CC is about the love of old cars. But there are two kinds of auto-love, and a self-consciously beautiful car like this 635CSi has the higher hurdle to clear. The Greek philosophers defined (and practiced) several kinds of love. The two most relevant in this context are agape and eros. Agape is unconditional, deliberate and thoughtful, but specifically non-sexual. Plato used it to define, among other things, love for a particular activity; like stalking old cars. It defines my love for the Datsun 210 and all the shit boxes of the world.
I don’t need to define eros; in the automotive context, Ferrari has been doing that for over sixty years. Eros is the counterpart to , even though it may well leave your mouth agape. It’s highly conditional, involuntary and thoughtless; a car either turns you on or it doesn’t. For instance, this BMW 635 CSi; does it warm your loins?
You can’t fault it for not trying hard. It had that particular difficult challenge in life of being a sequel, and it had one hell of an act to follow: the E9 2800/3.0 CS coupes. Very few would dispute the heat-generating abilities of that exquisite classic. But the curious thing about the E9, unlike the 6 Series, is that it came about its stunning and timeless good looks rather accidentally.
It got its start in 1966 as the four-cylinder 2000 C/CS, based on the “Neue Klasse” 1500/1800/2000 sedans. And a very modest start, at that; the 1960 Corvair-inspired front end was getting old and just didn’t click. It worked fine on the many rear-engined Corvair clones like the Hillman Imp, Simca 1000, and NSU 1000. But the BMW coupe fell flat on its equally-flat face. It musters some agape at best, but certainly not eros.
BMW’s annoying thorn in its side, Glas, also came out with its 2600 V8 Coupe the same year. Dubbed the “Glaserati”, it was rather similar to the BMW, except its front end. That was the polar opposite: complex, busy, Italianesque, but certainly passionate. BMW would soon solve the Glas problem: it bought the company, and the renamed 3000 GT (above) now sported the propeller on its Frua-designed beak.
But the (real) BMW coupe soon received the mother of all face (and engine) transplants. In 1968, the brilliant new E3 six cylinder sedans appeared, with a new dynamic face to go with their dynamite engines. And both of them were grafted onto the 2000C, with spectacular results.
I’ve often railed about how so many original designs get mucked up with the passage of years, facelifts and refreshes. Well, the reborn E9 coupe is the centerfold poster child of that rebuttal. Alloy wheels and tasteful functioning front fender vents didn’t hurt either. And somehow, that huge greenhouse works, beautifully. In the sixties cars were still emulating certain architectural influences; living in glass houses was cool. Cars today are aping this architectural style.
We’ve more than adequately set the stage upon which the all-new E24 coupe appeared in 1976. So how was it received? My first in-the-flesh encounter was on Sunset Boulevard. I tagged alongside it in that consummate shit box, my battered old Dodge van, and recognized Henry Winkler “the Fonz” as the driver. Well that didn’t exactly help.
He must have thought I was stalking him, because I stayed next to, and behind him for long enough to forget where I was actually going, trying to absorb and digest his new silver coupe, and waiting for that certain physiological reaction to kick in. But it just wasn’t happening for me, despite all the build up in the magazines.
Handsome, yes; but lacking in warmth. Its beauty is too cool and cosmetic-surgery clinical. It lacks the distinctive, even imperfect character and seemingly accidental magnetism of its predecessor, which for some reason reminds me of gap-toothed Lauren Hutton.
The 6 Series’ pope-mobile greenhouse was a conscious throwback to the original, but was starting to look out of date from the beginning. Compare it to this much more expressive and romantic Bitter SC, another German coupe of the same vintage. By the mid eighties, when this particular 635CSi first saw the light of day, that roof line was downright anachronistic, especially compared to the Benz W126 Coupe, which came out in 1981. According to legend, it could have been even worse. Apparently BMW wanted the coupe to be even taller, for the benefit of their older and wealthier clients. But no less than Bob Lutz came to the rescue, arguing for lower lines. I guess he didn’t argue quite hard enough. Ja, but ve must not compromize the visibility, Bob!
The mid seventies through mid eighties were a very conservative period for BMW. Of course the 6 was an excellent and desirable car, based on the highly regarded 5 Series. I’ve got plenty of love for those Bauhaus sedans. But coupes intrinsically set themselves up to a higher standard. Otherwise, why bother, given the big premium they command? With a coupe, it’s eros or leave it.
Things only got worse with its successor, the 8 Series coupe. It was DOA. The Lexus SC coupe, at half its price, ruined any chance it had, which wasn’t good to start with. And today’s 6 Series? Hello? The 3 series coupe IS the new 6 series. What does the $85k 6 do that a 335i can’t, at half the price? Especially when the 6 doesn’t look any better, if not worse. When you boil it down, that was always the BMW coupes’ problem. Not quite enough sex for the big jump in price, except for the original E9.
Stunning,the most beautiful BMW,if I could afford one it would be on the must have car list
Very beautiful… love these, but they’ve never spoken to me like an 80s 3 or 5. That’s eros to me.
Ahhh…in this case, the combination of Hoffmeister “kink” and luscious leather is most definitely erotic.
I always stop and look when I see one of these — I just can’t help it. Is there a greek word for lust?
My oh my, Paul. you sound exactly like Jeremy Clarkson in this article! Egad!
I’m not a BMW fan, but this one always makes me ponder if it would be worth the potential financial nightmare to own it.
The front end is beautifully BMW, relaxing to a Jaguar-esque stance at the rear with a perfectly portioned passenger compartment connecting those elements.
Clean lines and timeless in my opinion… Definite sex appeal.
Opinions will vary on the relative beauty of these coupes, but I think all here would agree that they don’t like better with whitewalls. But just two days ago I walked past a clean 3.0 Csi, parked at the curb, with whitewalls. I couldn’t get a picture. FWIW I like all of them through the 8-series; the newer 6’s do nothing for me.
Opinions will vary on the relative beauty of these coupes, but I think all here would agree that they don’t like better with whitewalls. But just two days ago I walked past a clean 3.0 Csi, parked at the curb, with whitewalls. I couldn’t get a picture. FWIW I like all of them through the 8-series; the newer 6’s do nothing for me.
I think the Italians were jealous when BMW released this generation. I still think it is such a handsome car inside and out. To me, this is when BMW was at the top of their game…Selling beautiful styled shark sleds with wonderful engines. They have really lost their way. It’s Shark Week, Boys!
It would be difficult to replicate such beauty year after year…better to just enjoy these moments.
Funny how we don’t recognize “perfection” while its occuring, only recognized and appreciated years later.
When I was in law school, the Dean of Placement (or something) drove one of these, in sliver-blue. He came from family money and his car showed it. I would slow down and gaze at the car whenever I walked past it.
This was in the mid 80s, and I think it was the 1960-s vintage proportions and greenhouse that appealed to me. There was something about its design-language that was a welcome respite from the angular lines and black plastic that was everywhere at the time. So, yes, It stirs a bit of eros in me. But then so does the 68 Chrysler 300. There’s someone for everyone, right?
These look nice, but I’d say it’s probably impossible to out-do the E9, which deserves Eros in both the form of the 2800CS & 3.0CS-whatever.
This is almost exactly what I was thinking. Handsome but bland. (But in that way, perfect for the ’80s.) 3.0CS FTW.
The newest 6 is bloated and has nothing to recommend it over the Accord Crosstour and its Acura equivalent (ZDX? Zzz…?) in terms of looks, though it makes a statement about the typical owner (and that statement is often, “I am a prick.”).
Same here, the 6-series just doesn’t have the litheness of the earlier coupe. It seems to be a bit larger (about 4″ longer and 2″ wider) which it didn’t need, plus it is heavier (300lb or so at least) – although not heavy by today’s standards of course.
It is just not elegant in the same way the E9 coupe is. Similarly the W109 Mercedes SL suffers by comparison to the pagoda SL, there must be a reason for the differences, its not as if design talent was not available.
Always loved that body style. Still looks classy and elegant even today. My mom’s 1998 5 series is 15 years old and people still mistake it for a new car. Timeless.
The 77-89 6 series coupes are gorgeous cars, but I wouldn’t want to own one. They were problemmatic when new. Now, with 25-30 years of wear and tear on them? Yikes!
It may just be me, but I can’t look at one of these without thinking about Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting.
Same here. Both pretty sexy at the time.
I don’t find the E24 quite as handsome as the 3.0CS or 2800 CS, but it’s still a striking car. I think it looks best in M635CSi or M6 form — the body kit fills out the basic shape and deals with the standard cars’ slight underbite. It appeals to me in the same way Pininfarina’s 1995-2005 Alfa Romeo GTV (916-series).
That Bitter SC looks like a Ferrari Mondial. Very un-German of them.
It was originally based on an Opel concept car. Bitter bought the rights when he learned that GM didn’t intend to produce it.
I like the sharks but would really like a 3.0 cs. The white one (second to last photo) does it for me. I would love to own one but would feel bad to have to bring it into this salt infested climate,as even with the best care cars like this seen to show tin worm. I need to move to a more car friendly climate I guess.
My first girlfriend’s father had a 1989 635CSi. It was a beautiful car to look at and when I first drove it, I couldn’t believe how good it was.
Alas, it was probably the most unreliable car I had ever encountered. He got tired of constantly running the the dealer in Victoria for this and that. Further, there was no roadside assistance in those days. There were several tow-ins that cost more than $200 and one for $500.
He kept it for only two years and then bought a Lexus SC400. He still has it today.
Oh how I’ve always loved these, from day one. I don’t think I came to love the E9 until later, but maybe that’s because I probably never really saw any as a kid; there were just a few Bavarias in my neighborhood (which I did think were unbelievably cool). Now I prefer the E9, but when I see a 635, I can’t help but think how bad current 6 Series look. These cars had such an elegance about them, a confidence in its simple lines.
And you’re right, Paul, I really do think of today’s 3-Series coupes as real successors to the old 6 Series, and in that regard, aren’t they really fantastic and a good value?
This, along with the W-126 coupe, were the pinnacle of German car styling from BMW and Mercedes, and most of what’s followed pales in comparison.
With a nod to the Ford aero styling of the time, Car and Driver dubbed this BMW the “Teutonic T-Bird,”
Love those Bitters, both coupes and sedans. Pity the Opel underpinnings, though.
The SC looks like a better proportioned F412 to me.
Speaking of Ferraris, I never could fathom why folks get so excited about them, really.
As for the bimmers, designwise I only like the E34 and E46, otherwise preferring contemporaries from Benz, SAAB or the Japanese.
I had a 1990 E34 535iA once, brought it from Japan in nearly new condition in 2006.Wonderful car, very beautiful, if a little nervous to my liking.
A Chinese fella made such an offer on it that I could not resist selling it, hysterically laughing all the way to the bank.
The 2000CS suggests a wheeled flying saucer to me. One thing I like about older BMWs is the clever way they conceal the hood edge under the front-fender side trim.
Am I deceived in seeing a little Rover P6 in that E3 sedan’s roofline?
I always liked the 2800CS coupes, I remember how exotic it looked, I came across my first while riding bike as a kid in my cousins neighborhood in Boca Raton, I screeched to a stop when I saw that black low slung BMW coupe in a driveway.
The 6 series never did the same, though the M6 was cool.
I was in an Autobell (regional hand car wash) a couple of years ago with one of my older cars and struck up a conversation with another customer who noticed my car and claimed to own a BMW L6 a two door version of the L7 which was something of a halo car in the late 1980s. He was not driving the car that day, but did tell me of is troubles getting parts for the car that had to come from Germany and were incredibly expensive. Like $400 water pump that took 6 weeks to arrive. Museum pieces aside, I can’t imagine that kind of trouble maintaining what would be considered a roadable car. Who knows, it might have been an M car to justify that much difficulty.
Im not a BMW fan at all but these ones were cool and fast unlike the ersatz racing career of the M3 joke the 3.5 CSI was successful as a touring car in the hands of Kiwi Jim Richards.
These and the earlier 2800 and 3.0 are the most beautiful BMWs to me ! Too bad for the ’90s wheels, white paint and US-spec bumpers on this one
I saw a parked 3.0 CS while walking along the waterfront in Naples, Italy in 1966.
It stopped me in my tracks.
It is my all time favorite.
You had to experience it in the flesh.
I’ve never encountered an E9 in the flesh, while the E24 remains my all-time favorite BMW, followed closely by the E28. They’re iconic, really. The clean and handsome but warmth-lacking styling is kind of the point, at least in my mind; The overblown, flame surfaced styling of 21st century BMWs seems very un-Germanic. The 3-series coupe is perhaps the lone exception, although it now seems closer to the E9/E24 than the E30.
The E9 in any form- 2800, 3.0, CS, CSi- is one of the most beautiful automobiles ever. Even railroad tie-and-accordion bumpers couldn’t ruin it. I owned its mechanical sibling, a 3.0 Bavaria, for about seven years as an occasional driver. No horror stories here; it was a very reliable car. Just not a CS.
A guy in Kenosha had a Bitter SC in dark blue. Pretty car.
A beautiful car, from BMW at their aesthetic best era.
I remember when the 8 series came out – my brother worked at the Houston superdealer. The hoopla was astounding, but the car rightfully fell on its face. Almost an Aztek moment in that everyone but the cheerleaders/corporate folks were “WTF?”.
It’s taken nearly 20 years, but BMW is approaching saneness again in design. Thank God.
The E31 wasn’t a bad-looking car at all, but the dramatic leap in price caused a lot of spit takes, more than the styling or the performance could really sell.
I used to really love these when I was younger, and I still do like them a lot. The E9 was an almost impossible act to follow, and the big bumpers on the US models seriously hurt the looks. Like Ate Up WIth Motor mentions above, they all look so much better proportioned with the M body kit, the US-spec cars especially. It really helps to mask that grotesque battering ram under their huge schnoz.
The modern 6-series is a total disaster from a styling perspective, but I did like the 8-series – despite the fact that they were utterly ridiculous when new.
Dallas TV show character Cliff Barnes drove a brown one of these quite apropos for the nouveau riche prick that he was. So typically preppy 80s…
having owned an E28 and currently driving an E60 the E24 is by far the prettiest BMW ever built. Followed closely by the E38. The big sixer was an excellent combination of driving and looks. The 80s I think were the pinnacle of BMW design team.
Of the coupes, the E9 is by far the prettiest. My favorite BMW of all time remains the E3 sedan, especially in very dark blue, as per the photo. The proportions are masterful, and compete successfully with its storied rival, the Jaguar XJ6 Series 1. A friend bought a new Bavaria in 1972, and that car was an experience to be savored.
My mom had a dream about this car in about 1992, so she went ahead and bought a manual Cinnabar Red 1986 with the awesome spoiler. I didn’t really appreciate the car–heavy clutch, low seating position, miniature back seat–until I went to pass somebody at about 75, when the car absolutely came into its own. It’s meant to be an Autobahn cruiser, for sure; steady and nimble with excellent torque. It’s also built like a tank, the old German way: Heavy and solid.
A few issues with the car…it has hydraulic self-leveling at the rear, which requires a bit of background knowledge so many mechanics disable it, leaving the car susceptible to bottoming out with much weight in the back. It can leak a bit of oil. The electrics have deteriorated a bit so its fancy bulb-check display tends to tell you the brake light bulbs are out when they aren’t. The original rims came with those special Michelin TRX tires, which means most owners replace the rims with something more BBS. Driveways, curbs and wheel stops are all jealous of that aggro spoiler, leading to cracking or worse.
Otherwise, with the care of an experienced mechanic, the thing can run forever. My mom recently did the math: Aside from tires she spent about $3500 on repairs over the life of the car. She did just get rid of it with 320,000 miles on it. It was running strong but needed new tires, clutch and brakes and a trunk gasket (parked on a hill, the trunk filled up with water in some heavy rain!) and the paint was shot from years of living outside, and had a growing spot of rust below the rear window. She was so sad about it she bought a shiny 1986 the very same day, eschewing all other options.
My mom isn’t crazy, but she sure is crazy about the E24.
Great writeup as usual Paul. Two minor nitpicks: the fender vents on the E9 are actually non-functional. There is a piece of black tape glued to the sheetmetal behind the “vents” to give the illusion of an actual opening. Also, the alloys on the white E9 pictured are 16 or 17-inchers at least 10 years younger than the car.
Back in the day, 14” were standard: first, the “Italianesque” style with hubcaps shown on the blue car and later, the 20-spoke style used during most of the 80s (see attached).
Regarding the looks of the featured 635 CSi, the E39 alloys don’t do it any favors nor does the color white and least of all, the US bumpers. My brother owns a silver-green (opalgrün) 82 which looks absolutely stunning with its period-correct BBS 16” wheels.
I definitely love the shape of these cars. Fantastic! Then I sat into one at a used car dealer lot and looked at the instrument panel. I used to be impressed by BMW instrument panels. But with this one I thought they gave the pimple faced intern a ruler, a Nr. 2 pencil and 15 minutes……nothing but straight horizontal lines. No thanks.
It is like the the hourglass shaped bombshell who needs a veil to cover her cosmetically challenged face.
The ’95 to ’97 Ford Thunderbird mimics much of the 635CSI lines and had nicer instrument panel. And that is what you look at when you drive.
Ive had a a silver 85 633 and then a sapphire 86 635 which was absolutely stunning with deep 17″ 7 spoke wheels (which I’ve never found again). I really miss the 635 and wish I hadn’t sold it. Ah well, nice to have had it while I did.
I’d love to have one…E24s are heavier and more rust-prone than their E12 and E28 sedan counterparts, but what a beautiful car! I saw one the other day, debadged so I don’t know if it was a 633 or 635, but beautiful nonetheless.
My favorite BMW design, bar none. Sure–the E9 is beautiful. Perhaps even more elegant. Maybe it’s because I’m a child of the 80’s…maybe it’s because I had a toy version of one…I don’t know. But the E24 will always be my first BMW love. The shark nose is one of my favorite automotive “faces” ever. Ideally an M6/M635csi, as the body modifications help it go from excellent to stellar in my opinion, plus the performance bump. Or the “we love leather” L6 would be nice too.
I had a 84 633csi bmw coupe, The best car by far I had the pride to own, it was not only the best built (manufactured) car inside and out , it was THE most dependable car I have ever owned. I bought the car in 1994 in Allinance, Ohio for 3500.00 cash it had a little surface rust ran well needed brakes but,the leather interior just immaculate! East coast cars tend to rust out but this thing was coming with me to Phoenix,AZ other than brakes full tune up and maintainance tires this SEXY bmw traveled 8 times back and forth from Phoenix to Cleaveland and various road trips with the Odometer started at 97000 miles to when I had to sell it the OD read 184000 the 5 years I owned this car the list of parts was regular maint. and a master cylinder,I-AC valve and set of Struts. I did paint the car the same BRONSIEITE Brown thru a friend cost of 450.00 and I sold it for $4600.00 I wish I never sold it But I needed money at the time.I will get another one and do a ground up restoration with a few mods I can always count on my training at UTI and BMW classes.
I owned a 1985 635CSi (in Bronzit) from 1989 to 2003 and still consider it to be one of the most attractive coupes ever, a very comfortable cruiser. The current generation of Bimmer coupes leaves me cold…