I agree with you about the bootlid. It creates a horrible diagonal line that your eye really follows in lighter colors - If you see the car from the profile, you follow the slope of the C-pillar down along the trunk's shutline... it looks like the rear of the car was tacked-on. Drives me crazy.
On the other hand, the E60 looks amazing from the rear, interesting from the rear 3/4 with the illusion of a really low front, and always neat from the front... a beauty with many, many flaws.
One note about the "timelessness" of cars. I think our perception of what was great and what wasn't so great is distorted by the fact that old cars... get old. They're exposed to the elements - get dinged, paint fades and plastics yellow. It's very hard to objectively gauge how great older cars really were when most of the examples we see on the street are in poor condition.
When's the E24 or R107 on the road in minty condition? Usually they're just junkers.
