Gents,
I was curious about the design DNA of the E24 and went looking for Bracq's original concept designs. I didn't really find any, but I did see this interesting line on Wikipedia:
"The initial proposal for the E24 was based on a BMW E9 3.0 CS with an increased height, in order to make it easier for customers to enter and exit the vehicle. However, Bob Lutz rejected the proposal, eventually leading to the shape of the E24 in its production form."
I went to the cited page in Lutz's book "Guts" and he says there, "I arrived in Munich just as the company was preparing the replacement of the beautiful 3.0CS coupe. One of the problems that the company hoped to rectify in the new car was the relative difficulty of getting in and out of it. ... The company's answer was a taller, rather stodgy design, ordered up at an outside styling consultant. I rebelled, and sketched out another, lower design ... which eventually became the 6-series coupe, considered the worthy successor of the classic 3.0CS."
On here, I did find a thread from last year talking about the very interesting E19 roadster, and a link to Curbside Classic's article on Paul Bracq, where I saw the concepts for the E24 -- it is unclear if these are before or after Lutz did his own mock-up of the E24. In my view, this is practically the E24, though the production version added the (in my opinion ugly) rub-strips that were in vogue at the time, as well as a B-pillar. Though I think here one can definitely see more E9 DNA, and the car does look a tad more upright.
The other concept image of the E24 on Curbside's page is this one with the interesting Camaro-like T-top. The teal E24 looks a bit off since it wasn't foreshortened right, like it's missing 4-5" from the front. The addition of the badge on the C-pillar of the orange model is nice, and again, the lack of black plastic is much appreciated.
But at the end of the day here, I still haven't found Lutz's so-called napkin drawing, nor the one that it was replacing. What was BMW's original design intent with the E24?
I was curious about the design DNA of the E24 and went looking for Bracq's original concept designs. I didn't really find any, but I did see this interesting line on Wikipedia:
"The initial proposal for the E24 was based on a BMW E9 3.0 CS with an increased height, in order to make it easier for customers to enter and exit the vehicle. However, Bob Lutz rejected the proposal, eventually leading to the shape of the E24 in its production form."
I went to the cited page in Lutz's book "Guts" and he says there, "I arrived in Munich just as the company was preparing the replacement of the beautiful 3.0CS coupe. One of the problems that the company hoped to rectify in the new car was the relative difficulty of getting in and out of it. ... The company's answer was a taller, rather stodgy design, ordered up at an outside styling consultant. I rebelled, and sketched out another, lower design ... which eventually became the 6-series coupe, considered the worthy successor of the classic 3.0CS."
On here, I did find a thread from last year talking about the very interesting E19 roadster, and a link to Curbside Classic's article on Paul Bracq, where I saw the concepts for the E24 -- it is unclear if these are before or after Lutz did his own mock-up of the E24. In my view, this is practically the E24, though the production version added the (in my opinion ugly) rub-strips that were in vogue at the time, as well as a B-pillar. Though I think here one can definitely see more E9 DNA, and the car does look a tad more upright.
The other concept image of the E24 on Curbside's page is this one with the interesting Camaro-like T-top. The teal E24 looks a bit off since it wasn't foreshortened right, like it's missing 4-5" from the front. The addition of the badge on the C-pillar of the orange model is nice, and again, the lack of black plastic is much appreciated.
But at the end of the day here, I still haven't found Lutz's so-called napkin drawing, nor the one that it was replacing. What was BMW's original design intent with the E24?
