1980 BMW E26 M1 Sports Coupe

The M1 was BMW's tool for FIA Group 4 sports car racing which required 400 examples to be built to satisfy homologation requirements. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and his team at Italdesign, it had a tube-frame chassis, mid-engine placement, a fiberglass aerodynamic wedge shape design, and was powered by a 3.5-liter engine derived from the 3.0 CSL.

This particular 1980 BMW M1 remains in its original colors of white over a black leather interior with white and black cloth seat inserts. It was built on November 5, 1979, and imported into the United States on April 16, 1981, by Hardy & Beck Performance Inc. of Berkeley, California. By 1997, it was in the care of Michael Greenstein of San Francisco. The current caretaker acquired it in 2001.

This BMW M1 has been used sparingly over the last two decades. With 11,176 miles on its odometer, the car received a major service by BMW specialist The Werk Shop of Libertyville, Illinois, completed April 2022, with receipts in excess of $50,000. An additional 300 miles have been added to the odometer since that time.

The 3,453cc DOHC M88/1 inline six-cylinder engine has a Bosch Kugelfischer Mechanical Fuel Injection system and produces 277 horsepower at 6,500 RPM. There is a five-speed ZF manual transaxle, four-wheel ventilated disc brakes, and an independent suspension with coil springs.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2023