The glorious green Alpina coupe before your eyes nets three firsts for the Rare Rides series. It’s the first coupe coated in any shade of green paint, the first BMW, and indeed the first German vehicle in the series (I don’t count last week’s Rolls-Royce as German, though you might).
Time for some eye candy.
Alpina has tuned and modified BMW vehicles since 1965. Today, Alpina models travel down the production line with standard BMW models, making them unique in the third party modification field. Alpina is not owned by BMW, nor is it an aftermarket modifier of completed BMW vehicles. The German government considers Alpina an independent automaker.
Though I’m sure many believe the BMW M6 is the pinnacle of the E24 6-Series, it is not so.
The B7S was created using a 635CSi model, and built at the Buchloe, Germany Alpina factory. Numerous visual touches here and there make it a bit obvious this is a special Alpina model, especially these superb multi-spokes, which are a long-standing Alpina tradition that continues today.
Alpina produced just 30 examples of this beautiful coupe for 1988, and all of them were manual.
The interior is finished in green Tartan plaid; it’s the sort of pattern manufacturers should use today. Alpina buyers received additional gauges over the standard BMW customer, as well as a bespoke wheel.
Alpina didn’t stop with exterior modification, however. The massaged and turbocharged six-cylinder engine produces 326 horsepower and 370 pound-feet of torque. Specialty cylinder heads, pistons, camshafts, exhaust headers, and a sport transmission with an Alpina clutch round out the highlights under the hood.
This example seems to be an other-market import, as it looks like all the numbers are still in German. There’s just 32,000 kilometers on this 29-year-old coupe, and you’ll pay for those low-blow kilos — the Cincinnati dealer is asking just shy of $300,000 for the opportunity to own a rare piece of Alpina history.
[Images via dealer]
Would those gold pinstripes decrease or increase the value of that car?
Plaid interior is sweet.
Believe it’s counted under an Alpina exterior decor pack. Which means they’re factory, so I’d say increase.
Cory, great find .
Thanks!
Those damn stripes are like putting head to toe tats on ScarJo. Otherwise…damn. This era of 6-series is one of my all time favorite cars.
The Alpina stripes work for me, but I can’t comprehend the Art Nouveau-eaque font for the B7S TURBO decal on the rear flank.
This, oh this.
That almost makes sense if it was 1968 and the market was hippies.
For 1988? On an *Alpina*?
Just … no.
Yeah, I quite like them myself. Always wanted a manual version. Seems like they’re all white. Haha
Many may disagree, but I don’t think most of Alpina’s design touches are upgrades. Sure this car faster, but its worth too much for anybody to really enjoy it.Those seats are awesome though.
Hopefully nobody is buying the current Alpina 7 series thinking it’ll ever be worth more than a few bucks more than a regular one.
$300,000 seems a bit dear, but I suppose someone will pay it.
Since we’re doing tuner cars, I found a Tommykaira M30 for the bargain price of $17k:
https://www.tradecarview.com/used_car/nissan/skyline/18836257/
“It’s the first one coated in any shade of green paint”
The Maserati wagon doesn’t count as being green?
You’d think so, huh. Maybe I’ll get clever up in edits.
EAG is notorious for buying up exclusive autos and often use their considerable resources to undercut typical classified sales, much to the chagrin of your local auto forum. A pretty unscrupulous business model when all many enthusiasts want is a nice car at a fair price. EAG seems content to stock up on sure bets and simply wait for the big fish.
“unscrupulous”
It depends on the “MMTB” (More Money Than Brains) Index, which seems inordinately high right now.
Maybe after the “Health Care” bill passes, and the 1%ers get a huge tax cut, this thing will fly off the block.
Apologies to any 1%ers on the board.
“This example seems to be an other-market import, as it looks like all the numbers are still in German.”
wat.
German numbers are the same as murican. I presume you mean metric?
Sarcasm is in effect at TTAC at all times.
This is brilliant.
While $300k may seem a bit high…damn…the lines of the original 6-series still move me like few (if any) newer Bimmers do, and this coming from a Blau mit Weiss nut…
$300,000 offers many, many options on cars, and most with plenty of money left over.
This one doesn’t exactly stir my soul, so “Crack Pipe”…
$300,000 offers three nice cars to me with insurance and maintenance money left over – all of which will murderlate that ancient Bimmer.
I’m afraid I must concur.
I found a running/driving (not Alpine example obviously) a few months ago for $2,000. And it sat for a while before it sold. I can’t imagine a special version in top condition being worth *that* much more. You could build that $2k car to kill this one, and have enough left over for a decent home in many parts of the country.
As tylanner said above, its a stupid price waiting for an impulse buyer with stupid money at his disposal.
That was the car of my dreams in the 80s. Not green but the model. A cult car that was king on the Autobahn.
The green paint is great; the pin striping no so much. The width of the “design” destroys the view from the side, providing too much of a visual break for my eye. Seeing it in person might make a change, but I would guess not. I’ve always felt pin striping should – or at least was meant to – accent the lines of the vehicle, this layout detracts. Who cares. I don’t have the coin to even consider sitting in the car, let alone buying it.
Thanks for doing the article on this, Corey. Still cool to see what’s out there.
I believe the price on this can’t be seen in terms of value, but in terms of rarity, like with ultra-rare versions of American muscle cars that also fetch ridiculous amounts of money just for being rare. I can’t remember the makes and models obviously, being a German who never cared that much for American cars let alone muscle cars, but I seem to remember a seven-figure price for one such car quite recently.
Beautiful car yes. Worth $300K no. Dealer is hitting the pipe REALLY hard.