Thursday afternoon, after checking out the Mecum auction offerings, we wandered over to Legends of the Autobahn in Seaside. I was looking for my old BMW 3.0 CS, which has been restored by its new owner, who has exhibited cars at the Legends event before. Though there were all kinds of modern Audi, BMW and Mercedes products on show, it was so easy to drift down memory lane that this writer never quite made it to the newer cars. First stop was this 1980 BMW M1, a mid-engined, transverse inline six-powered GT developed for Group 5 racing and made in 453 examples from 1978-'81. Body design was by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Ital Design.
There were so many 60s and 70s BMWs on display that it was a bit like a class in post-midcentury Bimmer history, especially considering the BMW 600s and 700s we'd seen at the Little Car Show in Pacific Grove on Wednesday. It's easy to forget that BMW was not always a luxury lifestyle accessory in the USA, and that it was really the 2002, as sort of 2-liter factory hot rod version of the trim, light and compact 1600 sedan, that put the make on the map in America, especially after a positive 1968 review in Car & Driver. There was a definite Corvair influence in the car's lines, but it was shorter, lighter, and in tii form as shown here, more entertaining than the Neue Klasse 4-door sedans that had launched the new SOHC inline four cylinder BMWs in 1962.
The 3-door hatchback Touring body style shown below was added to the line in 1971, but never imported into the United States. Though it was part of the 2002 line, it was called 2000 Touring because, one guesses, it had more than 2 doors...
Before the 1600 two-door sedans appeared in 1966, BMW contracted with Karmann to build the bodies for a 4-passenger GT coupe powered by a 2 liter version of their SOHC four. Called the 2000CS, the glassy pillarless coupe found more customers in Europe than the US, where its covered headlight detail was changed to meet regulations, and where it was priced close to Jaguar's E-Type.
The popularity of the CS went up, along with its price, in 1968 when BMW introduced the 2800 CS with inline 2.8 liter six. It used the 4-wheel independent suspension of the other Neue Klasse cars, and the SOHC configuration with an aluminum head on cast iron block. Braking was by front discs and rear drums. The revised body style by Wilhelm Hofmeister was designated E9 by BMW. Visually, the main improvement came from the 3" increase in wheelbase to fit the new engine, giving more graceful proportions, and the sharper, lower nose design with smaller kidney grille framed by oblong grilles containing the headlights. The E9 was actually a bit lighter than the preceding 2000CS, and more aerodynamic.
Bodies for the revised CS were still made by Karmann...
The 2800CS was replaced by the 3.0CS and fuel-injected CSi during 1971. In addition to the increase in displacement to 3 liters, rear disc brakes joined the ones at the front. The car remained in production through 1975.
We were hoping that BMW USA would bring a specimen of their new Vision Neue Klasse as videos of the car are now on their website. For people who miss the glassy lightness and visual simplicity of classic BMWs, who may not need a truck-like SUV, and who are befuddled by new BMWs with their huge Bucky Beaver grilles (even on electric models, where they admit no air) the spare, simple lines of the new car (shown below) seem to begin a new chapter. We especially like the trim line crossing the side windows and connecting the hood shut line to the revived Hoffmeister Kink. Too bad BMW wasn't moved to bring one of these new cars to the Legends show...
The car below is a reminder that the BMW design group called BMW Technik took a similar bold leap in the late Eighties. It's a BMW Z1*, and the reason you may not have seen one was that it was never imported Stateside. The first in the Z-series of two-seaters, it was one of the first BMWs featuring multi-link rear suspension, and was powered by an SOHC inline six of 2.5 liters sending 168 hp to the rear wheels through a Getrag 5-speed gearbox. 8,000 examples were built from March 1989 to June 1991. There were 66 Alpina RLE* versions with a 2.7 liter, 200 hp six. Though the car is a bit shorter than the 1st Series Mazda Miata, the wheelbase is longer at 96.3 inches. Weight is 2,760 lb.
The body, designed by Harm Lagaay in 1986, is composed of plastic panels over a steel chassis, and the high, reinforced structural sills gave rise to the car's most intriguing detail: doors that retract into those sills after the windows retract into the doors. The car can be driven with the doors open...
...and looks like this with the doors closed. The Z1 is slowly being discovered by collectors and design fans.
The Mercedes-Benz 300SL was discovered by collectors long ago, and there seemed to be a fleet of concours-condition SL Gullwings and Roadsters everywhere you looked during Car Week. Vickie Gilmour's '57 example should win an award for a car that actually gets driven frequently. She's had the car for fifty years, and still enjoys driving it whenever weather and traffic conditions permit. If there had been a prize for Almost Daily Driver, this SL would've deserved it.
Another car that would have delighted the Legends audience, as it is a real legend of Formula 1 and racing technology, didn't show up at this free event because it was sitting in a hotel lobby in downtown Monterey. This Mercedes-Benz W196 Streamliner from 1954 was raced by Juan Manuel Fangio, and along with its open-wheel sister cars helped Fangio win the World Championships in 1954 and 1955. Design is credited to Alfred Neubauer and Fritz Nallinger. Features included magnesium alloy bodywork as well as an inline eight cylinder engine of 2.5 liters making 257 hp and featuring desmodromic valves. Unlike the 3.0 liter sports racing version with block made of exotic light alloy, the experimental M196 engine featured steel cylinder liners welded to steel heads, and sheet steel water jackets welded in place. This car ran like a legend, still looks like one, and was brought to Car Week as a preview to its offering at auction in October...
*Footnote: More details on the Z1 and Alpina RLE can be found in "Forgotten Classics: BMW Z1 and Alpina RLE", posted here on Nov. 24, 2018.
Photo Credits:
BMW Vision Neue Klasse: BMW USA.
Mercedes-Benz W196 Streamliner: RM Sotheby's Auctions.
The remainder of the photos are by the author.
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