The CSL James mentions in this video was my Dad's. Top Gear got in touch with the BMW Car Club to see if any of it's members were who had a CSL were interested in taking part and my Dad said yes. We both went over spent a full weekend with the Top Gear guys and it was awesome. Too bad it was only 2003 and Top Gear in the recent format was only beginning!
the main BMW dealer in Dublin Ireland had one of these in the showroom. It was my favourite car as a child during the 80s. It was wildly futuristic when launched and crazily expensive. Made Ferraris looks cheap. There was a wild racing turbocharged one with 800 bhp which shot flames out of its exhaust when accelerating.
***** Haha yeah, the power to displacement ratio of american cars used to be pretty horrendous. Thankfully, nowadays they have caught up and makes pretty good engines.
In the late 1960's many American cars were fitted with high output V8 engines producing well over 400 bhp... On average American cars were vastly more powerful than European ones. Then emissions regulations in the U.S. became very strict during the 70's so engines ran very low compression ratios and restrictive intake manifolds to comply with the regulations - by 1979 some 8 litre V8's were producing less than 180 bhp.
But they where still big units and massive gas guzzlers! Anyway the M1 was about racing round a track not a drag strip which America does so well and they blow up at the end.
You can get the mentioned Ferrari 308 from 1980 for 80,000€ now. The BMW M1 is rather rare and costs between 500,000 and 700,000€. So yeah I‘ll have the BMW too please...
some say that his hearing will only work on sundays ...and that he was born with metal ear drums.... all we know is...hes called THE TOP GEAR RUclips SOUND EDITOR.
euroaaRON1 Lmao, if you're talking about the music being louder than James' speaking, then you'll have to blame the original sound editor. Netflix used to have every episode from Series 2 and on of this show a few years ago and that was a common problem for these early episodes.
When I was a kid I remember having a book my parents gave to me which had a pictures of this car. Used to look at it all the time, there was just something about this car that just makes me want to keep looking!!!
A weird fact, this car was actually used in rally in the early-mid 80s. Althought rarely seen compeeting in rally even at that time maybe because it was rather large and unreliable but still very, very beautiful. And the sound of it is just crazy.
I visualize all day lately after the pandemic. And people notice. My energy, positive vibes, abundance etc. It is crazy. Keep doing it. Its all about energy.
I think James May exagerated a little bit with the "disaster" thing...Indeed M1 was a great car with awesome engine, incredible performance and superb handling even by modern standards. Hard to imagine the impact this car has caused in the 1970s, considering the level of most cars in that period.
Well it didnt really have had any impact at all Of course this car started the whole M-Division But besides that it wasnt as important as it could and should have been
IF YOU ARE BMW AND YOU ARE READING THIS, please keep reading. Could you imagine BMW re made the bmw m1 as a full on bmw supercar? With the GODLY S85 v10? With maybe twin superchargers? Just imagine this. A modern, full on BMW m1 mid engined supercar, that’s made from carbon fibre , has a 6 speed manual , and with that v10 from the e60 m5… I’m telling you it would be a success and it would achieve legendary status , up there with the f40, LFA, Carrera GT… the sound alone would be enough .. why doesn’t bmw do this ? Why don’t they make a supercar and call it the M1?? They could charge 500k plus and it would sell.. I’m telling you.. now that all supercars are turboed, have hybrid tech etc etc.. the retro supercar niche market will grow.. and this would be BMWS ultimate opportunity to pounce on it and build something like I mentioned ..
Correction: BMW made another mid engined car. It had a similar Italian/German history, and although not as fast as an M1 it did use a lot less fuel. If Capt slow gets it wrong, I guess noone has heard of the BMW Isetta then..........lol
Sean Bad correction: Bmw made 3 mid-engine cars, the M1,the Isetta and in 1972 BMW made the Bmw Turbo X1 a concept car, it was made by BMW and it was mid-engined
+boer harms Do concepts really count though. The m1 was a production, and really it was the final form of the turbo x1 concept, if you look at the design cues.
The M1 was my dream car when a kid. It was such a halo car, that I regarded BMW better in every category than Mercedes and Audi. The halo effect took decades to dilute right till nowadays, when I think BMW are overall excellent cars, with some reliability issues but with unacceptable sub-par styling.
Hawk from Spenser for Hire had a white one.... still a great looking car today....maybe because it isn't a common sight so we never had chance to get sick of seeing them.....this and the 650csi are the best looking bmws ever made IMO
Sorry James May, but every time i see you the first thing that comes to mind is the episode in India where you were your RR would honk its horn every time you would step on the brake. That is still one of my favorite pranks and episodes ever.
I would really wanna got my hands on this car one day.
14 лет назад
I once got a chance to try an M1 out in Sweden, back in 2009... Then, before I could try it out, I get to know that the clutch broke. Sucks... But this was such a nice car to even see IRL.
max snitrof Better than the shitty generic M3 or m5 Though thats for sure nowadays I hate BMW for their lack of design cues and boring cars that have looked the same for the past 10 years Bring back the M1 or make another mid engined car for fuck sake
Callum Wearne I disagree. Their cars now look 1,000x better than they did 10+ years ago. I absolutely hate the Chris Bangle era of BMW. All their cars now have a sportier, sleeker look to them.
I feel like they took a lot of this as inspiration for the i8... I mean the hood vent, the sides of the car are similar, they are both mid-engine... And i'm sure the i8 is going to be a legacy just as this one is years from now.
I don't think that it being mid engined is a new idea to BMW. Besides, it doesn't really have an engine does it. They have somewhat similar shapes though.
The British, at least on this show, have a really odd way of expressing themselves. The guy starts out saying the car is a disaster. Then, not a few minutes later, he is raving how great the car is, even by today's standards. Yes, BMW might have lost money on it, but they made it up in about 60 days selling 3 series world wide. A prestige car if there ever was one. Some disaster. A rare exotic that impresses today.
+BMW Alpina I thought it was only 399? Well hey i guess it's good to know that my chances of getting my hands on one is very so slightly greater now lol
To me it resembles a car I owned which I found quite stylish. Makes me wonder if Toyota was inspired by the m1? I believe it had a six month production only. I'm talking of the 1986.5 Toyota SUPRA! Regarding style is have one over any of the current models.
***** Not entirely, it was made in Germany in several places, one of the first cars to be made that way (albeit unintentionally). As Lamborghini went broke, BMW, who had already paid the bills, stole the equipment an the chassis from the Lambo factory. and went on producing it in Germany. This caused problems too. So in the end the situation turned out to be like this: Lamborghini made the Chassis T.I.R: made the plastic bodywork Italdesign made different components Baur: assembly.
Surely that'd spoil the weight distribution and the lightness. S54 out of an E46 M3 would be a better choice, but I'd stick to the M88 that's already in there.
@BertramButtram No, I'm not ascribing this this to all British people. I said "The British, at least on this show, have an odd way of expressing themselves". Yes, they guy said it was a disaster. He didn't qualify it around a success or a price. In fact, the first thing he said is it wasn't a real BMW. This is the same program that claimed a Honda of a specific model was faster than an E-type Jag, which I debunked in that video as well.
A discontinued mid-engine car that suffered design, production, and sales problems; from a company that traditionally produced forward engine sedans? That never happens! Like a British "Pontiac Fiero"; except it never burst into flames. ...that we know of.
This sort of highlights the problem I have with the last of top gear and the new series. It's all the fastest and most expensive new cars in the world and I don't care half as much about that as I do for vintage metal. Well, plastic in this case.
Mihai Petre There was one 1M recently found in a garage with some stuff loaded on it. It even had original tyres from 70s. Restoration team picked it up, will restore it and will sell it.
Maybe it was crude or strange, some bold try by that time, maybe not THAT good, but it´s definitely way out of range these days, at least off mine... It´s an icon. I´d sell my grandmothers grave to own one of these.... It´s fast, looking awesome, few in numbers and it´s a legend. What more could you ask for? Forget about that related big selling Ferrari, it´s like a VW Golf in comparison :O)
Its a STUDIE a Prototype im not completly sure but 2017 so soon. Dont mix the M1 with the 1M 2 completl cars.and he looks like a i8 but without hybrid and a v6,8 or maybe 10 cylinders and mre aero.
you can see what season it is by the color of May's hair
Series, not season
james fisher Same thing, different word
@@jamesfisher5233 no it's season cuz after a few seasons his hair went gray
Or the number plates of the cars.
Unlikely. May occurs in Spring, just before June. ;)
The CSL James mentions in this video was my Dad's. Top Gear got in touch with the BMW Car Club to see if any of it's members were who had a CSL were interested in taking part and my Dad said yes. We both went over spent a full weekend with the Top Gear guys and it was awesome. Too bad it was only 2003 and Top Gear in the recent format was only beginning!
Still though, must have been an awesome experience!
Cool story bro !!
is the csl still in family?
Unfortunately not! Sold on in 2006 :(
:(
the main BMW dealer in Dublin Ireland had one of these in the showroom. It was my favourite car as a child during the 80s. It was wildly futuristic when launched and crazily expensive. Made Ferraris looks cheap. There was a wild racing turbocharged one with 800 bhp which shot flames out of its exhaust when accelerating.
Frank Keane - I know the guy who bought it but won’t sell it back to him -
Did you see the sticker price?
277 horsepower from a straight six in the 1970's? Not bad actually.
It was so far ahead of its time. And that straight six made the ground for every straight six M engine to S54.
***** Haha yeah, the power to displacement ratio of american cars used to be pretty horrendous. Thankfully, nowadays they have caught up and makes pretty good engines.
+Sigui Tim American engines of the 70's where big with very little power. They where no way as advance as a performance European engine.
In the late 1960's many American cars were fitted with high output V8 engines producing well over 400 bhp... On average American cars were vastly more powerful than European ones. Then emissions regulations in the U.S. became very strict during the 70's so engines ran very low compression ratios and restrictive intake manifolds to comply with the regulations - by 1979 some 8 litre V8's were producing less than 180 bhp.
But they where still big units and massive gas guzzlers! Anyway the M1 was about racing round a track not a drag strip which America does so well and they blow up at the end.
when everyone dreams of having a lambo or ferrari
I just want a 40 year old bmw
You can get the mentioned Ferrari 308 from 1980 for 80,000€ now. The BMW M1 is rather rare and costs between 500,000 and 700,000€. So yeah I‘ll have the BMW too please...
ThePointlessBox_ rather have a pantera
@@FullOfMalarky theres are cool but a complete shitbox with the rattling of mechanic toolbox on a truck bed....................
same
@@MiguelGarcia-vj7oo yep I wouldn’t spend 10k on an old car like this it’s only good for investment but it’s garbage lol
some say that his hearing will only work on sundays ...and that he was born with metal ear drums....
all we know is...hes called THE TOP GEAR RUclips SOUND EDITOR.
+euroaaRON1 The lag is there to prevent copyright.
euroaaRON1 Lmao, if you're talking about the music being louder than James' speaking, then you'll have to blame the original sound editor. Netflix used to have every episode from Series 2 and on of this show a few years ago and that was a common problem for these early episodes.
Your talent is wasted, young one
lololo
It was butchered to avoid copyright claims.
HQ - as in horrific quality?
480 is best quality
HD Didn't exist when this was filmed. We never complained about the picture quality before HD existed.
Highly Questionable
The audio hurts my ideas
480p is considered HQ.
When I was a kid I remember having a book my parents gave to me which had a pictures of this car. Used to look at it all the time, there was just something about this car that just makes me want to keep looking!!!
I remember when it first came out -- I loved it then, as a teen. I still like how it looks now :)
I'd still buy one though.
Scouting for girls
$2 bucks, wouldn't pay any higher than that.
A weird fact, this car was actually used in rally in the early-mid 80s. Althought rarely seen compeeting in rally even at that time maybe because it was rather large and unreliable but still very, very beautiful. And the sound of it is just crazy.
this car only lived in 4 years 1978-1982
it looks sooooooo good
The sound of that touring car M1 procar such a beassssst
annoying background music, way too loud, can't hear James at all
What?
All the old episodes are like that... B.s
I visualize all day lately after the pandemic. And people notice. My energy, positive vibes, abundance etc. It is crazy. Keep doing it. Its all about energy.
One of the best 80s supercars
Thanks to the M1 the M3 was born. M1, the legend.
Usable mid engine super car that was easy to drive. Sounds like it would've been the NSX of it's time.
I think James May exagerated a little bit with the "disaster" thing...Indeed M1 was a great car with awesome engine, incredible performance and superb handling even by modern standards. Hard to imagine the impact this car has caused in the 1970s, considering the level of most cars in that period.
It was a commercial flop at the very least
The car was great. But the project turned out to be a disaster.
My beautiful and amazing mistress I Agree With You
Well it didnt really have had any impact at all
Of course this car started the whole M-Division
But besides that it wasnt as important as it could and should have been
Besides, that engine ended up in the first M5
IF YOU ARE BMW AND YOU ARE READING THIS, please keep reading.
Could you imagine BMW re made the bmw m1 as a full on bmw supercar? With the GODLY S85 v10? With maybe twin superchargers? Just imagine this.
A modern, full on BMW m1 mid engined supercar, that’s made from carbon fibre , has a 6 speed manual , and with that v10 from the e60 m5… I’m telling you it would be a success and it would achieve legendary status , up there with the f40, LFA, Carrera GT… the sound alone would be enough .. why doesn’t bmw do this ? Why don’t they make a supercar and call it the M1??
They could charge 500k plus and it would sell.. I’m telling you.. now that all supercars are turboed, have hybrid tech etc etc.. the retro supercar niche market will grow.. and this would be BMWS ultimate opportunity to pounce on it and build something like I mentioned ..
Correction: BMW made another mid engined car. It had a similar Italian/German history, and although not as fast as an M1 it did use a lot less fuel. If Capt slow gets it wrong, I guess noone has heard of the BMW Isetta then..........lol
Sean Bad correction: Bmw made 3 mid-engine cars, the M1,the Isetta and in 1972 BMW made the Bmw Turbo X1 a concept car, it was made by BMW and it was mid-engined
Thanks for the correction, learned something new
Sean Bad Isn´t the i8 a mid engine car as well?
+boer harms Do concepts really count though. The m1 was a production, and really it was the final form of the turbo x1 concept, if you look at the design cues.
+Sean Bad Are you sure it was mid-engined? I always thought it was rear engined, which would make sense in a car like that.
The M1 was my dream car when a kid. It was such a halo car, that I regarded BMW better in every category than Mercedes and Audi. The halo effect took decades to dilute right till nowadays, when I think BMW are overall excellent cars, with some reliability issues but with unacceptable sub-par styling.
I need to get the toasted sandwich maker back out again. James is right, it deserves more than the back of a cupboard.
it doesn't deserve all the time it demands to stay clean, I'll say that much
Still the coolest BMW ever imo
@squarebomb20 after the M1, there was the M535i and the M635i (engine-swap from the M1 pusht from the 277HP to 286HP) and after this the M3
What a beautiful car ! It's. One of my favourites, price tag of half a million now ! They actually made two RHD
I don't remember watching this episode. What season is this?
I still love this design. And such a simple, working interior. So much better than the hideous I8.
Hawk from Spenser for Hire had a white one....
still a great looking car today....maybe because it isn't a common sight so we never had chance to get sick of seeing them.....this and the 650csi are the best looking bmws ever made IMO
that background music is beautiful
Don't know the name of the first track but the last song is 'Unkle - Panic Attack'.
To me, the first usable mid-engine supercar is nothing but Honda's legendary NSX of 1991 with "reliability" added into the equation...
Exactly
The NSX is a supercar? The fuck?
Sorry James May, but every time i see you the first thing that comes to mind is the episode in India where you were your RR would honk its horn every time you would step on the brake. That is still one of my favorite pranks and episodes ever.
Abraham you are awesome! Thank you so much for this. The universe has my back! I am in the delivery room
Know one of these hidden in a garage. Striking design and balanced still.
It was designed by lamborghini, that's why it looks so good
They built most of them for ProCar series and raced them even in WRC.
I would really wanna got my hands on this car one day.
I once got a chance to try an M1 out in Sweden, back in 2009...
Then, before I could try it out, I get to know that the clutch broke.
Sucks... But this was such a nice car to even see IRL.
The New M1 concept ownz all!!!
Could be been a good option for Knightrider.
certainly one of the best car ever produced by the brand :)
max snitrof Better than the shitty generic M3 or m5 Though thats for sure nowadays I hate BMW for their lack of design cues and boring cars that have looked the same for the past 10 years Bring back the M1 or make another mid engined car for fuck sake
+Callum Wearne the e60 and e92 are future classic
Callum Wearne I disagree. Their cars now look 1,000x better than they did 10+ years ago. I absolutely hate the Chris Bangle era of BMW. All their cars now have a sportier, sleeker look to them.
and f10
I feel like they took a lot of this as inspiration for the i8... I mean the hood vent, the sides of the car are similar, they are both mid-engine... And i'm sure the i8 is going to be a legacy just as this one is years from now.
I don't think that it being mid engined is a new idea to BMW. Besides, it doesn't really have an engine does it. They have somewhat similar shapes though.
The i8 definitely won't be a legacy from bmw.
Supercar Living you can't possibly know that.
OfficialEpic222....the i8 is uglier than hammered snake shit, what a pile of junk....
Dilip Tien pretty sure a 3 cylinder engine is still an engine.
I always use my toasted Sandwich Maker...
It's such a beautiful car.
Best looking BMW. If BMW could bring it back.
Ran from a hospital on an "M1 hold, came home and Googled one of my dream cars.
Hard to believe there’s actually a BMW model out there that looks nice
This might well be the true birth of the BMW ///M Motorsport Division
GERMAN HEART AND ITALIAN BODY!BEST COMBINATION
which season which ep?
Where was this shot. The place looks absolutely fantastic
It's defiantly the nicest BMW of all
It was a disaster? I would like to buy that disaster one day though LOL
The British, at least on this show, have a really odd way of expressing themselves. The guy starts out saying the car is a disaster. Then, not a few minutes later, he is raving how great the car is, even by today's standards. Yes, BMW might have lost money on it, but they made it up in about 60 days selling 3 series world wide. A prestige car if there ever was one. Some disaster. A rare exotic that impresses today.
There is one for sale in South Africa for the same price as five brand new M8 comps
Anyone know the song from 0:00-0:24 ?
453 units built only !
+BMW Alpina I thought it was only 399? Well hey i guess it's good to know that my chances of getting my hands on one is very so slightly greater now lol
Designed by Giugiaro...Italy!
Franco Buono ITALIAN PRIDE BABY
Franco Buono italia... such a beautifull country... love
86er gaso .what about the mafia
Sadly that BMW won't make a modern BMW M1 anymore. The M1 Concept will just be a concept.
Well...that isn’t exactly the only mid-engined BMW. The 1991 BMW C21 Nazca prototype was the second.
To me it resembles a car I owned which I found quite stylish. Makes me wonder if Toyota was inspired by the m1? I believe it had a six month production only. I'm talking of the 1986.5 Toyota SUPRA! Regarding style is have one over any of the current models.
Why don't BMW have a mid engine Supercar in their line up in 2017? (Audi R8 rival).........big shame, they would do it so well!
S so the I8?
Ha, it so looks Italian. Never knew BMW had this
it was designed by lamborghini.
***** yes, I heard in the video
Shawn Moses congrats.
***** No. It was designed by Guigiaro. Lamborghini would produce the body, which in the end, they didn't.
***** Not entirely, it was made in Germany in several places, one of the first cars to be made that way (albeit unintentionally). As Lamborghini went broke, BMW, who had already paid the bills, stole the equipment an the chassis from the Lambo factory. and went on producing it in Germany. This caused problems too. So in the end the situation turned out to be like this:
Lamborghini made the Chassis
T.I.R: made the plastic bodywork
Italdesign made different components
Baur: assembly.
The car looks amazing
@OmidSonSSJ4
Well, what I meant is like a design of the Lamborghini Countach that went wrong, but yes, their cars are beautiful, and so is this car.
what was the more practical car that he mentions at the end?
The first M5.
850 V12 in one would be nice.
I'm sure it's been done as a one off, proper Bimmer 12.
I know they put one in a 3 shoebox.
Surely that'd spoil the weight distribution and the lightness. S54 out of an E46 M3 would be a better choice, but I'd stick to the M88 that's already in there.
Looks like an Esprit.
@BertramButtram No, I'm not ascribing this this to all British people. I said "The British, at least on this show, have an odd way of expressing themselves". Yes, they guy said it was a disaster. He didn't qualify it around a success or a price. In fact, the first thing he said is it wasn't a real BMW. This is the same program that claimed a Honda of a specific model was faster than an E-type Jag, which I debunked in that video as well.
Does anyone know the engine name of this beauty?
best car ever built according to car connoisseurs
Wow this was almost 20 years ago
is it supposed to be lamborghini uracco?
A discontinued mid-engine car that suffered design, production, and sales problems; from a company that traditionally produced forward engine sedans? That never happens!
Like a British "Pontiac Fiero"; except it never burst into flames.
...that we know of.
You can see one in Amman city Kingdom of Jordan in the Royal Automobile Museum.
This sort of highlights the problem I have with the last of top gear and the new series. It's all the fastest and most expensive new cars in the world and I don't care half as much about that as I do for vintage metal. Well, plastic in this case.
Is that somewhere near Buxton?
A design icon!
Italian Design🤩👍
@@RenanSilva01 Yes it's italian design by Giorgio Giugiaro 👌
@@Freigeist53 the legend Giugiaro, Always Making Masterpieces
@@RenanSilva01 Yeah absolut 👍
Today is still expensive
Prove that is a quality car, the price stays the same or gets higher with time.
Mihai Petre There was one 1M recently found in a garage with some stuff loaded on it. It even had original tyres from 70s. Restoration team picked it up, will restore it and will sell it.
1M is totally different car than M1
Mihai Petre its also expensive cause its rare
What was the something that was “much more practical”???
Love the shape, the down fall would be trying to get parts for it.
parts for it...just forget it
I’ve heard it has 3.0 straight 6 and now 3.5 straight 6 which is it?🤷🏻🤯🔫
Maybe it was crude or strange, some bold try by that time, maybe not THAT good, but it´s definitely way out of range these days, at least off mine... It´s an icon. I´d sell my grandmothers grave to own one of these.... It´s fast, looking awesome, few in numbers and it´s a legend. What more could you ask for? Forget about that related big selling Ferrari, it´s like a VW Golf in comparison :O)
...Up Yours JAMES.!!...Today That M1 is a NEAT Sports Car...!..That was THEN..!...70's was always A Drama Decade.!
James may the man who drove the ford gt40 and the bmw m1
My dads dad owned the BMW M1. It was a really fast car.
this car is probably the reason why my 5 series commuter straight six that weighs 200kg more does 0-60 in 7 seconds :D
what's that episode and series?
Mrdjan Jozic
Obviously 1994
Mrdjan Jozic I want to say this was either from season 2 or 3.
Lamborghini did well, look at that! 1st BMW I like, and the 2nd is 850 :)
PS: I'm a Lambo fan that owns 4 Mercs :D
That's not Lamborghini's design
love the audio! It was if I was submerged in tub with my headphones on *~*
"What a farce." music proceeds to blow eardrums out.
Series 3 episode 2. BMW M cars rock!
I would consider owning one, if I was in the market for a 2 seater sportscar.
Also if you had 500 grand sitting around
I don't care about the sounds thanks for uploading it
new M1 is coming out soon ;)
Chapperz 994 when?
Its a STUDIE a Prototype im not completly sure but 2017 so soon. Dont mix the M1 with the 1M 2 completl cars.and he looks like a i8 but without hybrid and a v6,8 or maybe 10 cylinders and mre aero.
although a disaster, it will remain my dream car, the sexiest car out there
Still my favorite BMW
If there were mere mistakes like the M1 the world be a great place
Back to the Future
What if a bmw m1 would look like as a Time Machine?
2003 year video?