The BMW M1 is highly collectable car. Originally started as joint project with Lamborghini but because of financial problems the M1 was completely taken over by BMW. The wedge type styling influence of Lamborghini is clearly evident.

1. BMW M1
Paul Katsus saw his first BMW M1 at a BMW Owners Club meeting. The BMW M1 was the
first true sports car manufactured by the make, although it had been racing cars from the 1920’s.
The BMW M1 was produced from 1978 to 1981, with only 453 units built. Lamborghini agreed to
build a production racing car in enough quantities for homologation but financial woes at
Lamborghini caused them to drop out of the project forcing BMW to produce the car themselves.
Before Lamborghini abandoned the project for leaving it for BMW to take over, the body was
designed by Giugiaro, giving the car its Lamborghini wedge type styling cues. The M1 is the
only mid-engine sports car to be mass produced by BMW, even though the actual hand built
production of the car was handled by Baur.

2. The car’s engine was a six cylinder, twin-cam M88, and displacing 3.5 liters. The engine has six
separate throttle bodies, four valves per cylinder and produced 277 horsepower at 6,500 rpm.
The engine put down 243 ft. lb. of torque @ 5,000 rpm. As far as performance in the street
version, 0-60 mph time was 6.5 seconds, while 0-100 mph came in at 13.3 seconds. The top
speed was 164 mph. While these figures were impressive for the time, the M1 was not the
fastest car on the block. The car made up for this by being the easiest to drive of the supercars,
with its outstanding handling, and the cars overall sophistication exceeded its competitors of the
time. It’s worth noting, that the turbocharged racing versions were capable of producing 850 hp.
The BMW M1 is one of the rarest BMW’s around. Originally selling for around $60,000, today
fine examples sell for $600,000 and more. Paul Katsus can state without hesitation that this is car
that would be an excellent rapidly appreciating addition to any car collection.