It was a red BMW Z1 that a German artist was allowed to turn into an Art Car for the first time. It was painted by A.R. Penck in the spring of 1991.
8,000 copies have been built from 1989-1991, in addition there were only six different colors (top-red, dream-black, primeval-green, magic-violet, pure-blue, fun-yellow) and interiors. A low weight of only 1250 kg and an engine performance from full 170 HP let this up to 225 km/h fast.
The BMW-Alpina RLE (Roadster Limited Edition) Z1 version, of which only 66 copies were built, even over 230 km/h.
The most sold BMW Z1 colors was Top Red with 3,084 copies, then Dream Black with 2,318 and Ur-Green with 2,037 pieces, in Fun Yellow was painted and delivered the least with only 141 pieces.
Despite the very high entry price of around DM 83,000 at the time (a BMW E30 3 Series Convertible cost only DM 43,000 at the same time), there are still around 3,575 vehicles registered in Germany alone as of 2022. Good examples currently cost around 70,000 euros and more, but they can also be had for a lot less.
I have been practicing vintage car photography for more than 35 years and here I mainly photograph normal everyday vehicles which were still on the road en masse over 30 years ago. But also cars with extraordinary, beautiful design. From time to time I take pictures of cars, .. Read more…