BMW Northwest 2020 Magazine - Flipbook - Page 23
in Carmel Valley, California, where it won
“The styling’s got a cool wedge shape,
the Michelin Choice Award for its standand the doors make it a real conversation
out presentation. In January 2019, Akiba
piece,” Scharmach says. “I drove it home
consigned #C260063 at Bonhams’ Scottsfrom Scottsdale with the top and the doors
dale auction, where Manfred Scharmach
down, and a car doesn’t get much more
bought the car in January 2019, for the
open than that!” —J.J.
BMW Northwest collection.
“I was delighted to find such
a nice, clean, low-mileage
The BMW Northwest Collection
example of a rare Alpina Z1,”
75 years of performance-oriented BMWs
Scharmach says. “Z1s were
relatively common in GerBMW Northwest has been serving the Tacoma
many, but Alpina only built
area for 50 years, but the dealership’s perma66 RLEs. As an Alpina, it’s
nent collection of classic BMWs illuminates
got some cool performance
nearly the full span of BMW’s 100-year history,
improvements, and the visual
and its 80 years as an automaker. From a 1939
enhancements are just right.
327/28 coupe to a 2013 M3, the cars collected
Everything Alpina does is
by dealer principal Manfred Scharmach reflect
high quality, and the Alpina
not only the company’s history but his passion
version is really rare, too.”
for the brand’s high-performance machines.
Here in Tacoma, it joins
“I’m proud to be able to show these cars to
another Alpina, a 2003 V8
other
people,” Scharmach says of his cars that
Roadster, the Z8-based f lagare
on
rotating display at the BMW Northwest
ship that represented AlpiPre-Owned
Center. Most people remember
na’s first official offering
the
2002
and
the CS coupes, but a lot of people
in the US. The RLE may be
aren’t
familiar
with the BMWs of the 1930s, or
smaller and less powerful
the
700.
To
see
where
BMW’s roots lie enhances
than that roadster, but it’s no
the
appreciation
of
the
new BMWs and where
less exotic, and it still looks
they
are
today.
These
cars
are fun!” —J.J.
futuristic nearly 30 years
after it was built.
PHO TOS: R A NDY WELLS
burning cleaner than the BMW thanks to
six EMITEC catalytic converters. With its
newfound power and the standard 5-speed
transmission, the RLE could accelerate
from zero to 62 mph in just 7.1 seconds,
notably quicker than the 9.0 required by
an ordinary Z1. Top speed increased, too,
with the RLE maxing out at 143 mph rather
than 136.
Beyond the engine bay, Alpina replaced
the Z1’s 7.5 x 16-inch wheels with its signature multi-spoke alloys measuring 8 x 17
inches and shod with 235/40ZR-17 Michelin
MXX3 tires. The company fitted its own
steering wheel and shift knob, but otherwise it left the interior of the Z1 alone
unless the customer specified additional
changes to the upholstery or instruments.
Alpina’s Deko Set stripes were optional,
too, and they add a dash of Alpina f lair to
this car’s Top Red plastic bodywork. This
particular car, the RLE #C260063, sold
new in Japan in 1991 for even more than
the new 1991s in Germany, which were
retailing for DM 116,000 (about $71,600).
The 63rd RLE built by Alpina, #C260063
was driven by its first Japanese owner(s)
a mere 12,000 kilometers before it was
imported to the US in 2018 and sold to collector Hideki Akiba. That August, Akiba
showed the car at Legends of the Autobahn
BMW Northwest Life 2020
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