long time BMW enthusiast but i had never owned an SUV. when i decided i needed to haul more than a coupe a could carry i had my sights set on finding a silver manual transmission E53 and after A LOT of hunting i found one in need of some love...

first thing i did was dump major bucks into maintenance, no fun pictures from that period. but once she had a brand new top to bottom cooling system, bushings, control arms, ect. it was time for fun.

the front bumper is a custom fabricated and powdercoated steel bolt-on unit housing a 9500lbs winch (because ridiculous). the skid plate is CNC'd 1/8" aluminum that drops just below the radiator for protection. on the upper sides i added aesthetic grilles, but i guess i could claim weight reduction/air flow on those. to finish it off we have big red D rings at the reinforced tow points and Hella rally lights.


i designed and fabbed custom kidney grilles to fit the look - they are rivet on featuring our Never Dones Garage's "deep breath grille" design. behind the grilles are CNC'd alumnimum brackets for some Hella rally horns. these things are perfectly obnoxious haha


a detail shot of the upper bumper grilles


keeping on theme - the stock mirrors were scrapped for these baja inspired units made from hacking up and existing bracket and putting our own twist on it... again powdercoated.


the wheels are BBS style 19s - refinished with polished lips, black bolts, and rescue green centers. they're wrapped in goodyear duratrac.


just a front shot


and here's what made it "special" atleast for me - the 5 speed manual transmission. as for the interior i put a ZHP knob on (like i do all my cars, best knob out there) and put a three spoke ///M steering wheel on.


looking forward to good lift solution and tearing her around off road more often.