Friday 9th June 2017

BMW 745i (E23) touring car: Pic Of The Week

There's a feature on the little known BMW tin top star to follow, but here's the wallpaper for now!

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Think of the great BMW touring cars and the M3 will inevitably come to mind, probably followed by other 3 Series derivatives. A classic 5 or 6 Series will most likely come up in the discussion too, and things could be brought back up to date with the 125i currently used in the BTCC. It would certainly be a fair while before anybody brought up the 7 Series touring car, put it that way.

Yes, 7 Series, you read that correctly. The E23-generation car you see here is an incredibly rare racer, created by BMW South Africa back in the 70s and recently restored by a doting enthusiast. There's a full feature to follow next week on the car's history and the rebuild, but here's a quick fact to whet the appetite (in case for some reason it wasn't already): this 7 Series uses an M1 engine. Yes, the straight-six that sounds like this. Wow.

The story really is a fascinating read, an insight into a very cool racing few have heard of. Keep an eye on the homepage for that very soon; although with this as your wallpaper, it may be very hard to tear yourself away from the desktop - enjoy!

Traditional (4:3)
Computer widescreen (16:10)
TV widescreen (16:9)

[Photo: Rob Till]

[alex_rsa]

This was the start of a long line of BMW specials built by Tony Viana. The got a lot wilder and faster!

The 745i was built for Group One (I think) touring cars spec so was very standard, it used to be pursued by a pack of howling RX-7's.

Great to see someone saved it as most old South African racing cars no longer exist.

[AndySA]

This car was an absolute legend when I was kid in the late seventies and early eighties. BMW SA did some wonderful independent stuff over the years some that come to mind are this 745i as a road car, 333i (my dream classic car), the 2.7 325i and one of the best sellers the 2.8 bmw straight 6 version of the Land Rover Defender.

[QuantumTokoloshi]

AndySA said:

This car was an absolute legend when I was kid in the late seventies and early eighties. BMW SA did some wonderful independent stuff over the years some that come to mind are this 745i as a road car, 333i (my dream classic car), the 2.7 325i and one of the best sellers the 2.8 bmw straight 6 version of the Land Rover Defender.

325IS V Opel Superboss Group N battles of the 90's, loved it.

[dandare]

I remember seeing 745i BMWs on the street. That was when the numbering system lost its value. I think it was a turbo 2.8, or something like that.

[Leins]

AndySA said:

This car was an absolute legend when I was kid in the late seventies and early eighties. BMW SA did some wonderful independent stuff over the years some that come to mind are this 745i as a road car, 333i (my dream classic car), the 2.7 325i and one of the best sellers the 2.8 bmw straight 6 version of the Land Rover Defender.

And of course don't forget the 530 MLE from 1976, which I've always viewed as the first M-car:

[MarcelM6]

Remember seeing one of these race in SA in the late 80's. Ford Sierra XR8 was the main opposition. Willie Hepburn?

South African 745's didn't have the turbo (European spec), instead a 3.5L NA engine with a 24 valve head iirc

[Leins]

MarcelM6 said:

South African 745's didn't have the turbo (European spec), instead a 3.5L NA engine with a 24 valve head iirc

Yep, M88 as in the M635 CSi and E28 M5. Don't think they had "M-Power" markings though

[e21Mark]

I've always liked the E23 and quite fancy another. There were a couple of 745i locally and they were almost given away and broken for parts. Such a waste.

South Africa got some cracking specific models and this must have been a proper handful.

[LotusOmega375D]

Back in the 1980s, I remember a guy in our town with an original 3 series silver 333i cabrio. I am sure that was an SA import.

[MarcelM6]

There were 333i's and 335i's, but only ever in 2 door coupe form. 3 series convertibles were the Baur version in SA, ie the one with the rigid frame around the windows rather than full convertibles.

[paulmaurice99]

Remember these too! We could just about glimpse Kyalami race track from our house, my dad would pick me up from school on the Friday lunchtime in our mk1 Golf GTI (5 door, another local model) and go straight down there to watch practice.

XR8s were possibly a bit later than the 745i, wouldn't these have battled the mk5 Cortina XR6 Interceptor (try saying that without sounding like a movie trailer)?

Also the lovely Alfa GTV6 3.0 and some sort of Nissan Skyline? I don't remember much about the Nissan, just that it was big engined and had a very high first gear.

Happy days!

[frankenstein12]

A good write up about the 333i 325iS and M3 here.

http://www.bmwblog.com/2015/10/19/three-of-the-bes...

[frankenstein12]

Those were real cars for real.

Savage things. Found this video from within the Audi. The sound is amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt2WWx-_NeA