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buying guide Buying Guide for BMW By Richard Stern History - As early as there had been discussions about a new and smaller BMW Thoughts began to focus on a short wheelbase two-door version of the New Class saloon This plan had particular merit because it

Buying Guide for BMW By Richard Stern History - As early as there had been discussions about a new and smaller BMW Thoughts began to focus on a short wheelbase two-door version of the New Class saloon This plan had particular merit because it would help to re-establish the sporting image that BMW had enjoyed in the 's but never recaptured since The shorter wheelbase would bring handling advantages while the lighter body would improve performance and of course the two-door con ?guration would look more sporting than the four-door New Class type The two-door model did not take long to design The New Class wheelbase was shortened from inches to inches Wilhelm Hofmeister restyled the passenger cabin to suit and the front of the car was given a minor facelift Most of the running gear came directly from the existing four-door saloons although there was a narrow track rear axle which made front and rear tracks equal on the two-door model The decision was made to launch the car with the cc engine and decided to call it the - The additional ?gure standing for its two doors and distinguishing it from the four-door saloon The - was announced in March and was immediately acclaimed as a winner The lighter body made the car nearly as fast as the sedan while the excellent handling added a sporting ingredient which was lacking in the larger car The motoring press was unable to resist comparisons with Alfa Romeo's sports cars which suited BMW's needs perfectly At the Frankfurt Motor show in autumn they announced an even more sporting version - the ti - with a hp twin carburetor engine And by this stage BMW were already considering the possibility of giving their two-door vehicle yet another engine in the shape of a -litre relative of the ti's four cylinders Not long after the - was announced Alex von Falkenhausen had a -litre engine dropped into an example of the car for his own use Completely independently BMW's Planning Director Helmut Werner Bonsch had exactly the same conversion carried out for his car Neither man knew of the other's car until one day in mid - when both cars were in the workshops together at BMW Both were enthusiastic about their -litre two-doors and between them decided to put a formal proposal to the BMW Board that such a model should be considered for production Their cause was greatly helped by developments in the USA BMW had never meant very much in that market before the mid- 's and the marque had been imported only in small numbers The company was well aware of the value of sales success in such a large market and until this point had not had a model which appealed to American customers In all that changed The new two-door - models received rave reviews in the American motoring press and all of a sudden sales started to gather momentum Wanting to capitalize on this success importer