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Tag: e24

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1985 BMW M635CSi

One of the things I love the most about the Euro M cars is their colors. While the bulk of the US cars boiled down to just a few shades, in Europe you could really get some treats. Case in point is today’s Burgundy Red Metallic (199) ’85. This color was only available on pre-facelift European models (5511, 5531, and 5532) and sufficed to say is quite rare. It looks great, especially over the white interior and is accented by some flashy 17″ BBS Style 5s with throwback Motorsport-logo center caps:

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1977 BMW 630CSi

A decade on from the takeover of Hans Glas GmbH, BMW put the Dingolfing production line and engineers to work on their new big coupe. This allowed them to build the design in-house, instead of subcontracting construction of the 2-door as they had with the E9 to Karmann. The E24 was released in 1976, and compared to the Glas V8 they had borrowed for their premium product in the late 1960s it was thoroughly modern. Paul Bracq penned the lines as he did for all BMWs of the period, and but while there was a strong family resemblance between the 3- ,5- ,6- and 7-series cars, the E24 was where the long, low lines and sweeping greenhouse worked the best.

While initially the car was introduced to the world with many of the items from the E9 carried over, the U.S. got a special one-off for its introduction year. The 630CSi was brought in 1977 with a D-Jetronic fuel-injected version of the M30B30 which itself had also seen duty in the E9. With slightly lower compression and emissions equipment fitted, it produced 176 horsepower and was shared with the contemporary 530i until 1978. But in late 1977, BMW yanked the 630 from the U.S., replacing it with the more powerful 633CSi.

While BMW’s sales between 1970 and 1977 had doubled (14,574 total vehicles to 28,766), the number of early 6s that made the journey was still relatively small. Couple that with thermal reactor failure that was the demise of many of the early U.S.-bound 3.0s, and of course the big nemesis of the 70s BMW – rust – and finding a lovely example of the early E24 here in the U.S. is quite difficult:

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1980 BMW 635CSi

Following up on the E31, it seems smart to look at its predecessor. As iconic designs go, the E24 has to rank pretty high on most German car enthusiasts’ lists. The lines are pure and classic – a long hood line with a chiseled front end, delicate and subtle wheel arches, a sweeping greenhouse and a flowing trunk line. It just looks right – the front of the E9 that it succeeded was equally as classic, but I have always felt that the back of the 6-Series was prettier than the car it replaced. It took elements of some classic BMW designs that preceded it and incorporated them flawlessly with updates for a new time. By 1970s standards, it was a very clean design – consider what was coming out of Detroit during this time period, and you’ll understand why the 6 still looked reasonably fresh a decade on in the 1980s. But for my money, the prettiest of the 6s are the early Euro cars, unencumbered by the DOT bumpers. Early on, though, the 6s suffered from not much performance – the engine lineup was effectively carried over from the previous E9 platform. That was solved in 1978 with the launch of the 218 horsepower 635CSi; a 5-speed transmission, deeper airdam, and black rubber rear spoiler with model designation indicated the higher performance of this model. The 635 officially wouldn’t come to U.S. shores until much later in 1984 with the E28 updates in place, but for a time this was the highest-performance BMW coupe you could get. Finding early examples that are still in prime shape is quite tough these days, but there’s a lovely example on eBay today in Pennsylvania:

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1985 BMW M635CSi

The M635CSi somehow gets lost among the other greats of the period from BMW. Perhaps, for U.S. fans, it’s the nomenclature that’s confusing. After all, there was a M1, an M3, and a M5, but when it came to the M version of the E24, BMW stuck with the moniker M635CSi in all markets but the United States and Japan. Confounding that decision was the launch of the E28 M535i. Like the M635CSi, it had additional body pieces, special interior trim and wheels from M-Technic. But while the M535i had a fairly normal M30 under the hood, the E24 received the full-fat M88/3 that was shared with the M5. Like the European M5 production started in 1984, well before they were available to U.S. customers. But while the M5 only sold in very sparse numbers over its short production cycle (about 775 sold in Europe between 1984 and 1987), the M635i was a relative hit, with just over 3,900 selling overall – far more than made it the U.S. market. Additionally, the European models were a slightly more pure form of the design; smaller bumpers, less weight, and about 30 more horsepower on tap without catalyst.

These European spec models were offered with some color combinations and interiors that never came to the U.S. market. This one is quite rare to find in Bahama Beige Metallic with Buffalo leather:

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1989 BMW 635CSi

The E24 was an amazing survivor; consider, for a second, that like the R107 this was a child of the 70s that was still sitting in showrooms at the dawn of the grunge era. The E24 was initially based upon E12 bits and produced by Karmann, but in 1982 updated components from the E28 series were introduced. Finally, a second round of updates were introduced in 1988 as the E28 was phased out, and the E24 received components shared with the E32 and 34 models. New were body-color corner trim caps on the bumpers, ellipsoid headlights, and an airbag steering wheel. The rear air conditioning console, which had been a neat feature on the L6, was now standard. But the big news was under the hood, where the newest version of the venerable M30 – the B35 variant – was now found. The E24 now had over 200 horsepower on tap and freshened looks to see out production:

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