• Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads

    Man Restores Griff Tannen's Hover BMW From Back To The Future 2

    Like all children of the Back To The Future generation, we can vividly remember the moment Marty spies his nemesis Griff Tannen in his hover BMW during the second installment of the futuristic trilogy — though we were never huge enough fans to track down the original movie car, buy it and attempt a complete restoration. Jeff Chabotte on the other hand, did just that. The fan of all things McFly bought the BMW 633-based "hover craft" from a fellow BTTF fanboy. Chabotte then restored the car to movie condition — obviously, and sadly, without flight capabilities. Like our other hero of the week who built a Lamborghini in his basement, Chabotte spent his blood, sweat and tears on this project strictly for the love of the car. We get that.

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    Feature

    1:00 PM on Thu Oct 23 2008
    By Matt Hardigree
    128,843 views, 97 comments

    Most discussed layabout: Once again i may appear to be cynical,but why didn't he just keep the 6 series standard & with his more »

  • choose your eternity

    PCH, Upscale BMW Coupe Edition: 1967 2000C or 1984 633CSi?

    In another setback to French dreams of displaying the All-Time Eternal Project Car Damnation MegaTrophy (which turns into a pile of red powder within a few weeks) at the top of the Eiffel Tower, the hybridized British Leyland machine obliterated the Peugeot diesel in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll. The endless battle between PCH Superpowers Britain, France, and Italy will hold a cease-fire today, as we're so inspired by the beauty and coke-dealer-style original price tag of this morning's PCH car that we have no choice but to fill your garage with the sulfurous fumes of two gorgeous- yet maddeningly complex- Bavarian machines today.
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    5:20 PM on Tue May 6 2008
    By Murilee Martin
    2,888 views, 40 comments

    Latest by FuzzyPlushroom: @TheTooth: '84 for that reason... and because I didn't look at the URL and just saw "Location: Jupiter". more »

  • down on the street

    1983 BMW 633CSi

    We've only had one 6-series BMW so far in this series, so when I saw this '83 parked just around the corner from the '74 Porsche 911 Targa, I figured it was worth shooting. This one is a good example of a solid daily-driven car; a few scars, but nothing too serious.
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    9:00 AM on Tue May 6 2008
    By Murilee Martin
    4,907 views, 48 comments

    Latest by FuzzyPlushroom: Do you take the three 320is, the 928, or the 633CSi? Well, duh - a single 320i, a brand new Caballero, more »

  • junkyard

    Junkyard Finds: 80s High-End German Iron

    During my last visit to a local self-service junkyard, I noticed far more than the usual number of expensive German cars from the 80s, mostly in non-wrecked condition. Has some threshold been reached, where such cars are no longer worth maintaining? Here's a handful of photos of an '80 633CSi ($32,825 new, $83,232 in 2007 dollars), an '84 633CSi ($40,705 new, $81,855 in 2007 dollars), and an '89 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL ($72,280 new, $121,789 in 2007 dollars). I must admit that I wondered- briefly- if that big Mercedes V8 would fit in a Crown Victoria's engine compartment.


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    11:00 AM on Thu Dec 13 2007
    By Murilee Martin
    2,710 views, 51 comments

    Latest by Kelly: Yeah, I can see why the higher-end European machines wind up in junkyards when, in reality, there is little, if more »

  • down on the street

    1987 BMW L6

    It was bad enough to go a month without a Chrysler A-Body in this series, but two months with no BMWs? That's how long it's been! I've got several 2002s photographed (and I've been stalking a 1502 that roams the island), but all the recent K.I.T.T. talk around these parts has me feeling mighty Eighties. That means we need to don our Members Only jackets, put on our Vuarnet shades, apply some ointment to our suppurating herpes sores (wait, is herpes more of a 70s thing? OK, make that chlamydia!), brush up on our Oliver North quips, and take a look at that beautifully apt symbol of Eighties excess: the 1987 BMW L6.


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    9:00 AM on Thu Dec 6 2007
    By Murilee Martin
    4,881 views, 55 comments

    Latest by FuzzyPlushroom: I'd settle for the old Volvo 244 in the back... but then, I'm biased. Great seeing REAL BMWs still running. How more »

  • 2008 bmw 6 series

    2008 BMW 6 Series Coupe, Convertible Revealed, Launched And Now Priced

    We kid you not — the press release for the new 2008 BMW 6 Series is 25 pages long. Seriously. We've no idea why on God's green earth you'd need 25 pages to describe the new hardtop and drop-top versions of the 650i when we already all knew the facelift would be "mild." Heck, in the release lede, BMW calls this four-year-old model merely "A fresher look, new standard and optional equipment give the 650i Coupe and Convertible even more appeal for 2008." If you're just looking for the basics on the changes from last year — here they are: It's got a new electronic shifter, a new optional Sport Automatic with flappy paddle shifters and rpm matching on the downshift and umm — wait, there's got to be more. Here we go — LED taillights and the lane departure system. So the big news today is really the pricing — what's the damage? The base 650i coupe starts at $76,375 and the 650i convertible will set you back $83,475. For those of you interested in the "voluptuous curves" and the rest of the Teutonic PR silliness that is this BMWgasm, all 50,000 characters of the full press release are below the jump.

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    9:45 AM on Tue Nov 13 2007
    By Ray Wert
    3,969 views, 21 comments

    Latest by Torque: For the love of god, some of us read J'nik in an RSS reader. more »

  • engine

    Workhorse Engine of the Day: BMW M30

    First of all, thanks for all the great Workhorse Engine of the Day suggestions, everyone- we'll be working down the list, so keep the ideas coming and don't get upset if your favorite engine hasn't appeared yet. Today we're going over to Europe (thanks to the suggestion of PatrickAustin) to take a look at the venerable BMW M30 engine. Built in various displacements for nearly 30 years, the Bavarian über-six-banger powered a bunch of our favorite BMWs, ranging from our last DOTS BMW to the '94 730i. And while we're at it, we'd like to thank Wikipedia for boasting so many must-read engine pages that, once lured in, you might as well forget about working for the rest of the day. [Wikipedia]

    4:30 PM on Mon Oct 8 2007
    By Murilee Martin
    3,812 views, 24 comments

    Latest by Bad Juju: Hell yeah, how did I miss this one til now... I just parted with my '85 535i that had 325k on more »

  • iphone your ride

    BMW Welcomes iPhone, We Think iPhone May Even Welcome Them Back

    If you just unpacked your iPhone and you've got yourself a BMW 3 and 5 Series with 03/07 production, the X5 with 04/07 production and the 6 Series with 09/07 production dates equipped with an iPod/USB interface — guess what? You'll be able to drop the iPhone into your ride and faster than you can say "Boom!" in your best German accent — you'll be good to go. Or at least that's what we've learned from the following site that's just been pointed out to us below. What level of integration that means, we've no idea — but since BMW was the first to provide iPod support, one should expect they'd be first out the gate with iPhone support. – Ray Wert More »

    8:30 PM on Fri Jun 29 2007
    By Ray Wert
    1,494 views, 7 comments

    Latest by Brian E: Basically what BMW is announcing is that they're first to put something up on their web site that their Bluetooth more »

  • 21 jump street

    BMW 6-Series Goes GAZ-ooks, Becomes A Volga GAZ-21!

    Everyone wants to make their pedestrian straight-off-the-line car look unique — that's kinda what customization's all about, right? Well, nothing could look more unique in our eyes than what our boy Paul Tan's hipped us to — apparently the owner of this BMW 6-Series didn't feel so cool with Perestroika, and wanted to make sure everyone knew where his allegiances lay. That's the only reason we can think of for why the owner's re-skinned a 6-series to make it look like a 2-door version of the 50's king car of the Kremlin "czars" — the Volga GAZ-21. We don't know much else about the reason why the owner decided to go retro in this re-skin, but we do know it takes someone with seriously big beets to customize a car with this much borscht. – Ray Wert More »

    2:30 PM on Wed May 23 2007
    By Ray Wert
    1,751 views, 24 comments

    Latest by Shapeshifter: That is amazing. I saw some shots of this, totally out of context, some time ago and couldn't figure out what more »

  • spy photos

    Spy Photos: BMW 6-Series

    According to the place where we someday hope the lovers, the dreamers and me can all find a connection to cars, the next facelift for the 6-Series will be "mild." As evidence, they're pointing to shots they've procured taken in Munich that suggest a new front air dam will be repositioning the fog lamps and it'll be getting a bit more newish nose. That's in addition to some new head- and tail-lights including what's being described as
    "the taillights have three gill-like protrusions sculpted into the outer lens, adding a little visual interest."
    Visual interest is good, and it appears that it's the best we can hope out of what's traditionally a very cautious automaker when it comes to their mid-cycle refreshes. – Ray Wert More »
    Spy Photos

    9:18 AM on Tue Mar 13 2007
    By Ray Wert
    399 views, 2 comments

    Latest by Turboner: Wish I could afford a sex-series! more »