BMW 8 Series

THE SLEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

- ANDY ENRIGHT

WANT TO FEEL ancient? Well, consider this. Temporally speaking, the launch of the E31 BMW 8 Series was closer to the first televised appearance of Elvis Presley than it is to today. But then the 8 Series is a car that has a rare ability to catch you off guard. Despite none finding customers during the ’80s, it’s viewed by many as a quintessentially ’80s BMW yet the technology that underpinned this car was anything but a throwback.

Its genesis can be traced back to the mid-’80s. In the early ’80s, ex-Ford and Audi stylist Pavel Hušek was commissioned by BMW Head of Design, Claus Luthe to submit early proposals for a flagship coupe. Rather than reach for a new lexicon of design language, Hušek, probably best known for his work on the Skoda Favorit and Honda Beat, reimagined Paul Bracq’s E24 6 Series as sleeker and more aerodynamic, while retaining much of the classic form factor. It was deemed not radical enough by BMW’s board and rejected.

By 1985, the E24 6 Series coupe had been on sale for a decade, having been facelifted in 1983. It had also just enjoyed its greatest period in motorsport, having claimed the European Touring Car Championship twice, DTM once, both the Australian Touring Car Championship and the Australian Endurance Championship as well as a brace of victories in the Spa and Nürburgring 24 Hours events.