Photo: BMW
Developed in a joint venture with the Italian company Gruppo Bertone, the 3200CS was officially launched in 1961 at the Frankfurt International Motor Show and full scale production began in 1962.
The 3200 CS continued the tradition of the 503 but was fitted with a more powerful engine in order to be worthy of the letters written on it's back that stood for Coupe Sport. The initial suggestion of Helmut Werner Bonsch, who was the marketing manager of BMW at the time, was to contract Pininfarina to build Flaminia Coupe bodies for a 503 successor.
The management rejected his proposal though and decided to contract Bertone for the job. The new car had a 3.2-liter twin-carburetor version of the V8 engine that delivered 160 HP hooked to a 4-speed manual gearbox, a live rear axle, disc brakes and torsion bar springs for all 4 wheels. The predecessor, the 503 had a 3.2-liter V8 engine with 120 HP.
Even though the car was built for 3 years only around 500 of these beautiful cars were produced. This was the end of an era for BMW cars. The 3200 CS was the last of the early postwar luxury cars, technology-wise. However, the design showed customers what will come and how Coupe Bimmers will look like from then on. BMW 3200CS was a template for future Coupes like the 2000 C and CS, the E9 New Six and even the E24 6 Series.
The management rejected his proposal though and decided to contract Bertone for the job. The new car had a 3.2-liter twin-carburetor version of the V8 engine that delivered 160 HP hooked to a 4-speed manual gearbox, a live rear axle, disc brakes and torsion bar springs for all 4 wheels. The predecessor, the 503 had a 3.2-liter V8 engine with 120 HP.
Even though the car was built for 3 years only around 500 of these beautiful cars were produced. This was the end of an era for BMW cars. The 3200 CS was the last of the early postwar luxury cars, technology-wise. However, the design showed customers what will come and how Coupe Bimmers will look like from then on. BMW 3200CS was a template for future Coupes like the 2000 C and CS, the E9 New Six and even the E24 6 Series.
Google News