BMW Finally Confirms It Built — and Killed — an M5 Convertible Decades Ago

For years it was little greater than a rumor whispered amongst BMW fans: that sooner or later within the firm’s historical past, somebody contained in the hallowed halls of M GmbH had constructed a drop-top M5. Now, BMW has formally confirmed it — and revealed why the world by no means obtained to see it.

The automobile in query was primarily based on the E34 generation M5, and it was proven publicly for the primary time to a choose group of journalists in 2009 at an occasion marking 25 years of the BMW M5. BMW confirmed that the convertible had been developed as a real production-ready mannequin, that includes two lengthened entrance doorways and seating for 4 occupants — a correct grand touring machine within the M5 spirit.

Priced at $70,000 within the Nineteen Nineties

The worth had been set at £50,000, BMW had booked stand area on the Geneva Motor Present, and a launch was imminent. Then, only one week earlier than the occasion, the plug was pulled.

The rationale? BMW feared the M5 cabriolet would cannibalize demand for its mainstream 5 Collection convertible — and extra critically, hurt gross sales of the extremely worthwhile drop-top 3 Collection. A product planning concern, in different phrases, killed what may have been probably the most thrilling open-air automobiles of its period.

Think about That Sound With The Prime Down

It’s a call that feels all of the extra painful when you think about what was beneath the hood. The E34 M5 was powered by a 3.8-liter inline-six producing 340 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, despatched to the rear wheels by means of a six-speed guide gearbox. The thought of experiencing that sonorous engine with the sky overhead is, to place it mildly, tantalizing.

The M5 convertible wasn’t the one extraordinary machine BMW’s skunkworks conjured up throughout the E34 period, both. Engineers additionally reportedly shoehorned the 6.1-liter V12 from a McLaren F1 into an E34 M5 Touring — proof that the engineers inside M Division had no scarcity of ambition, even when the boardroom had different concepts.

It’s one in all automotive historical past’s nice “what ifs” — a automobile that existed, was prepared, and was denied to the world on the final second. BMW has confirmed the story. The M5 convertible stays, without end, the automobile that just about was. See extra photographs under.