Tuesday 22nd November 2011

You know you want to... 1991 BMW Z1

This one's been signed by designer Harm Lagaay too, don'tcha know...

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The Z in Z1 supposedly stands for 'zukunft' or 'future', which is somewhat ironic, because the Z1 fell so far short of BMW's sales expectations that it could have been forgiven for giving the whole two-seater lark a decisive knock on the head.

Fortunately it kept at it and eventually delivered the commercially successful Z3 and Z4, but back in the late 80s when BMW gave the world its first glimpse of the Z1 it reckoned that it had 35,000 orders lined up. That may well be true, but the reality was that when the time came for people to actually buy their own only 8,000 were sold and at least 6,000 of those stayed in Germany.

But what was a commercial flop at the time now makes a Z1 quite an exclusive proposition, and if you're tempted in a way that at least 27,000 others weren't at the time, this particular BMW Z1 looks like a good bet. It's even been signed by the man who designed it, Harm Lagaay, who also penned the 924, 968, 993, Boxster, Cayenne, 996, and Carrera GT for Porsche.

The vendor (who knows a thing or two about Z1s and has even built his own V8 version) had the car signed by the celebrated Dutch designer on a trip back to Munich, but has used the car little in the few years since then, hence its sale. It's one of only 100 cars finished in Purblau with a black interior and comes with a very rare and equally cool set of RLE Alpina alloys, an LSD, Alpina steering wheel, stainless exhaust, and of course the Wiesmann hardtop.

It seems that colours are fairly important in the Z1 market, and Purblau is apparently not far behind Fungelb (fun yellow) in terms of rarity, although it probably ranks a little higher in the desirability stakes.

The asking price is £25,000, which isn't cheap even if you do take into account the tasteful extras and the designer's moniker. For example, there are other open-topped German cars of the same period like this Porsche 964 from our classifieds. But although it may have broader appeal for similar money, nothing else has doors which disappear into the sills...

[Zircon]

Hmmm.....£25k.

As interesting as it is I would take a nice 993, Cerbera, 348tb, Esprit, Z3M coupe etc any day.

These are kooky cars but I would be looking at the dash thinking that the centre console was just from an E30 with a different gauge pod. Not amazing for this kind of value.

true the switchgear in some of the others I mention is the same, but this just doesn't feel very special.

Oh and the drop down doors get marked if you drive with them down as they rub against the structure of the sills

[80sboy]

There's one at Oxford BMW. How cool are those doors?!

[MX7]

£25k? No thanks.

[petemurphy]

awesome car

[pSyCoSiS]

Love the Z1 - love those quirky doors.

Only ever seen two on the road, and at the time, the car sounded very nice indeed.

I think Aplina did a limited edition one in that Techno Violet.

Those wheels looking lovely.

For £25k though, would rather have a facelift 996. Or a well-kept 993.

[Johnboy Mac]

25k? If you really want it, yeah it's worth it.

[moskvich427]

Zircon said:

Oh and the drop down doors get marked if you drive with them down as they rub against the structure of the sills

I saw someone doing just that last week in Berlin!!

It looked really cool, but now I know the truth it makes me shudder...

[BigTom85]

Hmmm, a great car, but you'd have to REALLY want it to stump up the asking price for it.

Seen a couple in the flesh and they are rather too similar to the later e36 compact for my liking. Still a great car though and I'm glad they exist, just not for my money ta.

[MichelV]

Isn't the Z1 depressingly slow? A bit fat around the waste?

It does look very nice but I woudl want some go with that flash.

[g3org3y]

Needs an M3 straight six. Shame an M version was never realised.

25k is a touch on the expensive side.

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Eddie Irvine had one, and it was on ebay recently.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z1-EDDIE-IRVINE-/250...

ETA Didn't they have special "camouflage" leather seats that were weather proof?

Edited by Ecurie Ecosse on Tuesday 22 November 13:01

[uncle tez]

Nobody ever talks about these withought mentioning the doors because thats pretty much the only good/unique thing about them and lets be honest £25K is alot to pay for some unusual doors. Would be interesting driving around with the doors down though, a bit like a UPS van with the doors slid open

[J4CKO]

I had a little dice with one of these (a green one) back when they were new up the A34 at cheadle, was in a Mk1 Golf GTI, it was quicker than they Gol but we werent going silly, just a spirited drive on a nice summers evening, get to the lights and the driver, I am fairly sure, was the lead singer of New Order.

[Gizmo!]

g3org3y said:

Needs an M3 straight six. Shame an M version was never realised.

25k is a touch on the expensive side.

I agree, one of these with an S54 in it would be lovely.

Stiff money though, I thought they were low-teens...

[5lab]

the doors may be cool, but they're no way near as cool as this lincon concept from the same era

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGRzPFUlIeY

[Ayahuasca]

iirc Clarkson had one ....(clarkson pause)... for his wife!

[nagsheadwarrior]

All good til you get to the price,plus its only exclusive because it failed dismally, not for me but........its signed by JR Ewing himself Larry Hagmann so get it bought!

[ewenm]

Saw one in Bath last week, driving with the door open down.

[Oddball RS]

that it the doors yeh.................... NEXT!

[mig25_foxbat2003]

I saw about eight of these parked up at a fuel station on the A40 just outside Cheltenham recently. Literally couldn't believe my ears - I've only seen one or two in my whole life before that!

I may be in the minority here but I have a feeling this could be one of my favourite cars of all time, and I'd happily take one over a 996. I do agree on the need for a bit more poke though, an S54 could be just the ticket...