BMW seven Series Edition forty Jahre unveiled ahead of Frankfurt debut
When will carmakers learn that putting high-definition fresh metal alongside the Kodachrome-richness of past heroes is never a good idea? Even after whipping off our rose-tinted spectacles and wiping the haze of nostalgia from our eyes, we can’t help but feel that the BMW seven Series Edition forty Jahre is a little overshadowed by its elegant and clean-cut forebear.
The current seven Series might be the automotive equivalent of the Consumer Electronics Display, with a Las Vegas price tag to match, but it lacks the subtlety and shark-nosed presence of the original. It helps that the E23 was based on the timeless E24 six Series, launched a year earlier.
To the seven Series possessor who dropped circa £10,000 on BMW’s flagship saloon back in 1977, Laserlight was something held by Luke Skywalker and Gesture Control was something he might have witnessed from the driver of a Cortina with an inferiority sophisticated. Back then, central locking and electrical door mirrors were enough to give you bragging rights over the other motorists crawling along the Hammersmith Flyover on a Monday morning.
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The BMW seven Series Edition forty Jahre will make its debut at the two thousand seventeen Frankfurt Motor Display, with a mere two hundred units being produced, each one tailored to individual customer desires. For a limited edition seven Series, it’s a case of for the few, not the many. Standard or long-wheelbase versions will be available, with a finish suite of engines to choose from. However, it may not come to the UK.
Not that you can be too expressive with the colour: buyers can select from Frozen Silver or Petrol Mica, both of which are “applied in a particularly elaborate process”. No under-the-arches bodyshop for the Edition forty Jahre, then?
The M aerodynamics package, high-gloss Shadow Line and 20-inch V-spoke alloy wheels accomplish the look, along with the obligatory special edition badges, located on the B-pillars and door sills.
Inwards, the seven Series is swathed in leather, with an Alcantara roof liner and a choice of trim, depending on the upholstery colour. A pair of smoke white ‘convenience cushions’ join the headrests and floor mats in bearing the Edition forty Jahre logo. You and your fellow passengers – we doubt many owners will actually drive their seven Series – should be left in no doubt that you’ve splashed the cash on a limited edition.
Back-seat drivers
In fairness, the BMW seven Series has long been the flagship motor to be liked from the front and the rear. The E23 wasn’t ideal – contemporary reviews criticised its lack of cabin space and build quality – but dynamically it had the edge over its German, British and French rivals. Today, while remaining a car for backseat drivers, the seven Series is a car to be loved from the front, if only to revel in the jaw-dropping arsenal of tech.
Remote parking, Gesture Control, remote 3D view, laser headlights, adaptive dynamics and lane guidance would seem otherworldly in a world staring slack-jawed at Starlet Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Frankly, not even Lucas and Spielberg could have foreseen just how far the seven Series would travel in forty years, both figuratively and literally.
So, yes, we should feast four decades of the 7er. Check Control system (1977), the very first 12-cylinder engine in a German post-war car (1987) and the very first integrated sat-nav in a European production model (1994) are just three of the milestones in an extraordinaire journey. But while the seven Series will proceed to premiere the technology of tomorrow, it will forever be overshadowed by Paul Bracq’s elegant masterpiece of yesterday.
The cost of the BMW seven Series Edition forty Jahre is yet to be announced, but prices begin from £65,300 for the standard saloon, rising to £135,340 for the M760iL xDrive. You can expect to pay a hefty premium when the anniversary edition goes on sale in October.
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