The 3 Series is 50 years old. BMW stopped the E21 in 1975 as a replacement for 2002, although the latter lasted until 1977. Bayern are planning to celebrate the milestone in the Concorso d’Elanza Villa d’Este in May. In the meantime, a refined animation shows the early days of the 3 Series.
We are all familiar with the sedan, but the BMW lover knows that there have been other ideas. The Paul Bracq team explored additional shapes, and yes, one of them was a stream. The colorful clip, which was published this week, shows two iterations of the 3 Series on the bottom of the cutting room one for a conventional hatch and one for a more tour of 2002.
Name me old -fashioned, but nothing goes through the elegance of a sedan. Fortunately, the original 3 Series was ultimately selected with a two -door limousine style. The then head of BMWS Head of Sales and Marketing, Bob Lutz, pushed for this body style and projected more popular in North America and Germany than a slanted rear. The BRACQ team perfected a three-box shape and started an immensely successful descent.
We hope that BMW will dig out more from its archives this year more of these early design sketches of the 3 Series. It is fascinating to see how models that became true automotiveons can look much different. There have been valid reasons to play around with the idea of a fluid rearback, as these types of cars became increasingly popular throughout Europe in the 1970s. However, we can all agree that BMW made the best choice and that Bob Lutz was right.
BMW sold the E21 strictly as a two -door limousine with exactly 1,364,039 cars that were delivered between 1975 and 1983. However, 4,595 Cabribles from Coachbuilder Baur, based in Stuttgart, were changed from the entire production casserole. The subsequent E30 generation had a more diverse line-up with a four-door limousine, the more practical tour and a convertible.
Source: BMW / Instagram
