Chassis Number: WBS59910004301170
In 1977, BMW found an unlikely partner in Lamborghini and started to design a mid-engine supercar featuring their strong 3.5-liter, 24-valve, straight-6 engine, which would be primarily used in sports-car racing. In order to homologate the car, 400 road cars had to be built, and an initial tubular chassis design was drawn by Giampaolo Dallara of Lamborghini Design. However, in April 1978, Lamborghini’s financial situation was less than secure, so BMW took the production of the road car back in-house, and the car was hand-built by their Motorsport Division, a separate factory located next to the volume-car factory in Munich. The fiberglass body retained the original Giorgetto Giugiaro design and the engine was breathed on by BMW’s first head of Motorsport, Paul Rosche, who developed six separate throttle bodies for the 24-valve base 3.5 engine and combined those with Kugelfischer Bosch mechanical fuel injection and a Magneti Marelli-developed ignition system. Producing no less than 277 horsepower and 243 foot-pounds of torque, it propelled the car through a 5-speed ZF transmission and a limited-slip differential to a top speed of 162 miles per hour. Of the 453 cars produced, all of which were hand-finished by Baur, just 53 were made for motorsport, and the remaining 400 cars — all left-hand drive — have become icons of the BMW brand and are now highly collectible and sought after. This particular BMW M1 road car was supplied new in February 1980 to Mr. Franz Reuther of Berlin, who is better known as “Frank Farian,” the German record producer and founding member/voice of 1980s pop band Boney M. It was to remain in his ownership for the next decade, and during this time he decided that the look of the M1 race car, known as the “BMW Procar M1,” was an improvement on the more-conservative narrower original bodywork of the standard road car. At considerable expense, he had his road car modified by BMW Motorsport to incorporate the wider, more-aggressive look of the M1 Procar, and the car retains this unique look to the current day. In September 2020, it was exhibited at Salon Privé and presented in their concours event. Significantly, the car won two awards, one for second place in the 1970s category, but more significantly, it won the “Owners Choice Award” for Best in Show.
