I encountered this nearly 40-year-old BMW in NOPA, on my way home from the Bay to Breakers festivities last weekend. This model is really the first of what we today know as BMW’s 5-series. I was impressed by the quality of the body and interior, and I think that, impressively, the design still stands nearly 5 decades after it was first designed in the far reaches of Germany. The odd, flourescent yellow color is jarring, yes, but even in this tawdry tone, the car manages to remain classy and not entirely dated.
I find it rather impressive that a number of the key, unmistakable design themes that define BMWs today, are already fully defined in this antique smecimen: the dogleg “hoffmeister” kink in the c-pillar, the twin-kidney forward-canted grille, and quad round headlights, the balanced proportions and even the presence of a pronounced character line running the length of the body.
It speaks to BMW’s conservatism, too, I think, that the car stands up so well over time. There are lots of other 70s sedans that today come off as baroque or simply ancient. This Bavaria is neither – a true time capsule, what appears to be a daily driver, caught on the streets of SF.
