This year—2015—has been a big one for anniversaries. BMW of North America started selling cars in the U.S. 40 years ago in 1975. That was also the year BMW won the Twelve Hours of Sebring endurance race, starting the brand on a path to motorsports dominance on this side of the Atlantic.
The first BMW 3 Series was born 40 years ago as well. Every BMW enthusiast who has owned one of the six generations of the classic sports sedan (or coupe, or convertible) and successor to the iconic 2002 can identify with this birthday and rejoice.
BMW M actually started in 1972, and was responsible for creating what most consider the first M car: the BMW 3.0 CSL that raced in Europe and—starting in 1975—the United States. It did not carry an M badge, but it most definitely received the M treatment and represented BMW M.
The first M-badged car was the M1. Designed to race, its convoluted production and homologation history resulted in only 453 being built, but it remains one of the most admired and desired BMWs ever.
Following the M1 was the string of M cars we have loved to watch, listen, drive, and if we’re lucky, own. The likes of the M535, the M3s from the E30 onward, the M6, the M5, and even the 1M stir in us the desire to have fun with cars.
Watching these cars in person is fantastic. Some of us can see them in the occasional driving school or vintage race, but usually, we only get to look at pictures of them.
Now we can at least watch—and hear—these beauties through the magic of online videos. The clip below doesn’t have every M car ever made, but there’s enough of them to fill 15 minutes of watching them tear up the Nürburgring. Enjoy.—Scott Blazey
[Photos and video courtesy of Car.]
