The 1980s were a time of excess, and brought with them the
rise of BMW and Mercedes-Benz as the cars of choice to project success.
It should come as no surprise, then, that German automakers
and excess overlapped more than once. This V-16-powered 1987 BMW 750iL is one
of the best examples of the intersection between "Why would they build
that?" and "Why not?"
Dubbed the Goldfisch (yes, it means goldfish), this
one-of-a-kind 7-Series featured
a 6.6-liter V-16 engine derived from BMW's existing V-12, BMWBlog reported in November. The resulting mill
was so large it wouldn't fit under the hood of BMW's long-wheelbase sedan
without significant modifications.
To find that space, BMW elected to move the radiator to the
trunk. In fact, BMW mounted two radiators in the trunk, and fed them with air
via two ridiculous fiberglass ducts fitted to the rear quarter panels.
That got the heat out of the engine's coolant, but not out
of the car. For that, BMW's engineers built in a complex trunk-lid-mounted air
extraction system that pumped the unwanted heat into the car's
slipstream.
The result? A 408-horsepower executive sedan. While that may
not sound like a lot by today's standards, it was a monster 32 years ago. For
context, the infamous Mercedes-Benz AMG "Hammer" boasted a
6.0-liter V-8 making 375 horsepower, and that was super sedan royalty at the
time.
BMW's impractical monster was never meant to see production,
which is just fine. Things this weird should be unique. A showroom-spec
Goldfisch would have come without the ridiculous engineering solutions that
make this car so interesting.
source: https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1126111_bmw-made-a-v-16-powered-750il-named-goldfisch-in-1987
by Byron Hurd
http://www.boscheuropean.com
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