French title

Less than 32 500 km from new
Recently serviced
Second hand

1987 Frankfurt Motor Show: an astonishing car sits on the BMW stand. The Bavarian manufacturer (in fact its independent - and very creative - subsidiary BMW Technik GmbH) has just unveiled a roadster (the second post-war one with the iconic 507) with taut lines (signed Harm Laagay, who had already designed the Porsche 924) which is characterised by its... retractable doors. A real leap into the future, the Z standing for zukunft (future in German)! One could have thought that it was a showroom prototype, but it was not, since the Z1 was mass-produced in exactly 8,000 units between July 1988 and June 1991. It was a real success but limited due to its high selling price of 366,700 francs, whereas a BMW 325 convertible sold for 211,000 francs. To develop this strange machine, the BMW engineers started from a galvanized 325i platform, modified by the coachbuilder Baur, used to transform 2002s into convertibles in the 1970s, with certain reinforcements which made the Z1 one of the stiffest convertibles of all time, a specific multi-link rear axle, a roll bar integrated into the windscreen pillars and an original flat bottom. The fibreglass bodywork was subcontracted to General Electric Plastics in the United States, while the exclusive retractable doors were designed by Matra! The "shell" seats are dressed in camouflage leather and nubuck upholstery. Under the front bonnet with its original kinematics, we find the 2.5-litre, 170 bhp 6-cylinder engine, also borrowed from the BMW 325i E30. As far as braking is concerned, the Z1 is the first BMW to use ABS. The roadster Z1, true window of the mark, was the first great series Z of the Bavarian manufacturer, before the Z3 which will arrive in 1995.
1991 was the last year of production, with 1,451 cars leaving the production line. It is said that BMW had difficulty selling the last stocks. The example we present here is one of the rare ones sold new in France (6,443 Z1s out of the 8,000 sold new in Germany!), as shown by the order form, the invoice and the letter of congratulations from the president of BMW France which accompany the car's file, which is distinguished by its diamant green colour. Its first owner kept it from 1991 to 2016, driving it quite infrequently. The logbook is in fact stamped up to 20,000 km, in 1998, while the next invoice, issued just before its sale in 2016, indicates a mileage of almost 30,000 km. Its second and current owner has just had the timing belt replaced (invoice of April 2021 attached to the file). He also had the car repainted in its original colour, at the same time as the front wings, which were cracked (a usual fault of Z1s), were repaired. Note also that the rear silencer, specific, in the shape of a plane wing for a ground effect, has just been replaced by a stainless steel model, the original one being damaged by rust, a disease known on cars that have been driven too little. This Z1 roadster offers the rare opportunity to acquire an authentic concept car, with a timeless design and a unique concept, which has been driven very little and has been perfectly maintained.

This car will be sold by auction by AGUTTES Auction House, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, on June the 20th, 2021.
The digital catalog is available by the following link
https://www.aguttes.com/en/catalog/113642?

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