[Mani59]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

A great little video looking at the never released E31 M8

[stein_325i]

Awesome video, and a beautiful one of a kind (literally) car. The original M8 was revealed a decade ago to the public, but since its cancelled development, has sadly lived in the BMW Giftschrank (Poison Storage Garage) with the many other one-off models and concept cars. As announced in the video, this particular E31 M8 with its M-Developed V12 Engine, will be back running on the road, all these years later.

The E31 M8 concept was a glorious car, and they didn't just slap an M badge on the 8-series and call it a day but rather reworked the entire car. The pop up headlights were deleted entirely, the doors and wheel arches were made from carbon fiber, the windows were plexiglass, a b-pillar was added to strengthen the structure, new pressure gauges were added to the driver's cluster, and the driver had a Kevlar bucket seat.

The star of the show, the M V12 engine, code named "S70" is cited to make 640 horsepower and 650nm of toque, a whopping 260 horsepower more than the range topping 850CSi. The S70 had carbon fiber intakes with twelve individual throttle bodies, a cable-linked to the gas pedal unlike the drive by wire road car. Of course many also link this engine to the famous BMW V12 that powered the McLaren F1 in 1993, which had many similarities to the M8's V12 engine but it is not the exact same unit.

Interestingly, there has been a lot of confusion surrounding this engine's history, which is all detailed here, and provides history on the BMW V12's which powered the M8 Concept, the 850CSi, as well as the F1: The Confusing History of the Greatest V12 BMW Never Built

BMW has since also updated their "M" website, with its own page on the E31 M8 Prototype.

[..Rush..]

Beautiful machine.
I love it.

[stein_325i]

Originally Posted by ..Rush..

Beautiful machine.
I love it.

Well, there is an M logo on the front, and another on the steering wheel and the engine bay, but still, that's less than you'll see on a 2-Series Gran Coupe.

This car is just a beautiful beast, rarely do I see any older 8-Series on the road, but when I do, they always capture my attention.

[P1]

I'd move out the way if I saw that in my rearview mirror.

[frchdragon]

What a gorgeous car, I always loved the E31, thank you for sharing, this is epic.

[Jbrown7403]

Thanks for sharing! That engine is a work of Art!

[stein_325i]

More photos of the M8 Prototype.

[fiveohwblow]

Love this

[Canuck335]

Good lord that’s hot. Why did it not see production?

[stein_325i]

Originally Posted by Canuck335

Good lord that’s hot. Why did it not see production?

According to Wikipedia:

The project was eventually scrapped because BMW decided that there was no market for a high performance variant of the 8 Series primarily because of the on-going economic recession of the 1990s. The only prototype ever produced (one that was reportedly not even safe for normal road usage) was locked away by BMW in the company's Giftschrank (poison storage). BMW and the M Division had strongly denied that the car was even a possibility since the initial stages of its development. A world exclusive feature in the February 2010 issue of BMW Car Magazine, however, revealed that the M8 prototype still exists in its entirety. The car was unveiled to journalists for the first time on July 2, 2010 at the BMW Museum in Munich. The only public showing of the car happened on August 17, 2012 during 'The Legends of the Autobahn' car show held in Carmel, California. The car was specially shipped from Germany for the appearance.

Although the M8 was never produced, the 850CSi was also tuned by BMW's M division. Aside from sporting an M-tuned engine (as identified by the S prefix instead of the M prefix that a non-M tuned engine would bear), the car's VIN identifies the car as being built by BMW Motorsport (a WBS prefix) instead of BMW AG (WBA prefix). Per BMW's own protocol, the 850CSi as marketed was essentially a de-tuned version of the putative M8.

This isn't the first prototype of the E31 to not see the light of day either. An 830i with the 3.0L V8 (M60B30) from the 530i and 730i was also planned and scrapped, as was the 850i Cabriolet, which only exists as a prototype.

[paquet]

Now this is one stunning car.
And all that horsepower - bonerific

[cfm56d7b]

This car belongs to a class where only one car is rightfully a member. Epic vehicle.

If BMW launched a limited production run with modern internals, every copy would be pre sold instantly.

[Masander]

It looks like those wheels are styling 21 but with cf wheel covers (throwing stars)

[BimmerFix]

Glorious !

It still looks modern even in this era.

Slap on some new laser lights + OLED rear Just imagine

[m5 guy]

Such a halo car. Too bad economic factors caused it to not be produced. I wish BMW would just say f it sometimes and build a loss leader halo car to show its chops. I get because money, but an order only halo car would sell out instantly and it would help to elevate them a bit in the higher end sporting car arena.

[HODLM]

As a child of the 80's/90's the 8-series was always a dream car of mine. The design is so timeless...nicest BMW ever IMO. My goal/plan in the next few years is to build (rather pay a company to build) a E31 with all modern components.

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by HODLM

As a child of the 80's/90's the 8-series was always a dream car of mine. The design is so timeless...nicest BMW ever IMO. My goal/plan in the next few years is to build (rather pay a company to build) a E31 with all modern components.

I concur. So well said.

[bimmerpost]

Does anyone knows the exact name of the color painted on this E31 M8 Concept?
Thank you!

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by bimmerpost

Does anyone knows the exact name of the color painted on this E31 M8 Concept?
Thank you!

Feuerrot Uni 375

[MachinesWithSouls]

Somewhat ironic that the new M8 Coupe was "paused" for the year due to slow sales. Big BMW M coupes just don't seem to do well.

[BMWGirlFL]