the bmw m1 is the best car in the world

I'm very interested in these cars. They are absolutely amazing, and exceedingly rare. You're a lucky guy to own one.

I'm interested in how they handle, and particularly the brakes & clutch. Heavy? Light? I imagine the handling is great... How's the reliability? Any electrical issues?

 

brakes are fantastic, clutch easy (although i'm told that it'll wear out every 20,000k or so, but i'm not so sure about that) reliability, well, so far so good!

 

interesting, how do you compare it's ride & handling thus far to modern sports car? i'm curious as i keep hearing it feels contemporary

 

I have a procar and a street car. I have to say the street car has the best steering feel of just about any car i have owned in the last 30 years and i have had my fair share.
The motor is supposed to have 277hp but is probably closer to 300hp and that is based on quite a few cars we dynoed. It is not super fast by today's standards but fast enough and the sound of motor after 5000rpm is intoxicating.
Handling is very neutral and the brakes are very good, especially considering it is now a 32 year old car.
It is probably the most underrated supercar out there and i have not seen any good cars for sale for a while now.

 

Do you know of the car for sale at Canepa design? What do you think about that one?

Thanks for answering all the questions...

I'm not such a fan of the car in red, but I once saw a dark blue one which was incredibly good looking.

 

beautiful car!

http://www.canepacollection.com/detail-1980-bmw-m1-mid~engine-used-9072536.html

 

I got the 1st M1 in 1979. It was new. The engine was a little soft and lacked performance. I was dissapointed and sold the car within 1 year.

In 1980/81 BMW offered me another one. I was sceptical first but purchased it for a very cheap price (as far as I remember DM 75,000 - that was DM 30,000 south of its official sales price). I traveled to Munich and found about 20 cars unsold, so I could chose my M1! I picked up a white one - and loved it from the first moment on!

THe M1 was -together with the Porsche 2.7 RS- by far the best handling and most agil car of the 70s. The engine was now much better, very reliable -but it would have deserved 50hp more!
The car was a gem! Grip, balance, brakes, suspension - fantastic!

In that period I was a very good friend of the boss of BMW-dealer AHG in Bielefeld, Germany. They were one of the 2 major M1-players at that time and "tuned" them (spoilers, wings, etc). Mr. G. wanted every M1 photographed that was in his workshop for maintenance. I studied photography at that time and so I was his man and drove about 20-30 cars (my guess) to various locations for taking photos.
Many of the cars were different in engine performance. I remember one car that was real terrible handling and they could not sort out those problems. But in general the M1 was a very basic car but still ahead of its time.

Great days!

 

it feels more 'alive' to me than modern cars-there's less between you and the car, which i love...but at the same time, the handling and the grip give you enormous confidence-it's really quite an amazing thing, for a car that's 40 years old...to be honest, just on driving alone, if i had to sell all my cars, that's the one i'd keep...it actually changed the way i think about old cars

 

Thanks for all the great answers. Can we see pictures of your car?

 

Non-original seats

 

Just Hideous! let me know if you ever want to sell

Cheers and enjoy in good health!

 

not to mention all the bloody emissions stuff that's still glued into the engine bay!

 

Congratulations, your purchase seems to be in great condition. I have just finished a +2 year long restoration of my M1 no.294 and couldnt help noticing some of the similarities between our cars. Especially the federalized front, exhaust and the large canister on the right side of the engine, ebove the exhaust manifold. I bought my car in Germany in 2005 with partial history showing that it had been in the US some time in the eighties. We replaced the front and rear panels with original parts and removed an air pump and other de-smogging parts. Furthermore we had to remove side impact bars in the doors as well as an ageing 80s radar warning system (!), partly built into the rear lights.

As a european, my knowledge of US regulations is limited but it appears to me that these regulations have changed so that you can actually bring cars like the M1 back to its original state? If you consider doing this, it may be worthwhile to start sourcing the parts as some of them are scarce (and some NLA). During my restoration, I found quite a few were NLA with BMW Classic, so let me know if you need any assistance, there are alternatives. Contrary to what is stated on the web and in magazines, waterpumps as well as windscreens can be sourced and the Marelli ignition module can be repaired. The only part that I have not been able to find is the interior rear view mirror and an original carpet/floor covering set. I could luckily repair the former and for carpets, I can get a new set made in the original material using my existing as pattern. For parts, BMW Classic has stepped up the effort with a quite good on-line parts shop. I have used it several times without trouble.

To me, this car is a brilliant hybrid between German and Italian traditions. It is usable and at the same time unique with some italian parts (mirrors,ignition,rims,frame,fibre glass panels) mixed with period state-of-the-art german technology. The sound above 4500 rpm is glorious and still makes me laugh. The gears are spaved perfectly and as mentioned by others, brakes and steering feel are very very good even by modern standards.

Trivia: the air conditioning system is from the e23 7-series and it works, the ZF gearbox is with few modifications shared with the Pantera and Lancia 037 (wish I had one of those) and used in many kitcars from the period which makes finding parts a challenge. Besides the 4 official colors, two cars were delivered in silver, two in black and 4 in grey. Personally I find the grey stunning but your orange is actually my favorite, it is spot on for the time, just as Porsches green,yellow and orange 911s from the seventies. My car is blue btw.

I better be careful here on F-chat but cant help it, sorry: This past sunday I paticipated in a classic car rally on public roads. Laid back driving on country roads but on the hottest day of the year here in Denmark, 34 degrees C. 4 F-cars participated, 2 Dinos, a 365 Boxer and a Daytona convertible. Before the day was over, one Dino and a Boxer were out due to electric and clutch trouble and the Daytona had a hard time starting after standing 1 hour in the sun during lunch. The remaining Dino did run but needed a jump start.... No offence, I love all these 3 F models, their lines and their sound but after quite a few years, I know myself, I demand that my car is 100% usable.

rgds
C Lindholm

 

Don't keep the others picts to yourself! Share the wealth. Wow, what a great car. I remember seeing one a long time ago and specifically remember a rectangular dash. Very cool

 

Love the M1 , we do need more pics!

 

No pics but a clip of the M1 of my friend on the old Nuerburgring.

The clip is so la-la...but the sound is nice!

Video is not made by me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DONQeLCd2Y

Ciao!
Walter

 

Whats cool about that dash? Its build quality is rough with cheap switches etc. coming from the 3series.

The quality of the interior is not premium-like! But the rest is fan - tas - tic!!!

Ciao!
Walter

 

you drive that in Manhattan?

 

Older pic of my streetcar, it is now back to original colour, dark blue
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Another shot.
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it'd be amazing to see it in dark blue, even in white it looks amazing in that guise!

the M1 is one of my all time favorite cars too!
a scanned article from C&D
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Dark Blue is my favorite color on these cars...

How's the ground clearance? Does it sit very low, in stock form? I bet Manhattan potholes can do some work on the suspension of most supercars, but for some reason I envision the M1 tackling them with relative ease...

 

My car before, during and after restoration:
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A few more of my car and a couple of beautiful pics of another M1 (better photographer than I....)
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Umm I am not really sure how to responde to the incredible and generous pics shared, I am in awe aswell as envy, enjoy them in good health.