WANT TO FEEL ancient? Well, consider this. Temporally speaking, the launch of the E31 BMW 8 Series was closer to the first televised appearance of Elvis Presley than it is to today. But then the 8 Series is a car that has a rare ability to catch you off guard. Despite none finding customers during the ’80s, it’s viewed by many as a quintessentially ’80s BMW yet the technology that underpinned this car was anything but a throwback.
Its genesis can be traced back to the mid-’80s. In the early ’80s, ex-Ford and Audi stylist Pavel Hušek was commissioned by BMW Head of Design, Claus Luthe to submit early proposals for a flagship coupe. Rather than reach for a new lexicon of design language, Hušek, probably best known for his work on the Skoda Favorit and Honda Beat, reimagined Paul Bracq’s E24 6 Series as sleeker and more aerodynamic, while retaining much of the classic form factor. It was deemed not radical enough by BMW’s board and rejected.
By 1985, the E24 6 Series coupe had been on sale for a decade, having been facelifted in 1983. It had also just enjoyed its
