Power by BMW Auction to Include Spicup Unique Concept Car

The upcoming single-marque auction prepared by Bonhams for this October and featuring both BMW cars and motorcycles is to feature an extremely interesting lot in the form of the 1969 Geneva Auto Show BMW/Bertone Spicup concept car.

Unlike most of today's concept cars, the BMW Spicup was and is fully operational and was based on a shortened BMW 2000 CS with a 2.5-liter straight six BMW power plant.

After being road registered in the Netherlands and used as a 'daily driver' the car was laid up for some 20 years. Today the Spicup has been fully restored to concours condition, or as the owner put it 'has had its 100,000km service!' It has been shown at the Concorso D'Eleganza Villa d'Este as well as the BMW Museum in Munich, though not at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance or elsewhere in the United States to date.

"What is so appealing about the Spicup is that you can see how the design concept has actually translated into later production cars," stated Robert Glover, Bonhams European Motoring Department Business Manager. "Further to this the Spicup is designed with a 'Targa Top', a concept that became hugely popular on production cars during the 1970s and early 1980s. To this end the Spicup can indeed be described as 'haute voiture'."

"We are delighted to be able to offer such a rare and important concept car at our POWER BY BMW auction, for which we will see it return to the museum. The collectors' market has been particularly receptive to these one-off designs of late and, with rarity and concours eligibility unquestionable, we expect interest in the Spicup from all over the world,” added Philip Kantor, Head of Bonhams' European Motoring Department.