Re: Published Articles on the 8 series (archive)

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A few years later, I had an opportunity to drive another 850. This time it was an 850CSi, a coupe that had been massaged by BMW Motorsport; it was, for all intents and purposes, an M8. An enlarged V12 (5.6-liter as opposed to a five-liter at the time) with other Motorsport tweaks provided a whopping 372 horsepower compared to 296 in the standard coupe. There were also the appropriate suspension and wheel/tire modifications to complete the package. I picked up the car at the Cologne/Bonn airport, heading for the Nurburgring.

BMW had thoughtfully provided a map with a suggested autobahn route. But being familiar with the countryside and having previously experienced an 850 on the Autobahn (ahem), I thought it would be more fun to take the back roads.

This time, within the first few kilometers, I said out loud, "This is more like it!" The car was completely transformed from a cruiser to a responsive, energetic thoroughbred. It even had a little exhaust burble -- what's the sense of having a V12 engine if you can't hear it? Frankly, the metamorphosis was nothing short of amazing. It was absolutely a blast to drive. When I stopped for lunch in the little town of Honnigen -- where my father's ancestors lived before coming to the United States -- two gentlemen nodded approvingly at the car. "That's the new CSi, isn't it?" one of them commented. "That's much better than the original," his colleague added. They asked to see the engine and gave the coupe a thorough inspection.

Arriving at the Nurbuhhrgnhng's Dorint Sprint Hotel later that afternoon, I was greeted by a BMW executive. As I opened the door-and before I could say a word, he offered, "That's what it should have been in the first place, right?"

"In about five years," he said, laughing. It has been a little more than five years, so the embargo is lifted. But I still shouldn't reveal my source.

Wolfgang Reitzle, by the way, had a custom 850 built by Individual with an interior he designed; it was powered by a supercharged V12 engineered by none other than BMW Motorsport's engine maestro Paul Rosche. With a wide grin, Reitzle confessed to this reporter that the car was, "really very, very fast." But, according to folklore, once, after a meeting, BMW's Number-Two Boss showed off the car to some curious industry colleagues. He closed the hood, slipped behind the wheel -- and it refused to start.

There was another Motorsport effort centered around an 8 coupe; This was a radical, lightweight monster with a four-cam V12 engine and a Spartan interior sporting lots of carbon fiber and a pair of serious racing seats. It was nothing less than a Bavarian Ferrari F40. The board didn't approve its production (come on, guys, where's your sense of humor?) and the prototype was relegated to M's candy-store garage on Pruessenstrasse, just north of the Four Cylinder Building.

Although the 8 never sold in the numbers BMW had hoped, it appealed to a seriously well-heeled audience. Many European customers specified modifications or special equipment installed by BMW Individual. One such customer ordered an 850 with several special items, including a custom leather interior. His dealer arranged a delivery date at BMW Motorsport and the gentleman went on with his global business travels, the happy date marked on his calendar.

On the appointed day he appeared at M, without any prior coordination, only to learn that his car was not ready due to a delay caused by an outside supplier. He was livid, and returned the following day with his attorney, demanding a meeting with BMW M's Managing Director, Karl-Heinz Kalbfell.

"He and his lawyer sat down at a conference table in my office and we began our discussion," related Kalbfell. "I had a beautiful book about Individual sitting on the table. While the lawyer was talking about how upset his client was over the delay, the customer picked up the book and started paging through it."

At one point he interrupted his lawyer. Pointing to some special wheels in the book, he asked, "Can I have these on my car?"

Kalbfell answered that it was possible and the customer asked to have them added to his order. "The lawyer just shook his head," Kalbfell laughed.

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