BMW M1 – The Car BMW and Lamborghini Built
Author: Dirk GibsonWhat if you took two companies that had contrasting, unique strengths with cars and put them together to build a car emphasizing both of their traits? Well, that’s exactly what happened in the 1970s when BMW and Lamborghini got together to build a legendary car – the BMW M1.
The BMW M1 was a car built in a soap opera environment of sorts. The problem wasn’t BMW, but Lamborghini. BMW had retained the Italian exotic sports car company to design the M1. Alas, Lamborghini was having major financial problems at the time and ended up going bankrupt half way through the project. BMW was thus forced to take the car back and complete the project on its own.
These odd circumstances led to an odd car. The first M1s look more or less exactly like you might think they would if Lamborghini did half the work and then handed the car off to BMW and did not consult on the rest of the project. The car has some of the swooping designs you see with all Lamborghinis, but also some of the typical lines you see in BMW. Put together, the car looks something like…a DeLorean. To some, this is a beautiful design. To others, it is not.
The BMW M1 was sold to the public for only three years – 1978-81. The sales for this period totaled 456 cars, the smallest production line in the history of BMW. Oddly, the base engine was a 6 cylinder, with twin cams and produced a top speed in the 160 miles per hour range. Other BMW models were later given the M1 version, but they were just upgrades of the respective base production cars and not real M1s.
It must be said that the powers at BMW really liked the M1. They actually started a PRO M1 racing series that restricted teams to using just the M1 car. The series became a launching pad for Formula One drivers. The iconic Ferrari driver Niki Lauda won two PRO M1 championships and future F1 Champ Nelson Piquet won one. BMW still supports the series today although M1s long ago were phased out in exchange for 3 series cars.
Why write about a car nearly 30 years old? Well, BMW is considering updating the car and releasing a modern version. It is called the M1 Homage Concept. The car has only been seen once, but it just looks brutally wicked in a good way. The current economic environment has stopped BMW and other companies from pursuing such projects, but expect the car to get some attention when the economic situation improves. I honestly don’t care for the original M1 design, but the Homage Concept looks like an absolutely beautiful and aggressive car design worth every penny of what will certainly be a very high price.
Dirk Gibson writes BMW articles for DCJ Auto Parts - your source for BMW aftermarket parts.
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