(first posted 7/20/2017) In the world of BMW’s Z-Series (“Z” short for “Zukunft”, or “Future” in English), it’s the regular production Z3 and Z4 roadsters that typically come to mind. The lift-back Z3 and Z4 coupes and the ultra-exclusive Z8 roadster are less remembered by all but the true Bimmer enthusiast, but what about the other Z, the original Z? There was of course, no Z2, so that brings us to this head-turning roadster. Haben Sie Z1?
Holding true to its “future” designation, the Z1 was essentially a guinea pig vehicle meant to showcase and test new technologies in a production vehicle. Some of these technologies would ultimately make their way into other more mainstream BMW vehicles, some of them would not.
Among the Z1’s most interesting displays of technological innovations were what would become its signature feature: its doors. Instead of traditional hinged, swing-open doors, the Z1’s power retracted vertically into the car’s chassis.
As a result of this design feature, the Z1 featured uncharacteristically high door sills, which offered collision protection independent of the doors. Therefore, in theory, one could drive with the doors down and still have adequate side crash protection.
The Z1 also featured a body made entirely of composite plastic body panels, which could be removed entirely by owners in a short period of time. Additional body panels could be purchased from BMW, giving owners the ability of interchangeable exterior colors. The car could also be driven with all body panels removed.
Among other noteworthy features, the Z1 previewed the low-beam projector headlights (though with standard halogen bulbs), something brought to the mass-market by BMW’s own 7 Series in 1992 with Xenon bulbs.
Riding on a 96.3-inch wheelbase, the Z4 boasted a near-perfect weight distribution of 51/49 for excellent handling characteristics. Its independent strut front suspension came straight from the E30 3 Series, while its rear suspension was the first such application of the newly-created “Z Axle” multi-link design, which was to be featured in the upcoming E36 3 Series. Four-wheel antilock disc brakes were also standard.
Power came exclusively from the same 2.5L M20 inline-6 and 5-speed manual found in the E30 325i. Making 168 horsepower and 164 lb-ft torque, it was capable of getting the Z1 from zero-to-sixty in a somewhat leisurely 9 seconds, although the car’s 2,750-pound curb weight, a result of the electromechanical doors, surely had something to do with this.
Built between March 1989 and June 1991, just 8,000 total Z1s were produced, plus an additional 12 pre-production units. Despite an initial high demand and several thousand pre-orders, interest in the model rapidly diminished, and BMW discontinued to Z1 to better focus on more profitable, more popular models that could be produced in a more reasonable time.
The Z1 was never sold in North America either, contributing to the general unawareness of it to non-car enthusiasts, and even non-BMW enthusiasts on this continent. Clearly several, such as this Pur Blau (Pure Blue) 1990, have made it across the pond into the hands of collectors.
Photographed: Beverly, Massachusetts – July 2014
1999 BMW Z3M coupe (COAL)
Wow, thanks for this Brendan. I had completely forgotten these existed! Tell me: how does one open the doors?
Thank Will! The door locks behind the doors function as buttons to open/close.
Interesting to see the door open/close process, but I’m more curious about what it takes to actually heave yourself into/out of the seat!
“Oh that is cool,” Atenza just said out loud at his desk.
It’s the best looking of the bunch you mention. I really like it – and much more today than when it came out.
I recall reading about these but only 8000 made and not RHD Ive never seen one.
I remember an episode of Wheeler Dealers fixing up a version of this car. Among the problems it had were the doors (naturally, as its to be expected in such a Rube Goldberg setup). The entire setup was reminiscent of what it took to raise and lower the top on a ’57-59 Ford retractable, although a bit simpler, fortunately.
It’s a series of motors, cables, switches, all of which have to act together in proper sequence. And, of course, the Wheeler Dealer car was fortunately just a minor adjustment to put back to rights.
While neat looking, definitely an answer to a question that nobody ever asked.
I don’t think that’s an original colour – they came in red, british racing green. Black, and a rather hideous pale yellow. To open or close the door, William, press that silver button with a black surround behind the door. I think you can do it via unlock/lock on the key fob too.
Yes, BMW did offer ‘purblau’ and ‘magicviolett’ later in the Z1 cycle.
http://www.bmw-z1.de/produktionzahlen
One advantage of living in Germany is higher degree of customisations. Beside the colour palette that the manufacturers put together for each of their vehicles, you can always specify the custom colours for paint and upholstery.
In this case, Audi has ‘Audi exclusive‘ programme.
https://www.audi.de/de/brand/de/neuwagen/layer/audi-exclusive.html
BMW Individual Collection:
http://www.bmw.de/de/topics/faszination-bmw/bmw-individual/uebersicht.html
Mercedes-Benz Designo:
https://www.mercedes-benz.de/content/germany/mpc/mpc_germany_website/de/home_mpc/passengercars/home/new_cars/designo_entry.flash.html#chapter=1
Of course, you’d have to pay more than arms and legs for the special privilige…
Awesome – excellent piece on a car I had all but forgotten, echoing Will’s comment.
This was at the car show in Misselwood in Endicott College? I missed it again! (I live in Salem) How was the rest of the show? I did see an Ampicar the last time I went to the car show at the mall in Danvers.
It was at the Misselwood Concours d’Elegance, but this was back in 2014 🙂
The whole reason I actually thought of this car and to write about it was that this very same 1974 BMW 3.0 CS Alpina parked a few spots over just popped up at a Cars and Coffee event a few weeks back, which in turn was documented in my friend Teward’s YouTube vlog.
I was wondering why I didn’t remember these . . . then I came to the part where they were not sold in the US. I was fairly tuned out of new cars around 1990, so it is not surprising to me that I missed this one.
I wonder if the big splash of the Mazda Miata took some of the wind out from this car? Perhaps there is more demand for a simple, inexpensive roadster than there is for something promising but with too high of a gadgetry quotient.
Still, I think it is a cool car, much as that door/window mechanism would scare me as an owner. Thanks for bringing my BMW Z knowledge up a notch, Brendan.
The Z1 did not have xenon headlights. This is a common misconception.
Note specifications for filament bulbs: http://www.bmwz1.co.uk/Manual23.jpg
My mistake it appears…
Multiple sources I found do claim the Z1 had Xenon headlights, but upon further digging it seams like they are getting Xenon confused with projector beam. I’ve updated to post.
What’s a bit puzzling is that BMW built these with a 6 cylinder engine, but it’s “successor” was initially available only with a 4 cylinder. And while the doors are a terrific novelty, the composite body panels that can be removed in under an hour seem to be just as interesting….did BMW ever put that feature into production cars?
Fiero’s German cousin, Zed One, a billion times removed. With a proper drive train and superior engineering.
Why didn’t they build it with standard doors and sell it by the million as competitor to the Mazda Miata? I mean seriously , haha, what’s the point on such doors.
They did….It was called the Z3
No Z2? Missed opportunity!
Lots of publicity and hype in the German press at the time, but the whole thing fizzled out so quickly. I’m still trying to figure out the point of the exercise.
The first Smart Car was also ment to have an easy color/skin change.
I get enough grief for storing the winter wheels and tires at home, I have no idea where I’d put a whole set of extra body panels…
The current Daihatsu Copen rather ingeniously solves this problem; you can rent the panel set you want from your local dealer and exchange yours to change styling on the whim! A much wiser and practical way to implement a concept like this for sure.
One of several highlights of my first visit to Paris in 1991 was one of these, with its doors down and a nicely dressed young couple inside, making two turns around the pretty little park where we were resting our feet. I got to tell everyone else what it was. My wife, who was on her second 2002 at the time, said, “Oh!! Can we get one?” I had to tell her that no, we couldn’t in the US, and they’d gone out of production anyway. Something to be said for regular reading of car magazines …
The rear muffler is a “wing”.
Can’t help thinking about the GM wagons.
Doors aside, this is an interesting example of the use of composites in a relatively high volume (compared with a Lotus, for example) car.
Composite components, either carbon fibre or other materials, have appeared on recent vehicles, especially lower volume runs but perhaps not to the extent BMW might have been predicting. For light weight, it seems aluminium and magnesium have overtaken composites.
Still,a cool car and we occasionally see them here in car shows
Old Wheeler Dealer episode has Edd fixing up a Z1 and changing colors, driving bare chassis and repairing the unique doors.
I wouldn’t call it a Deadly Sin, because I don’t think it did any severe damage to the company even if they lost money on every car they sold. Though I would call it perhaps A Pointless Excercise In Need of an Audience.
It was really too heavy for being a roadster, it weighted in at 1250 kg, or 300 kg more than the contemporary Mazda MX5. Not any of the four generations of Miatas ever got that fat, and the latest is still 200 kg lighter than the Z1. Even the Porsche 944 was lighter than the Z1, though the Turbo was heavier still.
This car is a clear case of not only development creep, but also a car lacking a clear mission objective. Just what was it supposed to be? Was it a roadster? A boulevardier? Was it just a technological showcase? Or should it compete with Porsches as it was priced like a Porsche?
The project was instigated by Ulrich Bez on his stint at BMW between his time both before and after at Porsche. It seems the Z1 was really his baby, and perhaps they just lost track over it when he left in 1988, leaving the Z1 to be born an orphan? Sometimes a project that seems rudderless is just that, without no one to steer it in the right direction.
Coming in heavy and over budget, there was just no way they could market it with a four cylinder engine and sell it competetively. So, they thought they could upsell the car with the inline-6 only to justify the price. But that mill in that car just wasn’t sporty enough, this was still the sohc version of the M20.
So, what the buyer got was an overpriced technological showcase that was too heavy to flung around and with a straight six that should’ve been adequate but just wasn’t good enough for that job. But at least it looked pretty enough parked outside the yacht club in the summer.
The only reason they didn’t market the car for the American audience was that they were losing money on every car they sold no matter what they priced it. Had they sold any more of it they could just as well have set their bundles of D-Mark on fire. And that’s why they decontended the Z3 with the old and cheaper E30 semi trailing arm suspension and four cylinders only at first. Lessons learned the hard way it seems…
I was in the Army and stationed in Germany in 1987 and got to go to the 1987 Frankfurt Auto show where Z1 was introduced. I wanted one badly then, and still do today, though I doubt I would fit these days. I’ve kind of expanded over the last 30 years. But I’ll never forget seeing that first Z1 in Frankfurt (or the Ferrari F40 there as well).
Very cool cars. I was only 9 when they came on the market, but I remember reading about them, and even had a 1/43 model of one (one of the cheap spring-powered ones, and long gone). Still haven’t ever seen one in person given how rare they are here, but i’d certainly like to. The execution may have been flawed but they sure do look good, even 30 years on.
Interesting: e30 front suspension with e36 rear is exactly the opposite of the z3
I remember seeing one of these in the early ’90s in Pasadena, California. I thought it really looked cool. As I recall, it had some sort of weird license plates. Maybe manufacturer plates.
“Z” is not for “Zukunft” but for “Zweisitzer” (i.e. two-seater). Case in point: all Z’s are two-seaters and not all concepts wear/wore the “Z” moniker. Only the two-seater concepts.
Wikipedia cannot always be trusted. 🙂
I used to see one in Toronto about 10 to 15 years ago. It was black or dark grey.
Want to like the BMW Z1 however it should have received proper doors, an optional coupe bodystyle like below and from outset been of virtually the same specification as the Z1-based 200+ hp 2.7-litre Alpina RLE (Roadster Limited Edition).
Can take or leave the Z1 at the front, although of the view a front treatment like the E30-based Baur TC3 would have been a better alternative.
https://www.alpina-archive.com/?page_id=212