RE: Video: The Lovely BMW 3.0 CSi
Tuesday 26th July 2011
To type the words 'they don't make 'em like this anymore' is a dreadful automotive cliché. But with the old E9 BMW 3.0 CSi it really is true and BMW, in releasing this mini documentary on the car, has inadvertently proven just that point.
Video: The Lovely BMW 3.0 CSi
Bee Em's own tribute to its oh-so-graceful coupe
Just compare this car, BMW's 1970s flagship coupe, with the latest F12 6-series coupe, and you'll see what I mean. I know comparisons of style are subjective, but the 70s BMW is everything its 21st-century descendant is not - well proportioned, elegant, a paragon of subtle style.
The cheesy American chap who does the voiceover has it spot-on (albeit us ing a deeply odd turn of phrase) in his conclusion to the video, calling the E9 a "custom-made suit that fits perfectly at every scene: elegantly, dynamically, harmoniously. Just as with a suit, it is the perfection which this vehicle timelessly displays almost 40 years after its appearance."
Will they say that in four decades time about the current 6-series? We doubt it...
Discussion
Now that is a stylish motor.
The main reason the voice-over doesn't sound "natural" is because it wasn't done in one take, it was probably pieced together from a fair few different recordings - also notice there are no breaths; normally a dead give-away. Sorry to be a
but I have to do this type of this stuff regularly as part of my job!
The main reason the voice-over doesn't sound "natural" is because it wasn't done in one take, it was probably pieced together from a fair few different recordings - also notice there are no breaths; normally a dead give-away. Sorry to be a
but I have to do this type of this stuff regularly as part of my job!Now I'm not a BMW man (shock, horror, heresy!) but this is a well proportioned, light looking car that could have come from a design studio in Italy. Although the 'batmobiles' were I guess, the ultimate evolution of the E9, the purity of an early 70's CSI is still something to behold.
The E9 coupe is a wonderfully elegant car. It really epitomises the glory years of motoring: before cheap and cheerful airlines made foreign travel so dull and routine, whisking a BMW coupe over the Alps to Milan or putting it on the hovercraft to Paris was oh-so-glamorous.
Compare European cars of the 1970s with American cars of the 1970s. We used to laugh at the bloated, excessive styling and the myriad unnecessary gadgets of the American vehicles, in contrast to the lean and athletic efficient simplicity of our cars. And yet that is the direction the Europeans took: our cars today are fat, heavily-styled, laden with gadgets to save the "dumb-asses" from themselves, just like their cars were then. Today's 6-series is not the descendant of the E9 3.0CSI nor even the 3.0CSA: it is rather more heir to the Cadillac.
Compare European cars of the 1970s with American cars of the 1970s. We used to laugh at the bloated, excessive styling and the myriad unnecessary gadgets of the American vehicles, in contrast to the lean and athletic efficient simplicity of our cars. And yet that is the direction the Europeans took: our cars today are fat, heavily-styled, laden with gadgets to save the "dumb-asses" from themselves, just like their cars were then. Today's 6-series is not the descendant of the E9 3.0CSI nor even the 3.0CSA: it is rather more heir to the Cadillac.
cookie1600 said:
Now I'm not a BMW man (shock, horror, heresy!) but this is a well proportioned, light looking car that could have come from a design studio in Italy.
Built by Karmann of coursehttp://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=711...
BMWs best ever looking car? plus, the big, old, heavy M30 lump up front is such a work horse. far, far from sophisticated but they'd just go on, and on and on, and then on for quite some more.
that silky smoothness, coupled with that body....yum.
it's true, they don't make 'em like they used to. however, they did rust pretty badly
that silky smoothness, coupled with that body....yum.
it's true, they don't make 'em like they used to. however, they did rust pretty badly
Mermaid said:
E21_Ross said:
BMWs best ever looking car?
It is good looking but best ever looking? M1, 507, Z8, 328
), Z8 is nice but much prefer the E9.interesting isn't it, practically all of their good looking cars are pretty old. i'd say in the last 10 years the decent ones are an E46 M3/M3csl, Z4 (both new and old), erm..... i like a few others but i'll be the first to admit they aren't pretty designs.
shame, they used to be so much nicer (IMO). it's amazing how many looks and comments i get in my (admittedly humble) E21. a little over 29 years now
E21_Ross said:
just did a quick DVLA search, and FWIW, that lead car JTA 551N is still taxed, so it's still alive somewhere!
the one behind looks like a csl and perhaps JTA 551N is too (chrome wheelarches but no csl decals?) These cars are getting to the point where they are actually economically worth restoring (csl are there already). Saw a csi for sale recently with an early 90's M5 unit and 5 speed box. Anyone know anything of that car? Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff