This 1978 Alpina B7 Turbo Is the Meanest, Cleanest Shark-Nosed Gunslinger in All of SoCal

I’m sure many of you remember these cars, especially since they were also available in the U.S. Among the top specs we count the likes of the 635CSi, and of course the M6, which came out later during the E24’s production run. The M6 was powered by a 3.5-liter straight-six, good for 282 horsepower back home, and 256 horsepower in the States where it needed to be detuned.

On the flip side, those M6 models featured higher specs than their European counterparts (which were known as the M635CSi), with heated power seats, self-leveling rear suspension and an 8-speaker premium sound system available at no extra cost.

Now, getting your hands on one of those original M6s can be pretty amazing, but there’s another specification that’s worth considering just as much (if not more), and that’s the Alpina B7 Turbo Coupe, the first-ever 6er to receive a full Alpina conversion.

Speaking of firsts, what we have here is car #B7-001, used by Alpina as a promotional vehicle at the 1978 Frankfurt Motor Show. It has since been featured in numerous magazine articles and was kept as part of a private collection in Germany by one of its previous owners. As luck would have it, this rare Bimmer is now up for grabs to the highest bidder, and you’ll need to part with at least $100,000 in order to make it your own.

Visually, it’s got a Graphite Metallic exterior with silver accents and gold pinstripes, to go with the front lip spoiler, a rear decklid spoiler, Alpina badging, twin exhaust outlets, and a set of silver-finished 16” Alpina wheels with Michelin Primacy 4 tires.

Meanwhile, interior highlights include the black leather front bucket seats with cloth inserts and blue and green striping, air conditioning, power windows, a wood shift knob, VDO analog clock, a BOSS touchscreen head unit with Bluetooth, a leather-wrapped steering wheel (not showing that much wear and tear), Alpina-branded instrumentation, and a console plaque that identifies this as car no.B7-001.

As for what this can do in terms of performance, it’s got that Alpina-tuned 3.0-liter M30B30 inline-six unit, featuring a revised fuel injection system, a KKK turbocharger with adjustable boost, and lower-compression Mahle pistons. It sends its power to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox.

How much power? Well, depending on the boost setup, it’s going to be between 250 and 300 horsepower, so technically more than what you got with that original M6. Flooring the throttle in the Alpina B7 Turbo means hitting 60 mph in about 5.9 seconds, before maxing out at 155 mph or so. Those are good numbers for a premium 2-door GT car by mid-to-late 1970s standards.