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Following on to the Mercedes-Benz SL600 Silver Arrow that Andy featured yesterday, here’s an equally rare German flagship from the 1990s: the BMW 850CSI. While a BMW M8 was never officially produced, if you wanted your 8 series coupe with a bit of M flavor this was as close as you were going to get. The E31 8 series wasn’t as popular as its predecessor, the E24 6 series. A little over 30,000 E31s were manufactured in comparison to the longer production run of the E24, which saw over 86,000 examples produced. Out of those 30,000 8 series, only 1,510 were the model you see here. With an increase in capacity to 5.6 liters, the 850CSi cranked out 375 horsepower and was mated exclusively to a 6-speed manual gearbox. With uprated brakes, suspension and Style 21 throwing star alloys, this was a fetching package. This example for sale in North Carolina has yet to cross the 30,000 mile mark, good for those seeking a collector piece.
A few days ago driving through traffic, a lean, low and angular shape drifted in between cars ahead of me. It stood out mostly because it was so different than the pool of SUVs it swam through. Like a shark parting a school of mackerel, it was a beautiful 840ci with M-System II wheels fit, and it was positively beautiful to see. What really struck me was the size though, more than anything else. I’ve never really thought of the 8-series as a small car – but there it was, dwarfed by the modern automobiles that surrounded it. Most other drivers ignored the door-wedge profile, but I sat transfixed remembering how revolutionary this car was when it was launched. When I happened across this 1995 840ci in my searches, a car which Paul featured back in January, I couldn’t help but want to write it up:
The below post originally appeared on our site January 10, 2015:
A long while back in 2011, I took a look at one of those rare BMWs from the 1990s, the 850CSi. But the car I featured wasn’t any normal 850CSi, if you could even consider this super coupe “normal.” This was one of the few painted in Daytona Violet. It also had a lovely contrasting Lotus White/Violet leather interior. I did a double take when I saw this almost identical 850CSi for sale near Freiburg, Germany. The interior is a bit more purple than the one we saw here for sale in the US, but if you want to be bold, there are few better ways to do it than with a purple V12 powered pillarless coupe.
Welcome back to Friday Fail, our opportunity to provide your Friday with a little more levity as you obsessively refresh your blog roll and count the minutes until the weekend is here. My favorite target for FF is misleading or misinformed sellers, but today we’ll just focus on what looks to be a pretty serious basket case of an E31.
This Friday Fail is quite a head turner due to its repaint in the E46 fan-boy favorite Laguna Seca Blue, a color whose only claim to fame is being obnoxiously bright and having the aforementioned ALL CAPS INTERNET DEVOTEES. Bright colors certainly have their place, but I’ll take Estoril over LSB ten times out of ten. A bright-ass exterior and reasonably low 117k miles appear to be the only high points here. Despite reportedly being “babied and well taken care of,” this 840Ci looks pretty piggy once you get past the lipstick. The interior is beat save the brand new suede headliner(!?), yet the seller gives it 8/10. It should automatically lose an extra 3 points due to that ugly sliding gear selector. The engine bay looks like someone scrubbed it with dirt and shot it with a bb gun. Apparently it has new front suspension and a RACING RADIATOR FAN because Laguna Seca is a race track.
I like the E31 and I don’t actually hate Laguna Seca Blue, but I can’t think of any situation in which I would buy this LSB E31.
I’ve always been one that enjoys the road less traveled when it comes to cars. Having inhabited fairly wealthy, urban areas my entire life, I’ve grown tired of the ubiquitous luxury vehicles that seem to multiply on their own, such as the Mercedes-Benz C-class and the BMW 3 series, with the occasional small Audi mixed into the lot. For those who want a bit more speed, you can up the ante up to an AMG, M or S car, but even still, I’m left wanting for more. Something a bit more exclusive. Something, then, like this 840Ci for sale in California. You really don’t see too many of these E31s wandering about these days, especially late model versions like this V8 engined 1996 example. While the 850CSi is the E31 to have, I’d be perfectly happy with the adequate power and lower running costs of this M62 engined variant. Like their contemporary, the Porsche 928GTS, these are super coupes that are beginning to get their due respect amongst the collector market.
