The BMW Bavaria is, in the words of its Wikipedia entry, “generally considered the forebear of the modern BMW high-performance sedan as it combined excellent acceleration, good fuel economy, plenty of room for four people and a large trunk. The majority of them were sold with a four-speed manual transmission, reflecting the sporting nature of the sedan. With a fully independent suspension along with four wheel disc brakes, the E3 was well ahead of its time in the early 1970s” (source).

Put another way, if you like the classic CS (E9) coupe but want the practicality of a sedan, then this would be the car to get. We invited Bavaria owner Ryan Lee to talk about his.

MCB: Why the Bavaria?

RL: I had been wanting to get something to replace my 2003 BMW 330xi (E46). I’m not that mechanically challenged, but I always saw myself getting into something brand new. I hadn’t even heard of the Bavaria until a VW friend showed me the classified listing on VWVortex, but much to my surprise it was love at first sight. I told my friend I was getting it, and a few weeks later I was driving it 800 miles home from Georgia.

MCB: What’s it like to own?

RL: I thought I got a lot of looks in my E46, but the Bavaria gets everyone looking and waving. I have strangers honking and giving me the thumbs up on the highway, teens stopping what they’re doing and watching me roll down the street, and older adults admiring a 40 year-old car driving by that they used to see as kids. My almost-stock Bavaria has so much more character than my heavily modified E46 could ever possess.

MCB: What’s it like to drive?

RL: The Bavaria is just a solid machine and really marries the driver with the action of driving. It has a stroked, Metric Mechanic’s 3.7L M30 swapped with a 5–speed conversion, so for a 40 year-old car it’s got moves. This is my first car without power steering and I have no problem with it. It’s got a solid transmission where I’m confident with the shifts and a new OE Alpina shift knob. No working radio, roll-down windows, and the comfiest seats I’ve ever sat in— I love it!

MCB: What do you know about this particular car’s history?

RL: This particular car began life in the States forty years ago in the ports of Elizabeth, NJ, and was then delivered to its first owner in Colorado. From there it moved on to its second owner in Tennessee, and then on to owner I bought it from in Georgia. While in Tennessee, however, it received a big restoration— new paint, new interior, and an engine/transmission swap. But it sat for ten years after that and it shows— a little rust in common areas and leaky gaskets. But don’t get me wrong, the car is near-mint. The floor pan has no rust but does have what seem to be two bullet holes!

MCB: What should someone look out for when buying one of these cars?

RL: The main thing to look out for is major rust. The floor pan, inside the wheel wells, the nose, and behind the rear fenders are the problematic areas. Besides that the engines should be solid (the M30 is the longest-running BMW engine), but I believe it is now harder to find a manual than an automatic. The previous owner also told me that the tachometer in Bavarias always seem to break (although that could just be the case for mine).

MCB: And how much can someone expect to pay for an example comparable to yours?

RL: For one in as good a condition as mine with a swapped engine and transmission, I’m sure you should be looking to pay at least $7,000. When I brought it to a knowledgeable BMW mechanic they told me the engine and transmission cost that much alone. Mine being full restored with a mint interior and near perfect exterior, I really got a bargain.

MCB: Any concluding thoughts?

RL: Finding this Bavaria was meant to be. It fits me well and I absolutely love everything about it. And just a shout-out to my car club Euro.Techniks, and to a BMW enthusiast blog I’m a photographer for, Ultimate Klasse. 

Words and images: Ryan Lee

Image via

Very little information about it online, but what we do know is that it was a one-off prototype built by in-house Alfa tuner Autodelta, and that it seems to make an appearance periodically at the annual Rétromobile exhibition in Paris.

From autosital.com (loosely translated from French— thank you, Google Translate):

In 1982 Alfa Romeo begins to develop a car to compete in the World Rally Championship in Group B.

“It’s an Alfasud Sprint 6C,” Walter says Alexis Alfa Romeo Club of France. Some experts say no, but officially there was a single copy.

Its origin was a willingness to participate in the World Rally Championship category in group B. So this car is in compliance with the regulation of group B. It is equipped with a V6 rear center position. This is the complete mechanical GTV6 was chosen. This is a car that was produced in a single and has never been developed for the competition since then the championship Group B stopped.

It was considered too dangerous. The cars were too fast, too powerful. There have been some very serious accidents, with the dead. The federation had decided to change regulations to reduce, limit the power of the cars.

Compared to the standard version, there is little in common. Apart from the body or parts of equipment inside. All that part is different chassis and mechanics as well.

It is a V6 2.5-liter that was originally designed for the Alfa 6 and that made the heyday of GTV 6. It is a motor powered by a 60 ° injection Bosch. It is here in a longitudinal rear. The hull is steel with polyester element. It is not much lighter than the standard car because it has a much larger mechanical.

Originally the car was designed with a boxer engine, an engine that was very light. Here the weight of the V6 that the car is not much lighter than a standard car.

The interior is very close to the series. Apart from the steering wheel and bucket seats for the competition, the rest is completely standard.

Aesthetically it is a Sprint inflated bodybuilding. That is to say with flared fenders, wider lanes, wider wheels.”

More information and images can also be found on the Spanish site sprintmania.

Could this be the case of a good chase (race?) scene buried in an otherwise unimpressive movie? That could very well be what we have on our hands with 1986′s “Un homme et une femme, 20 ans déjà”, which collected a whopping 5.6/10 rating on IMDb and an even more unsparing 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. If the brief clip below is any indication, though, perhaps the film may be worth sitting through. This highly choreographed, oddly dispassionate (where’s a raving Dennis Hopper when you need one?) scene plays out like an intricate dance between all your favorite 1980s saloon cars, not to mention a precursor to the much loved “Ronin”. From the Lancia Thema to the Peugeot 505 to the BMW E28 528i, they’re (almost) all here (sorry, Alfisti).

The original 1966 film was highlighted awhile back here.

Hat tip to Clement!

Images via: renault5turbo.c.la, manonthemove.com, countach (Spain), and various secondary/unknown sources

First Ave, New York

First Ave and E 60th St, New York

E 60s off FDR Drive

Gotham Ford at First Ave and 61st St. Note the Shelby GT350 in the background

via Car Guy Chronicles (very nice article to go along with the above images, by the way)

About the series:

The BMW M1 Procar Championship, sometimes known simply as Procar, was a one-make auto racing series created by Jochen Neerpasch, head of BMW Motorsport GmbH, the racing division of automobile manufacturer BMW. The series pitted professional drivers from the Formula One World Championship, World Sportscar Championship, European Touring Car Championship, and other international series against one another using identically modified BMW M1 sports cars.

Billed as an opportunity to see a mix of drivers from various motorsport disciplines, the championship served as support races for various European rounds of the 1979 Formula One season, with Formula One drivers earning automatic entry into the Procar event based on their performance in their Formula One cars. Austrian Niki Lauda won the inaugural championship. In 1980, the series held some events outside of Formula One schedule, and was won by Brazilian Nelson Piquet. BMW chose not to continue the championship in 1981 to concentrate on their entrance into Formula One (source).

See Otis’s W108 feature here.

As we’ve come to expect, the photographs are terrific.

A little bit about the rally, as told by Amaury and Matthieu:

This is an historical rally going through Morocco that has taken place each year since 1993. The layout is wonderful and different every year, a bit like the Tour Auto. The cars go from Rabat to Marrakech, passing through beautiful cities like Erfoud, Tangier, and Ouarzazate. The 2011 route traveled 2,147 km through the High Atlas and along the Strait of Gibraltar, with 70 cars participating in the rally.

Morocco is “the country of paradoxes,” in that in a very short period of time, the weather can completely change. The cars drove through a snowstorm in very cold winds followed by a sunny road in the middle of a dry and warm desert just minutes later. These old cars need to run strong! But that’s also one of the great charms of the country, as you can swim in the sea and then go on the Oukaïmeden Ski Resort in the same day without having to travel very far.

As always, view the full set over at the Asphalt Heritage website. Thanks to Amaury for sharing the story and the shots!