Lot 222: BMW B12 LWB Saloon

Alpina started in the mid-1960s as the purveyor of tuning accessories. The first cars built were a sophisticated entities and put together as a complete package by Alpina or, uniquely, by Sytner in Britain who assemble all the right-hand drive models. Alpina had only a brief flirtation with turbo charging because the company believed it lacked the refinement, which its increasingly demanding customers wanted. To end up with an Alpina B12 you start with a BMW 750i or 850i in either saloon or coupe form and then begin to breath on it and add the Alpina magic. The Alpina package gives the car 350bhp at 5300 rpm and 346 lbs. ft of torque at just 4000 rpm. The road wheels are swapped for 17 x 8 inch items with ultra low profile rubber. The suspension and brakes are tweaked to cope with the extra performance and a few discreet Alpina badges are added. Do all this to a 750i long wheel base and you have one of the quickest, best handling limousines in the world. This 1988 example is a LWB B12, which is said to be Alpina chassis N0.9 and to be complete with full service history, all original handbooks and keys. Finished in triple black and equipped with the usual options associated with the 750iL, the car offers staggering value for money. The equivalent car would now cost over £100,000.00.