for the E24 6-Series that replaced it in 1976 are breaking into a canter in pursuit. For now, though, it’s still firmly within reach for those with £15k burning a hole in their back pocket.

Don’t go thinking that you’ll be able to track down a coveted 286bhp M-car with that kind of cash, and even manual versions of the standard 218bhp 635 are rare to find at affordable prices these days, but the switchable Sport auto is a fine piece of kit, and all 635s are genuine autobahn warriors, capable of cruising at three figures all day long. If you’re buying one to satisfy an urge for that earlier E9 then with a bit of searching you might just unearth one of the less common 628s, 630s and 633s with their slender bumpers and unadorned tails, while Yuppie wannabes should keep their eyes peeled for a high-mileage ‘Highline’ with its matt-black trim in place of chrome to give a true ’80s look.

Karmann’s reinterpretation of the ‘sharknose’ BMW look gets increasingly elegant with age, and under that sharp suit the mechanicals are unburstable, but do check the bodywork for rot and remember that a cheap one of these is unlikely to work out better value in the long run.