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Tag: Bertone

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Tuner Tuesday: 1975 BMW 3.0CS Alpina B2

As BMW turned firmly towards sports car racing and aimed its cross hairs directly at Stuttgart, it was the Big Coupe – the E9 – that would first carry their fledgling Motorsports division to the victory circle in large-scale international racing. While the 2002 had been champion in support series – Dieter Quester in ’68 and ’69 Division 3, for example, the E9 moved BMW up to directly challenge the fastest sports cars in the world. Victory laurels in some of the most significant races followed: The European Touring Car Championship (’73, ’75, ’76, ’77, ’78 and finally ’79 – some years out of E9 production!) and class victories at Le Mans, Spa and Daytona. These racing efforts had coincided with the growth of some of BMW’s most significant tuning partners; Schnitzer Motorsports and, of course, Alpina.

At the launch of the E9, Alpina would still be a long way from becoming the factory partner and full-fledged manufacturer we recognize today. However, prior to their first official model launch, like AMG the company was active in producing aftermarket parts – especially, motors – for the BMW range. Early Alpina-modified cars are hard to come by, and often lack the full documentation of the later VIN-specific models. However, once in a while a very original and significant one pops up such as today’s late production E9 apparently with all its ducks in a row. Originally a 2.5CS, this car underwent thorough modifications in the 1970s including installation of one of their hottest motors:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1975 BMW 3.0CS Alpina B2 on Hemmings.com

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Roll the Dice Again? 1965 NSU Sport Prinz

With the burgeoning economic boom of the late 1950s (Adenauer’s ‘Economic Miracle’ in West Germany), many companies tried to capitalize on the success of the middle class by introducing swankier, more stylish versions of their economic models. The hope was that these cars would be expressions of wealth and signature models. To greater or lesser extent, the three that were developed around the same time – Volkswagen’s Karmann Ghia, BMW’s 700 Coupe and NSU’s Sport Prinz – were all relatively well received in the marketplace, though of the three only the Karmann Ghia had mass appeal. That was interesting, as the Sport Prinz offered a slightly different take on rakish Italian lines with pedestrian German underpinnings. Introduced for 1960, the Sport Prinz was built on the Prinz III chassis, a diminutive, air-cooled rear-engine inline-2 economy “sedan”. To take the Prinz upmarket, like Volkswagen NSU turned to Italy. Instead of Ghia or BMW’s choice of Michelotti, though, NSU enlisted famed Bertone in Turin and the designer Franco Scaglione. The resulting design was significantly more dramatic than the Prinz, with long overhands, a swoop roofline and tail fins hinting at greater GT speed. As with the others though, the Sport Prinz offered no performance gain, but at least came to market slightly under the price of the more famous Karmann Ghia, at around $2,400 – top for the NSU lineup in the early 1960s.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1965 NSU Sport Prinz on eBay

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Couple of Swedish Coupes: 1987 Volvo 780 & 1991 Volvo Coupé

You wouldn’t know it from looking at the current product portfolio, but Volvo carried a bit of a staid image up to and around the turn of the millennium, with 90 degree angles and boxy styling ruling the day. The cars had their following though, with a reputation for safety and reliability unmatched by almost every other manufacturer in the world. Looking back on Volvo’s history, there were a few flash in the pan moments in terms of styling, such as the P1800ES, the 480 and these cars we see here, the 780 and Coupe. Essentially the same car, Volvo decided to produce an encore to the chopped top 262C, employing Bertone once again to have their hand at a two-door version of the 700 series. Just over 8,500 examples were produced from 1986 to 1991, with the final year seeing a name change to “Coupé.” We’ll start off this Double Take by looking at a 1987 780, with the venerable 2.8 liter V6 engine.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Volvo 780 on eBay

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1965 BMW 3200CS Bertone

As BMW ramped up with some new models at the beginning of the 1960s, they were winding down with others. The car you see here represented the end of an era at BMW. The 3200CS Bertone had roots that could be traced back to the BMW 501 of the early 1950s. This was a rather rudimentary car by BMW standards, even of the 1960s, with a body on frame construction, an overhead valve V8 and shock of shocks, a live rear axle. Fewer than 1,000 were ever built and today, these Bertone coupes are extremely rare and sought after. This 3200CS Bertone is currently on offer in southwest Germany.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1965 BMW 3200CS Bertone on Mobile.de

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