Hello again from Holland,

Still nicely busy with my ongoing research about the E12 M535i.

In a UK roadtestreport I managed to get from 1980, it is stated that the first bunch of E12 M535i were actually not introduced on UK Mainland at first, but on the Isle of Man.

There, all the motoring press and perhaps BMW-emloyees and potential customers were able to try and test these early RHD cars.
These cars were "Manx" registered.

I feel this must have taken place in July or August 1980.
The first bunch of 6 RHD cars were produced during July 1980.

The production resumed in September 1980 after the factory holiday during August.

After these tests on the Isle of Man, these cars were shipped to the UK mainland to receive formal type-approval and were re-registered on UK plates.
After this I feel the UK market introduction would have taken place.

Are there perhaps forum members here from the Isle od Man who might know more about this?

I've tried to get in touch with the current BMW dealership on the island, but to no avail. The dealership was taken over only two years ago, so the staff was unable to help me.

I do know of a dealership which could have been there at the time, called

BMN Carriages - this dealer is long since defunct.

However, as far as I've managed to find out this garage was situated at the same address :

43-45 Bucks Road
Douglas
Isle of Man, IM1 3DE

I'm hoping that there are people who might know more, or know people
who could know more.

In that case I would be glad to hear from you.

I know this will be a needle in a haystack search, but one can always try...

Thanks and best wishes,
Ronald.