If you’re a BMW enthusiast, you’ve probably heard of M539 Restorations, the YouTube channel that features some of the very best BMW restoration videos. Sreten, the host of the channel, has become incredibly popular in the BMW community for his incredible work, excellent videos, and passion for the brand. Sreten isn’t just a great mechanic but also a great video host, making what would normally be a long, tiresome video into something entertaining. In this new video from BMW Group Classic, Sreten gets recognition from the very brand he’s loved since he was a kid.
At some point, Sreten moved to California from Germany, which is where he bought his first BMW, an E39 530i. That’s the car that began his obsession with fixing and restoring BMWs, as he couldn’t afford to bring it to shops for all of its repairs. From there, he started buying more BMWs in need of restoration and it became a full blown hobby.
After moving back to Germany, Sreten bought a pre-LCI E39 BMW M5, which would eventually become his favorite BMW model of all. He’s now onto his second E39 M5, one of the earliest LCI models, and it’s the car that gave his YouTube channel its name. German registration papers have the car listed as “M5 39,” so he named his channel after it—M539 Restorations.
The channel started in 2019 and he bought an old, beat up E23-generation 7 Series as the first car to restore on the channel. He started getting more and more views, people began to really like his work and his videos, and the channel grew from there. He now has a large collection of old Bimmers, in various stages of repair, and all of them are interesting. One of his recent projects, an E65-generation ALPINA B7, is particularly fascinating.
Sreten’s work with older BMWs is among the best in digital media at the moment. Few other people can show off what it actually takes to repair and restore old BMWs the correct way, using the correct parts, and the correct tools. Like all good craftsmen, he makes it look easy, whether he completely disassembles an engine and builds it back from scratch or replaces a few plastic clips holding a piece of trim on. Everything gets the same level of care and attention to detail, all while Sreten provides funny and engaging commentary. If you haven’t checked out his channel yet, do so now. BMW fans won’t regret it.