The BMW M5 started with an engine built for a failed supercar
The first BMW M5 wasn't created from scratch.
Its heart came from a car that BMW had already given up on.
The BMW M1 was supposed to become BMW's answer to the world's best racing cars. It had a mid-mounted engine, a Giugiaro-designed body and the M88 inline-six developed by Paul Rosche.
But the M1 project became a commercial failure. Production ended in 1981, with fewer than 400 road cars built.
The interesting part is what happened next.
BMW Motorsport didn't abandon the M88 engine.
It first found a home in the M635CSi. And then, in 1984, BMW Motorsport began building something that seemed almost absurd at the time:
A four-door executive sedan with the heart of a supercar.
The result was the E28 M5.
286 hp. Around 245 km/h. Less than seven seconds to 100 km/h.
From the outside, it looked almost like an ordinary business sedan. Underneath, it carried an engine descended directly from the BMW M1.
That's one of the reasons I think the E28 M5 is such an important car. It didn't just become the first M5 — it helped establish the idea of the modern high-performance sedan.
I recently spent some time researching the story behind this car, and the more I learned about the connection between the M1 and the M5, the more interesting it became.
What do you think — was the E28 M5 the car that truly established the modern sports sedan? The BMW M5 E28 Story: An Engine From a Failed Supercar