Now could be your chance to add one of the rarest modern BMWs to your garage.
A gorgeous and excellently preserved M1 is currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer. The coupé, an all-too-rare example of the only supercar the marque has ever built, should be of note to any serious collector, but especially those with a thing for German-made autos.
The M1 was born out of a partnership struck by BMW and Lamborghini to build a race car during the 1970s. The resulting road car featured a glorious wedge design by the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro and a mid-mounted 3.5-liter DOHC straight-six that could pump out 274 hp. Unfortunately, production difficulties and some bad luck—Lamborghini had to drop out because of financial difficulties—meant the M1 cost a relative fortune for the era (US$115,000, which was twice as much as the Ferrari 308) and sold poorly because of that, according to BMW Blog. In 1981, three years after it launched, the German marque pulled the plug on the vehicle, with only around 400 street-legal examples having rolled off the line.
This particular M1, chassis no. 292, was built and sold in 1980. Its exterior is finished in gloss black and its interior in black leather and checked cloth. The color scheme isn’t the only thing that matches. The coupé is also equipped with its original 3.5-liter straight-six, which is mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. Although it’s 42 years old, the car, which was originally sold to an owner in the UK but has since been brought to the US, looks to be in impeccable shape. It has about 30,000 miles on the odometer, which isn’t nothing, but also isn’t all that bad considering its age. It also suggests the car has been semi-regularly driven, which is a good thing.
Of course, because it’s in such good condition, this M1 likely won’t come cheap. With more than nine days left to go in the auction, bidding has already reached US$310,000. MotorTrend reports that well-maintained M1s can sell for up to US$600,000 today, so we expect that number will climb in the days to come.
Click here to see all the photos of the 1980 BMW M1 supercar.
