Rare Rides: The 1981 BMW M1, Where BMW Had All the Problems (Part I)
BMW presently sells the hybrid i8 to the eco-conscious performance driver. It is mid-engined, has butterfly doors and what have you, and it’s quite striking.
But did you know that it’s not the first mid-engine BMW? No, that title goes to our Rare Ride today — the M1, from all the way back in 1981. Don’t worry, it’s not all that Malaisey.
Now when we say “it’s a BMW,” one immediately looks at the badge and sees the blue and white Roundel. But at its base, this vehicle is not much of a Bimmer.
Back in the middle part of the 1970s, BMW contracted with the well-known mid-engine, sporting automobile maker Lamborghini to design and build a race car for entry in a championship series. Design legend Giorgetto Giugiaro penned the body, which is why it looks fantastic even today.
In order to go racing with the M1, the production of a specific number of street-ready examples was required (a process known as homologation). The original idea was for BMW to enter the World Sportscar Championship in 1979. Here’s where the problems began.
The issue we’re covering in part one of this two-part Rare Rides story is Lamborghini itself. A world financial downturn occurred in 1973, and that put Lamborghini on rather shaky financial ground through the remainder of the decade. Shortly after development started, Lamborghini went bankrupt. The year was 1978, and a total of seven rough prototypes had been completed during Lamborghini’s tenure.
This left BMW in a predicament, but a savior was at hand. BMW signed a new contract for the remainder of M1 development with a group of former Lamborghini engineers.
The engineers formed their own company after departing Lamborghini, calling it Italengineering. This solved the development problem, and eventually BMW began building the M1. The end result was our Rare Ride today.
Finished in a lovely navy blue (and featuring the original luggage!), this 1981 example is from the final year of production. The mid-mounted 3.5-liter inline-six engine has 8,000 miles on the clock, and this pristine beauty has been in the hands of just one owner since brand new.
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Any driving impressions? Or is that in a future “Rare Drives”? Like to hear about the tactile stuff too. In fact if you (Corey) are ever in Colorado Springs you can start with my old 911.
I think the M1 and the original NSX head a very short list of Supercars with Restraint. I also think if I could pick any supercars to drive once from throughout automotive history, it would be those two (plus of course a McLaren F1 while I'm dreaming).