Need an attention-grabbing cabrio in time for the heatwave? How about a lightly used Z1 for less than you think...
was a throwback to the then-40-year-old 507 Roadster. But the Z1 was really a car of the zukunft. Making the switch from concept to production car largely unaltered, the model was, on the surface at least, a masterstroke in design. In a bid to bring down the repair costs, BMW employed an elastic-synthetic material, which was essentially a type of plastic that could spring back to its original shape after being deformed – allowing you to have as many fender benders as you desired.
Here's the brilliant bit, though. The idea behind the plastic body panels was that they could be easily interchangeable. Yes, this is primarily for fixing the thing, but BMW marketed it as a means of changing the colour after purchase. Bought a green Z1 but fancy a red one for the summer? Just pop the panels off and swap them over to a different shade – a process that allegedly took less than an hour.
Then there's the party piece. Quite possibly the only thing most people remember about the Z1 are those doors, which retract into the bodywork when opened to make it easier to get in and out of. That, and the lower crash structure allowed you to open the doors on the go for a view of the tarmac below and its blender-like capabilities if you fall out.
It's all really rather clever, so why do you never see them on the road? Well, they were mighty expensive when new, costing around £37,000 . That’s a lot for a car that shares a fair amount of its components with a 325i, including the same 170hp inline-six. It was also considerably more expensive to produce than originally thought, with different compositions of paint needed on the body panels so it didn’t crack when bent.
Only 8,000 examples were produced, most of which were for the German market, until the project was shut down in 1991. That means the Z1 is a bit of a collector’s car today, but luckily you won’t be paying nearly £80,000 to find a clean example.is not only green but it’s clocked just 54,000 miles since it was registered in 1989. It’s listed at £39,995, which doesn't seem all that bad at all given that some ultra-low mileage cars are creeping towards the six-figure mark.
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