Vintage, manual BMWs are more in vogue now than ever, and today, you can find what s perhaps the one to rule them all on the online auction site Bring a Trailer. A minty fresh 1995 850 CSi – #190, according to expert Alec Cartio “ has popped up sporting just 22,000 miles, original Hellrot (Bright Red) paint, and all the pop-up headlight, mid-90s goodness you could ask for.
In case you forgot (but ¦how could you?), the 850 CSi was the M8 of the time in everything but name. The car was developed by BMW s Motorsport division and featured a stiffer and lower suspension, quicker steering rack, larger wheels, and a bunch of other enhancements over the regular 8 Series. Under the hood is a fiery 5.6-liter V12 engine (S70) closely related to the mill that powers the legendary McLaren F1 supercar. The S70 pairs up to a six-speed manual transmission “ like it does in that car from Woking “ and a limited-slip differential that spins just the rear wheels. No all-wheel drive nonsense here, folks. And 372 horsepower and 402 pound-feet of torque are plenty, thank you very much.
This one is particularly mint, with the only non-factory component being 17-inch Bugatti BBS wheels that replace the stock units. The car s Silvergrey Nappa leather upholstery is untouched, and the model- and market-specific Extended Yew wood trim seems to be in excellent shape. As you would expect for a car with 22k miles, everything looks mostly like it did when it left the showroom floor.
Rare and Desirable
With just 1,510 units produced worldwide “ according to BMW “ this is one of the rarest and most desirable BMW coupes ever produced. According to the listing, this is one of just 26 units finished in Hellrot “ and it s just one of 225 units that entered production for the US market. The E31 8 Series succeeded the E24 6 Series as BMW s ultra-lux flagship coupe model and left production before the turn of the century. The circle continued with a new 6 Series taking its place in 2011, which was, in turn, replaced by the current G15 8 Series in 2018.
As of this writing, the top bid on this 1995 BMW 850 CSi sits at $95,000. That s still quite a ways off from the red/black 1994 CSi that sold last year for around $185,000. That’s, indisputably, a huge amount of money to pay for a car. But it s kind of tough to put a price on such an exotic and hard-to-find piece of BMW history. Get your checkbooks ready, bidders “ the auction ends July 2nd.
First published by https://www.bmwblog.com
