Friday 30th May 2014

BMW M1: Time For Tea?

Petrolicious on BMW's original M car and one doting owner

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Everyone knows the BMW M1 story; the joint Group 4 project with Lamborghini that went awry, the small BMW-only production run and the Procar series. But it's very seldom that actually living with and driving the road car is discussed.

Here Petrolicious chat with Mike Ura about his M1, a British registered 1980 car imported to the States in 2009. Mike uses his car just as you would hope; carefully but enthusiastically with plentiful road and track use. In fact he's covered 10,000 miles since 2009 and describes it as 'bulletproof'. Another contender for the everyday supercar perhaps?

Mike's adoration of the M1 extends so far that he now runs the M1 Registry, which is dedicated to keeping record of the remaining cars. Everywhere you look his house is full of M paraphernalia and apparently BMW now contact him for information on M1s! Proud, discerning and enthusiastic probably describes Mike best.

And of course the car sounds stunning, but then you probably knew that already.

Enjoy the vid.

 

 

 

[Dakkon]

They do sound fantastic especially the pro-cars.

[myhandle]

Nice. How do you keep it on UK plates for 5 years in the States?

[jon-]

Drive out, petrolicious in. Could be worse

[geeman237]

Re the question of using UK plates on the car. The owner probably has US plates for it and keeps the documentation in the car just in case. To fit US plates it might have to be modified and maybe the owner doesn't want to do that. Some US states don't require a front number plate. Maybe the local cops know the car and turn a blind eye.
When I imported my car to the US in 2004 I drove it around on the UK plates for a few weeks, never got pulled over. You can also get personalised plates very easily here, maybe he registered he car with its original UK number plate too.

[Mermaid]

Timeless.

[Lost soul]

Are they really 34 years old

[Motorrad]

I remember seeing one of these for 30 grand ish (my memory is probably failing me here) at Munich Legends.


Woulda-shoulda-coulda.

[Lost soul]

Motorrad said:

I remember seeing one of these for 30 grand ish (my memory is probably failing me here) at Munich Legends.


Woulda-shoulda-coulda.

Same thing with the Z8 or will be soon

[Mermaid]

Lost soul said:

Are they really 34 years old

36?

[chris333]

Always loved the M1 for this:



and these:

[JonathanE]

Very nice indeed, and always encouraging to see such an enthusiastic owner using the car as intended. I'm not sure I agree with him that it was the fastest production car available in 1980, but it doesn't really matter.

I'm lucky enough to own both a Lamborghini Silhouette and a BMW 850i, and in a strange way this has some of the best elements of both!

Jonathan

[Leggy]

Sounds great.
The looks are pure 80's though.
What bhp did they have?

[Mermaid]

Leggy said:

What bhp did they have?

6 cylinder 24v engine

286, same engine as the E28 M5/M635

[RINGMEISTER]

Simply stunning in everyway and so much cooler than a Ferrai 308

[Hurricane52]

I saw these racing in 79 at Monaco piloted by the F1 guys. Great spectacle. Almost as good as the Renault 5 support race where I think they were only allowed to use three wheels. There are very few collectable BMWs and these must be near the top of the list. Not sure I could live with those wing mirrors though...

[Fittster]

A true supercar needs to pack more than 6 cylinders.

[g3org3y]

Lovely stuff.

Would love one, but they are going for silly money now. The closest I think I'll ever get was the recent model(s) I bought!





As a side note, the chap has the kind of garage I want with all the BMW fanboi paraphernalia (including all the Art Car models!!) - jealous!

[Terminator X]

Disappointed by thread title, thought it was a new M1

TX.

[gforceg]

Fittster said:

A true supercar needs to pack more than 6 cylinders.

Ahhh, opinions are such wonderful gifts.

[lamboman100]

Looks and sounds great.