Forgotten Classics: BMW Z1 and Alpina RLE

This is the Alpina version of BMW's Z1* roadster, the 63rd of 66 Alpina-modified Z1s built. Not much of a surprise, then, that it's mostly unknown.  The Z1 on which it was based, however, was produced in 8,000 examples from early 1989 through mid-1991.  The reason it's unknown in the USA is that it was never imported here.

The Alpina RLE version of the Z1 was powered by a 200 horsepower 2.7 liter inline six, an improvement of 32 hp over the 2.5 liter sohc six in the standard car.  Beyond that, the RLE has stiffer suspension, 17 inch wheels replacing standard 15 inchers, and in this case wheel arch extensions that didn't always appear on the Alpina verson.  Features unchanged from the standard car include the signature vertically-retracting doors, trim aerodynamic contours rendered in plastic with tight front and rear overhangs, and a flush underpan with contoured muffler and bumper air extractor aimed at increasing downforce.

In essence then, the strong points of the Alpina Z1 are the same ones of the basic Z1, which included a steel chassis with high structural side sills for impact protection (the reason for those drop-down doors), plastic body panels which BMW claimed could be removed in 40 minutes (actual elapsed time was a multiple of that), and a multi-link rear suspension, one of the first in a BMW, that appeared later on in the E36 Three Series.

It also shared the trim and tidy nose of the standard car (shown below) which was designed to induce downforce...

When BMW management decided to build its first 2-seat roadster since the 507* in the mid-1980s, they formed a new engineering team called BMW Technik under the direction of Ulrich Bez; body design was in the hands of Dutch industrial designer Harm Lagaay.  The prototype was shown in late summer of 1987, and production began just over a year later.  Orthopedic, form-fitting seats were unusual for the period; these can be seen in the photo below. The windows retract automatically when the doors are lowered, and can be operated independently when the doors are up.  Unlike cars with swinging doors, the Z1 can be driven with doors open, but this is not legal in all countries or in the USA...

This BMW Technik team also studied a coupe version of the Z1 which failed to advance beyond the prototype stage. This seems a pity, as the overall form was more convincing than the coupe which was produced years later on the Z3 chassis…tidy, crisp and timeless, with only the fussiness of the headlights (here just sketched in) and tail lights as distractions...

The photo below shows the revised nose profile of the coupe, which approached the form of future BMW sedans more than it did the Z1 roadster.  The tiny door opening perhaps highlights a reason the coupe wasn't approved for production; at least on the roadster you could always lower the top for easier access.

Despite claimed advance orders for 35,000 cars, BMW was never able to produce more than 20 per day.  This, along with the initial price of 45,000 Euros, put a brake on delivery of completed cars.  Owing to the limited space behind the dash, the Z1 was never available with air conditioning, but driving down a winding road with the doors wide open and the wind in your hair, you'd probably never miss it.

Photo Credits:

Top thru 3rd from top:  the author

4th:  executive cars 

5th:  xehay.vn

6th:  flatout.com.br

7th & 8th:  bmw technik

*Footnotes:
Further notes on the BMW Z-1 can be found in the blog archives for April 24, 2016, in "The Car Search Part 2: The Fun Factor."  A sketch of the BMW 507 story can be found in the blog archives for May 1, 2016 under "Max Hoffman: An Eye for Cars and the Studebaker Porsche."

Forgotten Classic Revival Show: ATS 2500GT and GTS

Back in the earlier part of this decade, an outfit called Torino Design, having purchased the rights to the Automobili Turismo e Sport name, inactive since the 1960s, announced a revival of the ATS 2500GT.  Like the largely-forgotten Italian GT from 1963, it was a tidy, compact mid-engined coupe with a 2.5 liter engine.  In case you've forgotten the original coupe design by Franco Scaglione*, here's one of the 5 survivors of 8 cars bodied by Allemano...

Unlike the original ATS 2500GT, which featured an overhead-cam V8 designed by Carlo Chiti, the revival featured a Cosworth-tuned Subaru boxer four.  In choosing a Subaru engine, Torino Design was following the footsteps of the OSCA Dromos* team from a dozen years earlier. The lines were uncluttered and devoid of gimmicks, with the exception of a central, rooftop air intake not unlike the one on the McLaren F1 coupe...

The car soon disappeared from view, however, and despite ambitious production plans, it apparently remained a one-off, not unlike the Subaru-engined Dromos.  Another ATS effort appeared at this past summer's Concorso Italiano, though.  By this time, the designers had added more supercar cliches, including scissor doors and some tortured shapes obscuring the window between the B and C pillars...

This time around the engine is a twin-turbocharged McLaren V8.  The projected price of the car, $850,000, seems to reflect a $570,000 surcharge over the price of a similarly-powerful McLaren 720s.  And while the fussy detailing on the New ATS fails to detract all that much from the sleek overall form, that form is not terribly distinctive when compared with the competition from McLaren, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

And if the extra exclusivity of the ATS name doesn't sell the car, it's hard to imagine that nostalgia for the original ATS will.  Recall that it was one of a bevy of makes (including Iso, Lamborghini, and Serenissima) launched by unhappy Ferrari customers, in this case Count Volpi di Misurata, who joined with two industrialists and a team of ex-Ferrari engineers including the aforementioned Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, in 1962.  Their ambitious plan was to run a new Formula 1 team with a car of their own design, at the same time preparing a mid-engined GT for sale to the public...

They acquired the services of American Phil Hill, who had clinched the 1961 World Championship in the Ferrari 156 (another Chiti design) to drive the ATS 100 which appeared for the 1963 season, around the same time as the GT car.  Because this was the era of the 1.5 liter Formula 1, the new F1 engine shared few parts with the 2.5 liter GT.  Hill experienced power and reliability troubles with his new mount, shown above at Monza.

There were problems with chassis flex, too.  Eventually the engineers decided to weld a tubular cage around the engine to stiffen the whole assemblage.  It can be seen in the photo above, behind the unhappy Mr. Hill.  This made it impossible to remove the engine without cutting the tubular frame, and had the effect of making the mechanics as unhappy as Phil Hill.  The team had a season of unrelieved frustration.

Meanwhile, the 2500GT had appeared on the show circuit, and road testers liked the car's power and handling. The balance and responsiveness offered by the mid-engine configuration were then largely confined to racers...Rene Bonnet's mid-engined Djet was only just appearing as a limited-production road car.  ATS offered its 2500 in race trim (lighter bodywork, sliding windows rather than power ones) as the GTS, and by 1964 a couple of these appeared in the Targa Florio.

These made an impression with their trim looks and lusty sound, but succumbed to teething troubles before finishing.  The ATS operation itself succumbed to financial collapse hastened by the failed F1 effort in late 1964, but not before sending a 2500GT to GM's Styling VP Bill Mitchell, and making maybe a dozen chassis, of which 8 were bodied by Allemano, like this GTS driven by Giancarlo Baghetti in the '64 Targa.  It's hard to imagine building a modern brand marketing strategy around a name that was forgotten by the 1970s, even by car enthusiasts, and was then associated with nothing but trouble.  Then again, if music and clothing can be marketed around nostalgia for the disco era, perhaps anything can happen.

*Footnote:  A retrospective of Franco Scaglione's design work was featured in "Unsung Genius Franco Scaglione: The Arc of Success" for December 20, 2017.  For details on other Subaru-engined supercars, see the previous post, "OSCA Dromos and Jiotto Caspita: Subaru's Distant Cousins."

Photo Credits:

Top:  wikimedia

2nd:  Torino Design, reproduced on forums.nasioc.com

3rd:  The author.

4th:  wikimedia

5th:  primotipo.com

6th:  getty images, reproduced on primotipo.com

7th thru 9th:  targapedia.com