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.
Even though I was living in dirty-S&L-money-drenched Orange County in the mid-80s and no doubt saw hundreds of these things back in the day, I have only the faintest memories of the BMW L6. When I first spotted this car, I thought the L6 emblem was actually an I6 emblem, and it seemed odd that a manufacturer would be boasting about having an I6 engine (though if anyone had a right to be proud of an inline six, it was definitely BMW).
Basically, the L6 was an extra-luxurious version of the 635CSi, complete with leather headliner. It was available in the US for the 1987 model year only, for a cool $49,500- nearly 10 grand more than a 911 coupe and only $2500 less than a new Mercedes 420SEL. A fine year for excess, 1987 was.
This example, which I spotted parked in Alameda's downtown area, is in pretty good shape- a few nicks and dings, but nothing serious.
Eighties jokes aside, I've always thought the E24s were great-looking machines, so I was glad to see this one still on the street.