M5 restoration thoughts

[SW]

Well the M5 has been doing fairly ok for the last 10k miles after my new head install. I have a few things on the list of things to do, but nothing to big (well, except possibly re-installing valve seals).
But the big issue on this car is rust. Looking around the car, it isn't getting less rusty. The interior is fair, the engine pulls well and in general the car is a joy to drive. Yes it burns oil, but I think I have a good lead on the problem. So, as I think about buying a new car I am wondering about getting the M5 restored instead. It has rust on the rails, in the back near the trunk, under the rear bumper and likely hiding elsewhere. I plan on driving it for a good while, restoration or not.
I know there isn't a lot of question here, but I guess I am just wondering what people think of restoring an 88 M5. I have been restoring a 76 2002 for 10 plus years now, and know that is a common thing, but haven't seen much rust restoration on the e28.

[Kyle in NO]

I've always thought that extensive rust repair on an E28 or other similar vintage BMW is foolish. Small areas, sure. Large scale, not worth it. You can always find a comparable non-rusty one for the same or less than the repairs will cost...then you can have one that is not patched up!

[derrith]

If you want to read about rust repair, check out what davidoli and raymondw have done in the process of restoring their M5s in Europe. Davidoli's restoration log covers a whole lot of rust repair and rebuilding of parts due to living in England and Raymondw's covers more nitpicky aspects of rust repair and prevention. Both of the threads linked are excellent views of how to go about fixing up these cars.