Photo: RM Sotheby's
Because BMW wanted to beat Porsche in the Group 4 and 5 racing, they built the first automobile from their legendary M line, the mid-engined M1 Coupe.
This iconic piece of engineering was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and the chassis was built by Gian Paolo Dallara, the mastermind behind some iconic projects like Countach and the Miura, which is why you could say it is more Italian than German.
It was powered by a 3.453cc inline six-cylinder engine producing 277bhp and a five-speed manual transmission that delivered the power to the rear wheels. With a wheelbase of 100.8 inches, the M1 was very different from the cars that were produced in those times, regarding weight and height.
All in all, the M1 was expected to be an unstoppable force, but right before the car was supposed to show what it was capable of, the FIA changed the rules, making the vehicle ineligible, thus forcing BMW to reach an agreement with F1 in order to create a racing league named Procar, featuring M1s only.
This particular road-going BMW M1 - soon to go under the hammer - is definitely one of the most original examples to date. It started up as an unsold car at an Italian dealer, it was later imported to the U.S. and then stored in a warehouse for many years. The Arctic White M1 is said to have been imported by a U.S. dealer who was searching for an M1 on behalf of baseball legend Pete Rose.
Unfortunately, in the time that it took the dealer to locate an unsold M1 for him, Rose found another example.
However, the auction doesn’t give any details on how the car was stored or other information about it; it only says that some parts were changed on the car, without detailing which ones.
This beautiful piece of history will be sold, according to RM Sotheby’s, as part of the “Driven by disruption” auction in New York on December 10, and it is expected to fetch between $800.000 and $1.000.000.
The interested bidders must bear in mind that the money paid is a great investment, and in time they will make a little extra profit for themselves on the side.
It was powered by a 3.453cc inline six-cylinder engine producing 277bhp and a five-speed manual transmission that delivered the power to the rear wheels. With a wheelbase of 100.8 inches, the M1 was very different from the cars that were produced in those times, regarding weight and height.
All in all, the M1 was expected to be an unstoppable force, but right before the car was supposed to show what it was capable of, the FIA changed the rules, making the vehicle ineligible, thus forcing BMW to reach an agreement with F1 in order to create a racing league named Procar, featuring M1s only.
This particular road-going BMW M1 - soon to go under the hammer - is definitely one of the most original examples to date. It started up as an unsold car at an Italian dealer, it was later imported to the U.S. and then stored in a warehouse for many years. The Arctic White M1 is said to have been imported by a U.S. dealer who was searching for an M1 on behalf of baseball legend Pete Rose.
Unfortunately, in the time that it took the dealer to locate an unsold M1 for him, Rose found another example.
However, the auction doesn’t give any details on how the car was stored or other information about it; it only says that some parts were changed on the car, without detailing which ones.
This beautiful piece of history will be sold, according to RM Sotheby’s, as part of the “Driven by disruption” auction in New York on December 10, and it is expected to fetch between $800.000 and $1.000.000.
The interested bidders must bear in mind that the money paid is a great investment, and in time they will make a little extra profit for themselves on the side.
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