This Is The Rare BMW 1600 GT

The BMW 1600 GT is an exceptionally rare 1960s-era BMW that actually started life as model from another German manufacturer – Hans Glas. The car had originally been launched as the Glas 1300GT in 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

It was a beautifully styled 2+2 sports coupe designed by Pietro Frua and his team in Italy, the body was made by the coachbuilders over at Maggiora, and each car was built by Glas workers at their factory in Dingolfing, Germany.

Fast Facts – The BMW 1600 GT

• The BMW 1600 GT is one of the least well-known of BMW’s 1960s production cars, just 1,259 of them were ever made, five of these were imported into the USA.
• The car started life as the Glas 1300 GT. When BMW bought fellow German automaker Hans Glas in 1966 they reengineered the 1300 GT to use the same engine, gearbox, and independent rear suspension as the BMW 1600-2.
• By the standards of the era, the performance of the BMW 1600 GT was excellent for its class, with a top speed of almost 120 mph (190 km/h) – largely thanks to the low kerb weight of 2,116 lbs (960 kgs) and the 105 hp produced by the 1573cc BMW M10 inline-four cylinder engine.
• The elegant Italian styling of the 1600 GT combined with the practicality of 2+2 seating, moderate trunk space, a sophisticated BMW drivetrain, and independent rear suspension makes the car an excellent daily-drivable classic – for those who can find one.

Hans Glas And The 1300 GT

German automaker hans Glas GmbH was founded all the way back in 1883, originally as an agricultural machinery manufacturer.

The beautiful 2+2 coupe styling of the 1600 GT came from the pen of Pietro Frua, with the bodies being made by the coachbuilders at Maggiora in Italy before being sent to Germany for completion.

Andreas Glas, the son of company founder Hans, saw the Vespa display stand in Italy at an agricultural machinery exhibition and became so enthused by the concept he has his own Glas scooters in production within the year.

The scooters were followed by microcars like the Goggomobil, small and affordable transportation like this was in much demand in the years after WWII in Europe – and Glas turned a healthy profit selling them.

By the early 1960s Glas almost mirrored their Italian counterparts over at Iso Rivolta by turning from microcar and scooter building to full-size automobile manufacturing, in the hopes of becoming a fully-fledged automaker.

Just like Iso, Glas succeeded in their quest. At least for a time. They turned to Italian designers Frua for help with styling, and turned out a series of cars including the Glas 1004, Glas 1300 GT, and Glas 2600 V8 along with the closely related Glas 3000 V8.

Financial difficulties experienced by the company resulted in BMW acquiring them in 1966, this acquisition was largely due to the fact that BMW wanted the Glas factories for the added production volume it would give them.

The car is powered by the 1573cc BMW M10 inline-four cylinder engine which was also used in the 1600-2, and later in the famous BMW 2002 in 2.0 liter form.

For a brief time BMW kept certain examples of the Glas model line in production, with modifications. These cars included the BMW 1600 GT and the BMW-Glas 3000 V8, but by late 1968 they had disappeared from showroom floors.

Today the surviving examples of these Glas-BMW cars are considered desirable by collectors for their historical uniqueness and their rarity.

The BMW 1600 GT Shown Here

The car you see here is a BMW 1600 GT from 1968, the second and final year the model was produced.

Considering the amount of engineering work that BMW put into the 1600 GT it’s a little surprising they didn’t keep it in production longer. BMW engineers pulled the original engine and transmission out of the Glas 1300 GT, as well as the live rear axle and leaf springs.

The interior is nicely detailed, with a wood rimmed steering wheel, a dashboard gauge cluster that contains all the information you could realistically want, and an AM radio.

They then reworked the independent rear suspension on coil springs from the BMW 1600-2 into the Glas, as well as the 1573cc BMW M10 inline-four cylinder engine and manual transmission from the same donor model.

The resulting car had both improved power and better handling when compared to its predecessor, the only major change to the bodywork was the addition of a subtle pair of BMW kidney grills and a roundel front and back.

With just 1,259 examples of the BMW 1600 GT ever made and far fewer surviving to the current day, the car is now prized by BMW collectors around the world.

The 1600 GT you see here benefits from a recent full restoration, it’s a numbers matching car though the engine is now fitted with a pair of Weber 40 DCOE 151 carburetors in place of the Solex carburetors used originally.

This car is now being offered for sale in a live auction with Collecting Cars, at the time of writing there are a few days left to bid and the car is currently based in Monterey, California. You can click here if you’d like to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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There’s A Bugatti Factory Specification Workbench For Sale

This work bench was built to the specifications laid out in the original plans for the workbenches used in the Bugatti factory. Interestingly, it also using a pair of original legs and it carries a vise melted from the molds of the factory.

Bugatti is an automaker that needs no introduction, the marque was founded by Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti in the then-German city of Molsheim in 1909 – it went on to become one of the most important automobile manufacturers of the early 20th century.

The cars built by designed and built by Bugatti quickly developed a reputation for their sophisticated engineering, their spectacularly beautiful designs, and their successes on the race track.

This eye for design was no surprise to anyone who knows about Ettore’s family tree – his father Carlo Bugatti was an important Italian Art Nouveau furniture and jewellery designer, his younger brother was a renowned animal sculptor, and his paternal grandfather, Giovanni Luigi Bugatti, was an architect and sculptor.

Ettore Bugatti and his son Jean Bugatti sitting in a Type 35. Image courtesy of Bugatti.

Automobiles Ettore Bugatti became an early force in early Grand Prix racing thanks to their technologically advanced designs – their engines in particular were often years ahead of their competition.

The Bugatti Type 35 was a Grand Prix car introduced in 1924 that went on to become one of the most successful race cars of all time, fundamentally influencing the design and engineering or top flight race cars from that moment on.

Bugatti craftsmen worked on benches exactly like the one you see here, each with their own individual specialist tools at hand. The cars built by the factory, whether for racing or road use, were all handbuilt from start to finish.

This Bugatti workbench is due to cross the auction block with Bonhams on the 3rd of February in Paris with a price guide of €16,500 – €20,000, or approximately $18,600 – $22,600 USD.

If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Bonhams

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For Sale: The Porsche 911 “Baja” Prototype #1

This is the Porsche 911 “Baja” Prototype #1, it was developed and built by TJ Russell and his team at Russell Built Fabrication in California and it’s now being offered for sale.

TJ has said that he wanted to take his lifelong passions for Porsche 911s and for trophy trucks and merge them into a single vehicle – arguably the most capable high-speed, off road Porsche ever developed.

Fast Facts – The Porsche 911 Baja Prototype

• The Porsche 911 Baja Prototype was developed by TJ Russell and his team using a Porsche 964 Carrera 4 Cabriolet as their starting point.
• A full custom 4130 chromoly race chassis and roll cage was integrated into the factory unibody tub, the all wheel drive system was kept in place, and power is now provided by a 3.8 liter flat-six built by Rothsport Road & Race producing 360 bhp.
• The suspension system has been fully reengineered for off road racing use, the car now rides on adjustable coilovers offering 12 inches of suspension travel up front and 13 inches in the rear.
• Russell Built Fabrication are offering the Porsche 911 Baja in a limited production run, each will be based on a Porsche 964 and the specifics of each build will be developed between the client and TJ.

Taking The Porsche 911 Off Road – The Mighty 959

Those with an appreciation for Porsche history and off road racing will remember the all wheel drive Porsche 953 that won the 1984 Paris–Dakar Rally. The car was essentially a prototype test bed for the upcoming Porsche 959, a planned production supercar that would homologate the model for Group B racing.

Above Video: Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire went to visit TJ Russell in 2021 and spend some time behind the wheel of the 911 Baja Prototype.

After their success in the ’84 Paris-Dakar, Porsche rolled out a racing version of the proposed 959 in 1985. They won the Rallye des Pharaons in 1985 followed by a 1st, 2nd, and 6th in the 1986 Paris-Dakar Rally.

By the 1987 the Porsche 959 and its all wheel drive system was deemed ready to compete in the brutally competitive world of Group B rally, but the FIA cancelled Group B due to multiple driver and speculator fatalities – leaving the 959 with no where to race.

Later versions of the Porsche 959 with various modifications raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking a class win. The 959 would become one of Porsche’s most memorable production cars, as well as one of the most important and influential supercars ever made.

The Porsche 911 Baja By Russell Built Fabrication

In more ways than one, the Porsche 911 Baja from TJ Russell and his team is, in many respects, the unofficial spiritual successor to those Porsche 959s that raced in the Dakar.

TJ Russell, the founder of Russell Built Fabrication, in his workshop with the completed Porsche 911 Baja prototype.

It’s a Porsche 959 rally racer for the 21st century that incorporates decades of technological advancement in off road racing, while staying true to its 911 roots – it keeps the steel unibody tub of the original car in place, as well as an original 911 engine in the back, and the all wheel drive system of the donor Porsche 964 911.

The Baja 911 – Specifications

The project to design and build the Baja 911 took years, in part because each step needed to be standardized for use on the future builds.

The 3.8 liter flat six in the engine bay was built by Rothsport Road & Race, it now produces 360 bhp and 310 ft lbs of torque. The engine is fitted with independent throttle bodies, plenums, a Motec ECU, and a GT3 exhaust system, power is sent through a five-speed G50 transmission to either the rear wheels only or all four wheels.

The original outer body panels of the 964 911 were largely removed and replaced with custom composite panels, both for weight savings and to give the car a much wider track width – the Baja 911 is now 15 inches wider than the 964 and three inches longer.

As the above video shows, the 911 Baja is an exceptionally quick vehicle off road due to its carefully designed suspension system that soaks up bumps thanks to its 12 inches of travel up front and 13 inches in the back.

The core spaceframe of the car was built into the original tub, it’s an aerospace-grade chromium molybdenum steel structure that vastly strengthens the car while also making it far safer in the event of an accident or roll over.

With custom built off road coilover suspension front and back, the Baja 911 has 12 inches of travel up front and 13 inches in the rear. There’s an FIA specification fuel cell up front that was designed in such a way to make room for a full-size 30 inch spare tire.

The Baja 911 – Interior

Inside the car you’ll find a well appointed interior, with Olive Green leather and black Alcantara, carbon-fiber Sparco bucket seats with Olive Green leather for the bolsters and headrest sections, and diamond-quilted black Alcantara for the center panels.

As an RS-specification build this car has no stereo or air conditioning to keep the weight down, though there is a fresh air vent to keep the interior cool when out blasting across the desert.

This unusual 911 is now being sold in a live online auction on Collecting Cars. At the time of writing there are still a few days left to bid, and the car is based out of Sun Valley, California.

If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

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The Lotus Esprit Turbo: James Bond’s “Other” British Car

The Lotus Esprit Turbo is undoubtably one of the most avante garde automobiles to make it into full scale production, its body is formed from an origami-like blend of flat surfaces and sharp creases all styled by the greatest car designer of the 20th century – Giorgetto Giugiaro.

Never one to do things by half, Lotus founder Colin Chapman envisioned the Esprit as the car that would take his small sports car (and kit car) company into the big leagues, competing with the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin.

Fast Facts – The Lotus Esprit Turbo

• The Lotus Esprit was first shown to the world at the 1975 Paris Motor Show, it was a stark departure from the curved lines that Lotus had become known for, and it earned the British automaker media coverage around the world.
• Much like the Europa and many other Lotus models that had come before it, the Esprit used a steel backbone chassis with a fiberglass body, independent front and rear suspension, and a four-cylinder engine with a manual transmission.
• The design of the Esprit was done by Italian great Giorgetto Giugiaro, using some inspiration from his earlier Boomerang concept car. Years later he would be named “Car Designer Of The Century” after winning a poll conducted among the world’s most prominent car designers.
• The Lotus Esprit Turbo was introduced in 1980 as the Essex Turbo Esprit, it used a turbocharger and a Type 910 Lotus engine to produce 210 bhp at 6,250 rpm and 200 lb ft pf torque at 4,500 rpm – impressive figures for a car that weigh in at 2,315 lbs (1,050 kgs).

James Bond’s Other Car

The Esprit made a number of appearances in James Bond films, first in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and secondly in For Your Eyes Only (1981). Roger Moore famously drove an Esprit into the ocean in The Spy Who Loved Me where it turned into a submarine thanks to the work of Q, and eluded his pursuers.

Above Video: This is the famous chase scene from The Spy Who Loved Me featuring Roger Moore, showing the Esprit turning into a submarine capable of launching missiles from under water.

Though the Aston Martin DB5 will always be the quintessential Bond car in the eyes of most, the Esprit has carved out an enduring legacy for itself as a blue collar Bond car – a Bond car that the average person can still afford to buy.

The less costly non-turbo Esprits remain surprisingly affordable in many major world markets, certainly vastly less expensive than anything from Aston Martin, and their fiberglass bodies help avoid that scourge of many cars from their era – rust.

The Lotus Esprit Turbo

First unveiled as the Lotus Essex Turbo Esprit in 1980, the Esprit with the turbo in the back finally delivered the power output that many had wanted since the very beginning.

The interior of the Esprit is well appointed, with the key instruments all inside a main pod on the dashboard. That large central transmission tunnel also contains the main backbone of the steel chassis.

The original naturally-aspirated Esprit had delivered 160 bhp from its Lotus 907 inline-four cylinder engine with double overhead cams. This was sent through the same 5-speed manual gearbox as was used on the Maserati Merak, originally sourced from Citroen.

Lotus cars have always been about low weight, precise handling, and steering that gives excellent feel and feedback. Power has always been more of a secondary concern.

With the Esprit, possibly due to its supercar looks, people wanted supercar performance to match, and Lotus dealer Bell and Colvill had developed their own turbocharging kit for the car to deliver this power increase.

Lotus themselves weren’t far behind with the Essex Turbo Esprit, which offered 210 bhp, 200 lb ft of torque, a top speed of 150+ mph and a 0-60 mph time of 6.1 seconds. These were borderline supercar performance numbers by the standards of the time, and the car enjoyed widespread media acclaim.

The turbocharged version of the Lotus Twin Cam was capable of 210 bhp and 200 lb ft of torque, giving the car a top speed of 150+ mph and a 0-60 mph time of 6.1 seconds.

The Series 3 Esprit and the new Turbo Esprit hit the market in 1982 and remained in production until 1988 when they were replaced with a newly restyled Esprit.

The Lotus Esprit Turbo Shown Here

The car you see here is a Lotus Esprit Turbo from 1986 wearing JPS livery, this color scheme was first offered by Lotus after their closely related F1 team won the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship in 1978.

JPS or “John Player Special” was the primary sponsor of the team and the gold-on-black livery became legendary.

This car has been through a recent full restoration including an engine and transmission rebuild, it’s now being offered for sale in a live auction on The Market by Bonhams. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of The Market

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Full Film: Follow That Girl – A Motorcycle Adventure Across Australia In The 1970s

Breakaway – Follow That Girl was originally released in Australia on the ABC television network on January 1st, 1978.

It’s a half hour film that shows world-touring French author and motorcycle adventurer Anne-France Dautheville giving Stewart Faichney a tour of Australia’s remote northern regions, locally referred to as the “Top End.”

This short film was created as an episode of the 1970s Australian TV series “Breakaway” hosted by Faichney. Other episodes include canoeing Tasmania’s whitewater rapids, big game fishing, and rock climbing – giving Australian viewers insight into things they may otherwise never see.

This map shows the route taken by the pair from Cairns to Darwin, across some of the most remote areas in Australia (and the world). The total journey length was over 3,000 kms or 1,864 miles.

In this episode Dautheville takes Faichney on their BMW airhead motorcycles from Cairns in Northern Queensland on the east coast, across the Cape York Peninsula to Normanton, down to Mount Isa, across to Tennant Creek, and finally north to the Northern Territory town of Darwin.

This region of Australia today still looks remarkably similar to the scenes pictured in the film, the cars on the road are a little more modern now of course, and there are a few more roadhouses along the route. Otherwise, it’s a part of the world that experiences the passing of time differently to most.

If you’d like to see more films from this series you can click here to watch them for free on YouTube on the official ABC Australia channel.

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Robert Redford’s Porsche 904 GTS Is For Sale

The Porsche 904 GTS was unveiled in 1963 as the German company’s primary sports racing car. It was powered not by their new flat-six but by the tried and tested four-cam flat-four, and it was built with a fiberglass body bonded to a steel ladder chassis.

Interestingly the fiberglass bodies were built by Heinkel – the same company that had built the Heinkel He 111, the primary bomber used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

Fast Facts – The Porsche 904 GTS

• Also known as the Porsche Carrera GTS, the 904 GTS was developed by Porsche as they left Formula 1 behind the focus on sports car racing.
• The 904 made use of an unusual steel ladder type chassis with a fiberglass body bonded onto it for added rigidity. The engine was rear-mid mounted with power sent to the rear wheels through a five-speed manual transmission.
• Porsche had developed the 904 with a single purpose in mind – racing. The car wouldn’t be a disappointment, winning a slew of overall and class wins through the mid-1960s and starting the series of vehicles that would evolve into the all-conquering Porsche 917.
• The 904 GTS you see here was delivered new (off a Pan Am jet no less) in California in early 1964 to its first owner – Steve Earle. In 1966 the car was sold to Hollywood superstar Robert Redford, who would keep it for almost a decade.

The 904 – A New Kind Of Porsche

The development program for the Porsche 904 rose out of the ashes of the German company’s retreat from Formula 1. Even in the early 1960s the cost of constant development was high in the world of F1, and smaller automakers like Porsche tended to struggle.

An image of this same car being unloaded from a Pan Am jet at JKF Airport in New York in 1964, destined for the race tracks of the United States.

The most notable successes for Porsche in Formula 1 occurred in their final season – 1962. They had developed the Porsche 804 specifically for F1, as well as an advanced flat-eight engine.

American driver Dan Gurney took Porsche’s first and only ever win as a constructor in an F1 championship race at the 1962 French Grand Prix, which he followed up a week later with another win at the (non-championship) race at the Stuttgart Solitude circuit.

Porsche had left Formula 1 behind in 1963, choosing to instead focus on the development of a new kind of Porsche, specifically developed for sports car racing in the under two liter class.

A new steel ladder type chassis was designed in conjunction with a load-bearing fiberglass body that would be built by former aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. Porsche’s famous Type 587 2.0 liter four-cam flat-four would provide the power, which was sent to the rear wheels by way of a rear-mounted 5-speed transaxle.

This 904 is now fitted with a flat-six in place of the original four-cam flat-four. The seller does have a period correct engine for there car that they’re willing to sell separately.

Porsche engineers had deliberately designed the engine bay of the 904 to be large enough to accommodate both the newly developed flat-six destined for the then-new Porsche 911, as well as the fire-breathing flat-eight engine they had developed for F1.

While most 904s received the four-cam flat-four, 10 were fitted with the flat-six, and six were fitted with the flat-eight.

Due to homologation requirements Porsche needed to manufacturer and sell 100 or more examples of the car so that they could race it. Between 155 bhp and 180 bhp was produced by the engine depending on the state of tune and the race ready cars weighed just 1,443 lbs (655 kgs).

The Porsche 904 On Track

The race victories for the 904 came thick and fast, taking a class win at Sebring in 1964 followed by an outright victory in the Targa Florio.

The upper image here shows the full fiberglass body of the 904, bonded to the steel chassis. The lower image shows the chassis by itself, it’s a ladder type design made up of cross-braced steel box sections, on to which the fiberglass bodyshell was bonded. Images courtesy of Porsche.

The 904 would then go on to take a slew of class wins and high placements at races from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Nürburgring 1,000kms, the Reims 12 Hours, and the Monte Carlo Rally to name but a few.

The Porsche 904 was succeeded by the Porsche 906 in 1966, followed by the 910, eventually culminating in the Porsche 917 – one of the most successful racing cars of all time.

The 1964 Porsche 904 GTS Shown Here

The car you see here was delivered new at the beginning of 1964 to Californian Steve Earle who later went on to found the popular Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca.

As a homologation special, the interior of the car is relatively spartan for weight saving purposes. The driver sits on the left, there’s a passenger seat on the right, and the dashboard contains only the essential gauges.

Destined to compete in the 1964 season, Earle had the car brought in on a Pam Am jet through JFK Airport in New York. Shortly thereafter the car was sold to Steve Berg and promptly put to work, racing at circuits like Riverside, Laguna Seca, Willow Springs, and the Santa Barbara Road Races.

By 1966 Berg had placed this car up for sale in a 1966 issue of Competition Press as he had a Porsche 906 on the way. This classified ad was seen by Robert Redford, who bought the car and kept it for close to a decade.

In the years since this 904 has been restored and the original engine has vanished, replaced by a more powerful 2.0 liter Porsche flat-six engine – a common upgrade. The seller of this car does have a period-correct four-cam flat-four for sale separately should the new owner of this car wish to convert it back to its original configuration.

Bonhams will be offering this 904 GTS for sale on the 3rd of February with a price estimate of $1.5 – $1.7 million USD, if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.

Images courtesy of Bonhams

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